Rating: 
Summary: This is a great book.
Review: I was privileged to be given an advance copy of Nancy Huston's new book, The Mark of the Angel. I started reading it over supper one evening this summer after arriving home from work late, and didn't put it down -- *couldn't* put it down -- until after midnight when I finished it in tears. I was totally caught up in the lives of these people, totally engrossed in their interwoven, tragic lives and the larger context in which they lived.It took my breath away. It is a beautifully written book, very poetic, profoundly moving, and such an important novel for the end of this century. I haven't read such a powerful novel since Poisonwood Bible, which I also read in galley a year earlier. (And I read (and listen to) a *lot* of books.) Like Poisonwood, it is at once a detailed study of the intimate lives of people you come to care about very much, and also a profound statement about power and imperialism. It offers spiritual and political lessons as well as its poetry. I hope this isn't a spoiler... but when I finished the book, aside from wiping away my tears, the only other thing I could think to do that seemed appropriate was to give my (teen-ager) son a long, warm hug. I hope that many, many, many people will discover this gem of a book and love it as much as I did.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is not what it seems
Review: If you are someone who enjoys inteligent, interesting, believable naratives... If you are a fan of Alice Hoffman, Ursula Hegi, Jane Hamilton, Rebecca Wells... If these are the kinds of authors and books that you enjoy, this is not a book for you. It is a thinly vailed romance type novel, cloaked with post World War 2 drama. There is no good reason to spend your time and money on this book, as I regretfully did.
Rating: 
Summary: Very French, very extravagant.
Review: Like so many other things one associates with the ultra-romantic French national character, this book, too, betrays both an extravagance of emotion and the desire here to dramatize (and incorporate in the book) every possible personal and political trauma of the last half-century. Saffie, the main character, is almost literally a ghost, so traumatized as a German Aryan "victim" of the Nazi horror that she cannot function at all as a human. Her husband Raphael, a flutist, is so busy making beautiful music that he never has a clue about his wife's 5-year affair. Their child, unlike any kid I've ever known (!), never, ever blabs a word about Andras, the other man in his mother's life, to his father, though he sees Andras every time his mother does--very frequently--and refers to him as Apu. Andras, a Jewish Hungarian Holocaust victim, is also intimately involved in the Algerian fight for independence from France. Added to this whole sticky pie are the additional heart-tuggers--the desire of Andras to educate Saffie about minorities and about German history, her inability to experience maternal feelings for her child, her rejection by her mother-in-law, her perfect housekeeping and gourmet cooking, and a completely unrealistic breakdown by Raphael at a critical moment. A real melodrama that tries too hard to be "significant" by pushing every emotional button known to man, with the result that it is sentimental, over-the-top melodrama.
Rating:
Summary: A BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND BELIEVABLE TALE
Review: The setting of 'The Mark of the Angel' is in Paris, 1957. It's a story of two people from different backgrounds (she is German, he is French) who meet and marry. But the recent past of World War II and the current rising violence, which eventually leads to the independence of Algeria, shape the attitude of these two characters into a disastrous climax. The seemingly simple style of this story could make some readers believe that it's just a 'pulp romance' novel -- there are, however, layers of psychological levels to the characters and a complexity in the way setting and storyline are entwined together that make this novel far from being simplistic or a 'pulp romance' novel. Saffie, the female protagonist, is a difficult character to read -- and agreeably unpleasant at times -- and that's why makes the story even more intriguing; we are not dealing with nice and 'normal' cardboard cut-out characters, where everything is beautiful and everyone holds hands at the end of the story. This book is not a lovely love story, but a character study on how war tears down the fabric of human nature, how it effects everyone for years to come, even for genertations to come -- it a story about confusion, betrayal, jealousy and revenge. Nancy Huston has done a wonderful at showing how difficult it can be to deal with the world around us, and how sometimes human behaviour can be misinterpreted by those who live in a protected world. 'The Mark of the Angel' is a disturbing tale of passion and survival, which makes the reader reflect on the humand condition long after the book has been read. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Rating:
Summary: Best written book I have read in a long while.
