Voyage in the Dark

Rating:
Summary: Well written but uninteresting.
Review: It could be because I'm male, but I didn't really get into this book. The writing was good but not so incredibly poetic as to interest me on its own. And the characters were uninspiring. I know that it's more realistic to have characters that cannot overcome their problems because most people in real life are like that as well, but I have a hard time dealing with those people so I certainly have little sympathy for a fictional character that is weak and pathetic. I've been told by others that have read this book that I missed the point, and if that's the case I don't mind being educated in my misperceptions but as it stands I can't really recommend this book. However I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it either.

Rating:
Summary: Read it.
Review: jean rhys is so brilliant. amazing. read it

Rating:
Summary: moving, pitiless, beautiful
Review: this is my favourite book of all time. i came across it accidentally in Croydon library when I was 20 years old, i loved it then, and i love it now, 20 years later. i read other works of hers (and I think she is an amazing writer) and her biography (by Carole Angier - also utterly brilliant and very highly recommended) - but Voyage in the Dark is still my favourite.

Why this is is hard to say. There is something about the prose style - concise, clear but dreamlike. The subject matter - a woman alone in the world written with a pitiless observation. The themes, loss of innocence, the struggle for survival, the loss of love - all beautifully written.

Carole Angier analyses all this far better than I ever could - if you love literature the chances are (man or woman) you will love this work. I do recommend it, and others works by Rhys, and her definitive biography by Carole Angiers.