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Sophie’s Choice

William Styron

Start date: July 1, 2024

Finish date: July 31, 2024

Discussion: New School Classics- 1915-2005

Why we're reading this: July 2024 New School Classic Group Read
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New School Classics- 1915-2005

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What Members Thought

Feb 13, 2008 Laura rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, american-fiction, fiction-20th-century, book-and-movie, holocaust

In this book, the story is told by a narrator, Stingo, a 22-year old boy: in the 1st plot, he describes his meeting with Nathan - a Jewish intellectual, and Sophie, a Polish Catholic. In the 2nd plot, Stingo describes the strong relationship between Nathan and Sophie; in the 3rd one, the reader is told about Sophie's past in the pre-war Poland period, the concentration camp and about her secret (her choice).

A movie was made based on this book with Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Peter MacNicol and di ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Jan 29, 2013 Nola Tillman rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-drama, fiction-historical

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. In fairness to this novel, I came into it with some rather strange preconceptions. Although I never saw the movie, I did see a clip from the movie of what must be one of the most heartrending clips in movie history. As such, I came in thinking that this was the story of a woman who survived some of the most terrible experiences a concentration camp can throw at you.

Technically, this novel does cover that subject, but the primary focus is instead on a twenty-two year old, sexually frustrated guy ...more

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Mar 15, 2009 Suvi rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, 1970-1999, historical, war, _north-america, cities_new-york

One of those books that remind me why it was a good decision to just not finish books if they fail to capture my attention. Especially in a case like this where the page count is more than 500. In theory this could have been a pretty good story, but in practice... Oh boy. The prose is quite good, but it just drowns under everything else so I can't enjoy it the same way I usually would. Styron tries to tackle with too many topics and themes all at once, none of which he can focus on completely, m ...more

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