Rating: 
Summary: If you're looking for another good read...
Review: I discovered this book in the library several years ago, but was not able to read it at the time and lost track of it. A friend's book club read it last year, but I did not hear many comments. I ran across it in a used book shop recently and was re-interested because I had enjoyed "Birdsong" (by Sebastian Faulks), also a love/war story set in WWI France. "Birdsong" follows a young Englishman through a disappointed love affair with the wife of his French employer into the trenches and tunnels of a very ugly war. The detail is unsurpassed -- how could this be written by someone who had never experienced it? If you enjoyed Japrisot's novel, you should give "Birdsong" a read.
Rating:
Summary: The meaning of the last page.
Review: Someone questioned the meaning of the last page, specifically "HOSSEGOR, 1989" & "NOISY-SUR-ECOLE, 1991". I believe these refer to the years in which Mathilde and Manech, respectively, died: therefore ending their "Long Engagement". Harry Wareham
Rating:
Summary: A great story of love and war
Review: One of the best books I have ever read. It truly makes one realize what World War I must have been like. The combination of a bittersweet love story told in conjunction with the battle scenes is very compelling.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, but I HAVE A QUESTION?
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was different than anything else I've ever read and I enjoyed exploring a new author and style. I was wondering about the last page though. Can someone please explain why the format of the last page is as is and why the dates are so recent. Up until that point I thought this was the final account of the incident in the trenches. What are the dates about? I'd appreciate it if anyone would like to answer. Thanks!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful romantic mystery
Review: Few books attempt to bring together the disparate genres of mystery, war, and romance. This one does and pulls it off wonderfully. This was my book of the year in 96 when I read it. I've since recommended it to several (female) friends and they've all loved it too.
Rating: 
Summary: Best I've read in ages... but not for everyone!
Review: My bookclub hated this book, just hated it. This was a very good sign (they hated Frankenstein, too, one of my favorites!). I, as usual, hadn't even bought (let alone read) the book in time for our bookclub meeting, so when I received it as a gift last year, I moved it to the top of the ever-growing pile of fiction, New Yorker magazines, and miscellaneous other printed matter mounting up on my bedside table.This is a really powerful and evocative story. It pulled me in right away, in part due to the mysterious plot line, but also because of the curious structure of the book. It's unlike anything else I've read for a long time. Brings to mind "The Stone Diaries" and "The Shipping News" in that past and present are intermingled seamlessly, adding depth and dimension to an otherwise simple story. I can absolutely understand why the members of my (now ex-) bookgroup didn't like this book: it requires some close reading, some flipping around to remind yourself who's who, and it unfolds relatively slowly (but very vividly). But the descriptions of WWI France, the characters, and the appalling reality of open-trench warfare are plausably and deftly rendered. I learned a lot, and I cared a lot for the characters. I can't say that about many books I've read lately. Not everyone will like it. Only way to find out which side you're on is... throw it in the shopping basket! Strongly recommended
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book and keep scanning the bookstores to see if any of his other novels have been translated into English. (I even bough one in its native French on my last trip there -- which I am struggling through in my schoolboy french. But worth the effort
Rating:
Summary: The best lost-love, war, mystery book ever
Review: There is no "rating" category for this book. It is simply the best I have ever read. How does one capture years of
pining, childhood sweethearts, brutality of war, layers
and layers of mystery? Read Japrisot and weep. Mathilde
is informed her fiance was killed during WWI, yet there is no body. Mathilde refuses to accept his status and embarks on an epic journey to find what really happened. The whole way through the I kept thinking "well, either:
A. he's dead, or B. he's not dead"
yet Mathilde faces an outcome that is not A, not B, not
even C or D but somewhere closer to X or Y. First time in years a book has enraged me, encouraged me and
reduced me to tears.
Rating:
Summary: COMPELLING STORY BEAUTIFULLY PERFORMED
Review:
Winner of an Audie award for her presentation of The Time Traveler's Wife, Maggi-Meg Reed gives a haunting, memorable portrayal of narrator Mathilde Donnay on the Abridged version of A Very Long Engagement.
Another equally gifted actress, Isabel Keating is impressive and affecting as she gives voice to the Unabridged Edition of this emotionally riveting story of a search for a lost love.
France is the backdrop and the time is before and after World War I. Mathilde has been unable to walk since childhood. Although confined to a wheelchair she has gained some reputation as a painter, yet she's unable to recover from the loss of her fiance. Jean Etchevery was a soldier in the war and declared dead; it was a dishonorable death. He was accused and found guilty of deliberately mutilating himself so he would not have to go into battle. He and four others were taken among the trenches and left to die.
Mathilde cannot accept this explanation and with the aid of a private defective and interviews with families of other soldiers she believes Jean is still alive. But, if that is the truth, many more questions arise.
Listeners will not soon forget this story of the dreadful toll of war.
- Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: This is historical fiction at its best, a page-turner filled with great characters. As we follow the heroine, Mathilde, on her quest for her lost love, we end up falling in love with her. By the last hundred pages, you feel as though you are as invested as her in unraveling the mystery of what happened to her fiance. A great book. Also recommended: BIRDSONG by Sebastian Faulks and EASTER ISLAND by Jennifer Vanderbes.
|
