Rating: 
Summary: Unbearably Annoying Narrator
Review: I've heard great things about this book from several people, but I gave up a third of the way through. I found the narrator to be a self-absorbed, immature young man whose thoughts I really didn't want to hear. He describes in boring, excruciating detail, every obsessive thought about his own writing and sexual frustration.I'm sure that the description of Sophie's experiences and her difficult choice are page-turners, but I did't make it that far... And it's not often that I stop half-way through a book; I recently scarfed down Brother's Karamazov and A Prayer for Owen Meany. (I highly recommend either of these!) If you're interested in Sophie's Choice, I would recommend renting the movie rather than reading the book.
Rating: 
Summary: To the depths of degradation and then some
Review: I read Sophie's Choice when it first came out in the late 70s. I read it again every few years. Only Styron could have told this tale of the strangest love triangle between a naive southern writer, a Polish concentration camp survivor and a volatile Jewish "biochemist." The book explores truth and lies, life and death, and the most horrible choice anybody would have to make. I don't want to say more about the plot, since much of the power of the book is in the way that the characters' stories are revealed. If you've seen the film, you have captured only a fraction of what is in the book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Mixed Result
Review: Sophie's Choice tells three stories: Two--Sophie's slow steadily more apalling chronicle of her stay in a Nazi concentration camp, and her love affair with the brilliant Nathan, who is not who he seems to be--are worth telling. The third story, which unfortunately takes up most of the book, is worthless. It is the story of the narrator Stingo, who mistakenly believes he is interesting. He pours out tiny details of his life story, his frustrations, his ambitions, his triumphs, but he is utterly pedestrian. Next to Sophie's ordeal, Stingo's unhappiness (stemming from his poverty and his sexual frustration) seems unearned and meaningless. Stingo's story is worth telling not because he himself is fascinating, but because he is a mundane man who encountered--and had to make sense of--a trace of evil. Unfettered by Stingo's narrative ramblings about his life and Sophie's, this book would have been powerful. A story of the Holocaust needs no adornment; its horror speaks for itself.
Rating:
Summary: BRILLIANT
Review: I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS BOOK FOR IT'S SHEER POWER. WHETHER TO CONVEY THE IMAGERY OF THE HOLOCAST OR THE DIFFUCULTY ADJUSTING TO EVERYDAY LIFE AFTER LEAVING IT ALIVE. THE ACTUAL "CHOICE" THAT SOPHIE MAKES IS THE EVENTUAL DOWNFALL OF HER. YOU CANNOT HELP BUT PITY HER FOR HER DREADFUL TALE SHE HAS TO TELL. MANY MEMORABLE BUT HAUNTING MOMENTS ARE MENTIONED SUCH AS THE FIGS SHE SO HUNGRALY DEVOURS... THE AUTHOR HAS WRITTEN THIS BRILLIANTLY AND WILL KEEP YOU HOOKED TO THE END
Rating: 
Summary: southern style
Review: Although Styron is obviously influenced by such dubious writers as Thomas Wolfe and Faulkner, he nonetheless avoids the delusional granduer of the former and the pervasive annoyingness of the latter. Yet he does have a noticeably Southern style that is breezy and calming; he writes with seemingly no effort Being the southern gentleman that he is, I was surprised and impressed by the skill with which Styron wrote of male lust; it preoccupied the narrator to a frenzied yet comic extent and any writer who can write of male lust well will get a tip of the hat from me. I've been reading a lot of contemporary fiction lately and Styron has a refreshing moral seriousness (and not at the expence of intelligence or art) that many writers now do not attempt. The antithesis of this type of writing would be someone like John Barth, who in his own plodding adademic way seems to think that he himself is very clever and funny. Styron seems to have the weight of the world on his poor shoulders, and in this respect, and in the clarity of his descriptions, he reminds me of Tolstoy. However I am wary of writers who often take on humungous subjects which they have no intimate, personal experience with. And this is the main thing that bothered me about Sophie's Choice. I of course understand that writers must tackle things they have no experience of (unless they are alarmingly solipsistic and self-absorbed, like Updike) but when a writer living in the comforts of America goes on and on about Auschwitz for some reason it really bothers me. Some things should not be spoken. Also the catalog of cruelty often came off the same way that sensationalistic journalism comes off; it almost makes light of the cruelty by attempting to understand it.