Review: The story is very good and the characters feel real, but what sets this book apart is the style in which it is written. The narrator's voice weaves expertly between story-teller and omniscent observer. There is one moment in particular - I will not spoil it by saying which - where this is done absolutely perfectly. It has been a long time since I've read a book where I noticed, and yet didn't find abrasive, the author's voice. Just the opposite, in fact.
Rating:
Summary: Best written book I have read in a long while.
Review: The story is very good and the characters feel real, but what sets this book apart is the style in which it is written. The narrator's voice weaves expertly between story-teller and omniscent observer. There is one moment in particular - I will not spoil it by saying which - where this is done absolutely perfectly. It has been a long time since I've read a book where I noticed, and yet didn't find abrasive, the author's voice. Just the opposite, in fact.
Rating: 
Summary: Memorable and very well written
Review: The structure and style of this novel are engaging and effective. The interjections of the narrator force the reader to focus not only on Saffie's story, but to pull back from this narrow focus and absorb the author's bigger message. Her message is a grim one - that history teaches us little, and that human beings will continue to abuse and murder one another with the belief that their cause is right and justifiable. I think the reader could have understood the message with a little less input from the narrator whose voice was, at times, intrusive and tended to state the obvious. This is a novel that delivers a disturbing assessment of mankind, but it is beautifully written and gives the reader much food for thought. I will forever think of the philtrum (that funny little dent between your nose and your upper lip) as "the mark of the angel" now, and remember Ms. Huston's powerful book and message as I do.
Rating:
Summary: Memorable and very well written
Review: The structure and style of this novel are engaging and effective. The interjections of the narrator force the reader to focus not only on Saffie's story, but to pull back from this narrow focus and absorb the author's bigger message. Her message is a grim one - that history teaches us little, and that human beings will continue to abuse and murder one another with the belief that their cause is right and justifiable. I think the reader could have understood the message with a little less input from the narrator whose voice was, at times, intrusive and tended to state the obvious. This is a novel that delivers a disturbing assessment of mankind, but it is beautifully written and gives the reader much food for thought. I will forever think of the philtrum (that funny little dent between your nose and your upper lip) as "the mark of the angel" now, and remember Ms. Huston's powerful book and message as I do.
Rating:
Summary: An Original & Remarkable Story
Review: This author is from France. The book was such a bestseller there that it was translated for the States. Need I say more? While I was in New York City in August 2000 I read in the NY Times Book Review about this book. It primarily appealed to me because of the review written by Arthur Golden, author of MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA. I had just finished his book. Arthur Golden wrote that this book was "Compelling and highly original...You many never read a novel crafted with more wonder and mystery." I would agree with that except for Arthur Goldens' book MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA which deserves the same review. Anyway, that was all it took for me to jot down the title and buy the book at the nearest bookstore. (Normally, I'd have bought it at amazon.com...but I was anxious.) The Mark of the Angel is simply a love story that takes place during the late 1950s, early 1960s in Paris France. There's an unexpected tragedy at the end. There are underlying historic tragic events written in between. Here are a few of my favorites lines: Excited to find himself alone in his own house with a young green-eyed foreigner who says practically nothing.------ Every person's suffering is the most important, isn't it?------ Contrary to what you'd believed during the first hours, the first days, at most the first months of enchantment, the person you love hasn't radically transformed you.------ The body serves a purpose, it can change the course of history.------ "music is my way of taking part in the struggle, making the world a better place to live..."
Rating:
Summary: A Mesmerizing Tale of Psychosis
Review: This was a book that kept me interested from the very beginning. Perhaps it has something to do with the author's style which shares a remarkable similarity with Milan Kundera's, who happens to be one of my favorite writers. Or, maybe it has to do with the Rue de Seine, in which much of the book takes place, and, where I have spent a lot of time over the years. Huston's way of telling this story about a young German woman's life in the aftermath of WWII is highly unusual and also reminds us of the terrible consequences of a cataclysm of this magnitude. Very few works deal with the absolute terror and madness that war inflicts on its survivors. The particular way the author works out the story of Saffie is truly a work of profound intelligence that should get its rightful recognition amongst late 20th century fiction. Congratulations, Nancy Huston. Not only are you lovely to look at, you are a very good writer.
|
