2024 Booker Longlist - This Strange Eventful History

[Hugh, Active moderator]

This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud (Fleet)

[Rose]

This is available to me on audio without a wait - any thoughts on its listenability?

[Anna]

I've listened to twenty minutes so far, and enjoyed it! the narrative voice lends itself to an audiobook, I think.

[Rose]

Thanks, Anna!

[victoria marie]

thank you for asking, Rose & your input, Anna! just hopped on here to inquire the same & will join you Rose on starting this audiobook soon!

[Rose]

Can somebody help me out? What was the big reveal that Gaston made at the end of the 50th anniversary celebration? I listened to the Interlude twice but still didn't pick it up. I assume it has something to do with an ancestor of color or something, given Barbara's provincial response, but am curious to know if it is ever explicitly explained.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

Have you finished the book?

[Rose]

Nope, I've got about four hours left. If it will all be revealed, then by all means don't tell me! I just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something obvious in the Interlude.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

I dint think so as the narrator in the interlude (who of course is Messud) missed what was disclosed.

[Rose]

I finished listening. I really enjoyed this book, and particularly enjoyed listening to the audiobook. I might not have persisted through the long rambling history were I reading, but it lent itself very well to listening.

My enjoyment was probably enhanced by having recently read The Art of Losing and done some digging into Algerian history at that time.

And I was quite surprised at the disclosure at the very end. I thought the drama was that Gaston's father was not white. I did not anticipate the true secret!

[Cindy]

I've written elsewhere about what I liked and didn't like about this novel so I won't repeat it here. Suffice it to say that it was the one on the longlist I was most expecting to see there and one I hope won't make the shortlist.

[victoria marie]

I agree that this was a good listen; also not sure if I would’ve completed it otherwise. I can see why it was picked in the ambitious take on the span of 70+ years & multiple continents (& personally too many characters that I didn’t feel invested in much), but overall I thought it was just… okay. the writing style didn’t elevate it at all for me either, & a bit disappointing that it was chosen & given the longlist platform / status over so many better books…

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

Like you the author was a lot more invested in her characters than I was - but perhaps not a surprise given she was one of them and the rest were her family and their friends.

This was the only book in the list so far that I found a chore to complete.

[Lascosas]

I can't say I found "the big reveal" of much help to the rest of the book. My response was...so what? If the Vatican was okay, and that is the final word in their world, who cares?

I didn't like this book, but I am probably influenced by Praiseworthy being the previous novel I read.

There is an entire literatue around the Algerian War and the impact it had on pied noirs, and I didn't think the description of it here added much to either the book or my understanding. And I found the jumping around more annoying than enlightening. So no, I am certainly hoping this doesn't end up in the shortlist.

[Lili]

The audiobook uses a French accent for the dialogue that I am having trouble coming to terms with. It reminds me so much of Allo Allo that I keep expecting the narrator to say, “I shall say zis only wahnce.”

[LindaJ^]

I'm slowly closing in on the halfway mark. I'm reading in print. I'm rather neutral on it so far. I read it when I go to bed and it only takes a couple of pages to put me to sleep.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

An audiobook of this in the style of Allo Allo - I could get behind that.

[Gwendolyn]

I’m almost done with this one, and I’m enjoying it a lot. It’s not a perfect book by any means, but I’m invested in the story and these characters. I particularly like seeing these characters develop (and age) over time from many different perspectives. Sometimes one character’s view of a particular event or person is very different from another character’s view, and that dissonance is interesting to me (and also feels very true to life).
Also, Messud’s prose works well for me. It’s pleasantly dense and filled with lots of small details that bring the settings to life. The prose is occasionally too over the top, but I’m willing to overlook that as it doesn’t happen all that often.
I haven’t gotten to the big reveal yet…

[Bella (Kiki)]

Gwendolyn wrote: "I’m almost done with this one, and I’m enjoying it a lot. It’s not a perfect book by any means, but I’m invested in the story and these characters. I particularly like seeing these characters devel..."

I think the big reveal is worth waiting for, and I know I could never guess it.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

Oddly I did not think it was particularly - quite a damp squib.

[Rose]

I was surprised by the reveal, too. I thought I had clocked it, and it turned out to be something different than I expected. It didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things but it was good for the surprise factor.

[Sam]

Rose wrote: "I was surprised by the reveal, too. I thought I had clocked it, and it turned out to be something different than I expected. It didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things but it was good fo..."

I sleepwalked my way though this so badly that I read the reveal and it didn't even register with me. This one was bottoms my list I am afraid. Between the summer heat and prose this caused me the most unintended naps of this year.

[Henk]

Does anyone think the ending revelation adds anything to the narrative? I was reflecting upon it but can't really say that it puts the book in a different light, besides driving home the theme of fear of speaking out that many characters have with their spouses and their kids, and all the distance this creates between people. And in a way it mirrors Denise finding out that her divinely ordained and admired from afar love is not realistic. Curious how others felt about the ending.