Rating:
Summary: he's got issues
Review: Stingo is a genteel Southerner who has come to post WWII New York City to carve a niche in the literary world. When his job at McGraw-Hill finally becomes too soul-deadening, he moves to Yetta Zimmerman's boarding house in Flatbush & begins to write a novel. He is soon drawn into the lives of two of his fellow boarders, Sophie Z, a non-Jewish survivor of Auschwitz and Nathan Landow, her manic lover. Stingo falls in love with Sophie, and more or less with Nathan, as they make trips to the beach and hang out in local bars. Nathan is paranoid and abusive, frequently forcing Stingo to comfort Sophie. As they spend more time together, Sophie gradually unfolds the story of her horrifying experiences in the Holocaust. Stingo speaks with a distinctive voice and the choice Sophie is compelled to make is horrible and compelling, but somehow we never really connect with the three main characters. Stingo comes across like a more serious version of a Woody Allen character--all unfulfilled sexual longing. Nathan is so abusive that it's hard to see why Stingo is attracted to him (Sophie's attraction to him is reducible to mere masochism). And Sophie is ultimately little more than a beautiful victim, first of her father, then of the Nazis, then of Nathan. Pop-psych Interlude: I'm sure it's occured to others that William Styron is the living embodiment of White Liberal Guilt. He always uses first person narration, so in Lie Down in Darkness he was a woman, in The Confessions of Nat Turner, a black slave & here he's a virtual Jew. One can only point out that all of these characters meet horrific fates, so maybe he's still got some issues to work through with his therapist. Grade: C
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book
Review: This is a terrific novel. For those unfamiliar with the story it concerns the experience of a young would-be novelist, Stingo, who, attempting to write while living in Brooklyn, encounters two individuals who provide him with enough material to fill ten books. Nathan is an American Jew and Sophie an immigrant Catholic Pole - the latter is a survivor of Auschwitz. It is in the memories of Sophie that the novel's true power dwells. This is a long novel, but it is beautifully written, no words are wasted. Styron is clearly a novelist of tremendous ability and depth. For those who don't want to read about the Holocaust for fear of the obvious potential for horror I can only say that given what went on this novel seemed restrained in it's use of sadistic imagery, but it still cuts right to the bone. Sophie's "choice" is heartbreaking and perfectly sums up the helplessness against unexplainable evil that this novel confronts so expertly. This novel was rated in the recent survey by Modern Library as one of the hundred greatest novels of the English language of the last century - it deserves to be so honored.
Rating:
Summary: the story you can't escape
Review: I read this book several months ago, and I had no idea what subject it was about. It was so moving, and so incredibly well developed that time and again I find myself remembering pieces of it at odd moments. Other readers have rated this book as "flawless." I would like to say that I did find some glaring flaws, although they did not subtract from its overall masterpiece. Nathan is described as a drug addict and a "paranoid schizophrenic," and as someone who works in the field of mental health, I would like to say that descriptions of his diagnosis and illness do not support schizophrenia at all. Misconceptions and inacurracies such as this contribute to society's wrongful perception of this disease. Just wanted to add my two cents.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful work of art.
Review: Sophie's Choice is one of the BEST books I have ever read. The story of Sophie's Choice is told through prose, weaved by the eyes and the ears of Stingo, a young, innocent 20-something writer whose life has been so untainted in his sheltered southern upbringing. Changing all of this begins with his travel to New York and a meeting with a madly disturbed couple. Stingo soon discovers a greater meaning to life, beyond deceit, truth, love, and sacrifice. The life of the couple, Nathan, is portrayed as a bombastic and confident drug-addicted Jewish American scientist, who Stingo quickly makes his male role model. Nathan's lover, Sophie is an astonishingly beautiful Polish Caltholic woman, who by great misfortune endured through the pains and trials in Auschwitz during the Holocaust. As she reveals her story, the reader and Stingo realize the true devastation of that period. William Styron is a beautiful writer in every way.. His characters are intense, and his portrayal of the Holocaust and Poland's social and political involvement, are so devastingly real, you really ask as Stingo remarks towards the end of the book.. Where was God during this time and even more drastic, where were humans during this time? Truly a moving novel.
Rating:
Summary: Crushing yet beautiful
Review: This is simply put one of the greatest novels ever written. Less simple is what does that mean? When we hear a statement like that, a form of mythologizing takes hold. Statements such as, "This is the best book ever" or "this will completely blow you away...my god, the imagery!!" are often heard, and, more often than not, to detrimental affect. Because of their reputation and comments from other readers, we tend to build these novels up to a point where they can't really satisfy. And the more people you hear from, the worse things get. With Sophie's Choice, none of this will matter, because the combination of the story and the style will please anyone with a thought in their head and a beat to their heart. This is a book that seemlessly plays to both the intellectual and emotional sides in us all, and for that reason alone should be read. And I shall leave it at that. Don't think anymore about whether to get this book. Buy it and you will be amazed with what you get. Even if you think you know what her choice is, it does not matter at all, and you will get just as much out of the book. Please, do yourself a favor and pick up my favorite novel of all time.
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