[Gwendolyn]

I just finished, and I think the final reveal does add something to the narrative. (view spoiler)[ Here’s a quote from the final paragraphs: “the cost of their illicit love … will be for them and their children to be cast from that illusory paradise, to wander the earth, belonging nowhere.” It’s almost as if their transgression against nature is a kind of curse that haunts the family, ensuring that each generation must become wanderers without deep roots or a true home. I think this reveal (and the suggestion of what it led to) ties up the whole story quite nicely. (hide spoiler)]

All in all, I really liked this book, and I expect it will be one of my favorites on the longlist. It’s not a perfect book. Some parts moved too slowly and other parts too quickly. Some of the prose was laughably ornate. Nevertheless, I became completely invested in these characters, staying up past my bedtime several nights in a row to continue reading (something, I assure you, that will never happen with Orbital or Held). For me, it is a good story told well. 4 stars.

[Bella (Kiki)]

I think the ending was necessary. Denise wanted the truth, whatever it was, not a lie tied with a pretty bow.

I have mixed feelings about the book, but I did like the end.

[Lili]

I kept thinking there would be more explanation about what happened to François in Paris in high school. I thought the reveal would be about that.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

The first thing I recall encountering about this book was a very positive Guardian review by the historian and author Lucy Hughes Hallett which starts

“Here are some of the events that are not described in it: the Algerian war of independence, as a result of which the Cassar family lose their home and national identity; the two years the family’s most promising scion spends as a student in Paris, during which he endures something (racist bullying? Mental collapse?) that blights his adult life; his sister’s broken-hearted suicide attempt; an alcoholic’s hard-won recovery; “

So I guess I had always expected it to be a novel written in the gaps.

[Gwendolyn]

And yet what is included in the novel is so rich and detailed. These aren’t the same kind of gaps as we get in Held, for example.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

To be honest way too detailed for me. I found Held much the better book first time around re Booker.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "The first thing I recall encountering about this book was a very positive Guardian review by the historian and author Lucy Hughes Hallett which starts

“Here are some of the events that are not des..."

With respect to this comment about almost everything happening in the gaps between the chapters I found this quote very telling.

He hadn't even been excited the previous weekend about the drama of the Grey Cup, played that year at the Exhibition between his beloved Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and, for the first time in history, suspended in mid-game due to fog. "It's all about what you can't see," the radio commentator had said, and Barbara had thought,
"How true."

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

And in respect of the last chapter revelation and I am trying to avoid spoilers here but Part III the Toronto chapter I just read what Barbara’s mother said in a letter about Francois parents (its page 131 in UK version) and it takes on a different meaning to when I first read it.

[Hugh, Active moderator]

Halfway through, and it is definitely better than The Emperor's Children, but that is a pretty low bar, and it all seems a bit episodic. The first two chapters were the most interesting.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

I think the middle is where it gets (more than) a bit bogged down after a string start - the end has some interesting and mature treatment of old age/dying …. Both times I had to re-ignite my own interest though as I had already given up a bit in the novel.

That’s interesting re her previous novel - I assumed the issues here were purely down to it being a very lightly fictionalised family memoir. Every detail I can check in the book seems true - eg this time I checked James Wood’s birthday and it is indeed All Saints Day.

[Gwendolyn]

I definitely agree this book is much better than The Emperor’s Children. That book was tough to get through. However , I gave The Woman Upstairs 5 stars (and I only give a handful of books 5 stars each year). The Woman Upstairs tackled some issues (contemporary feminism, childlessness, roles women have (and are pigeon-holed into), artistic expression) that aren’t often addressed, and it did it very well. I noted in my review that the prose in that book isn't particularly interesting, but the substance made up for it for me. I liked This Strange Eventful History but not as much as The Woman Upstairs.

[Bella (Kiki)]

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "To be honest way too detailed for me. I found Held much the better book first time around re Booker."

I preferred Held, but I'm prejudiced. I'm a great fan of Michaels' poetic prose and the way she tells a story. To be honest, I didn't find any gaps in Held.

[Hugh, Active moderator]

I found the later chapters quite moving, but the ennui of the middle part will still mean it ends up quite low on my list.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

Perfectly captured my views also there Hugh.

[LindaJ^]

I liked this book better the further I got into it. It does as, as others say, leave interesting events unexplained. I did a lot of skimming though, as the prose did not excite me.

[Danielle]

This year I am allowing myself to DNF books after 100 pages that don’t keep my interest. This and Enlightenment just haven’t worked for me. I can see that it is a well written book, but I simply cannot get a toe hold into the story enough to follow it through. I won’t rate these as it wouldn’t be fair, but I’m relieved to move on to R Kushner.