Rating: 
Summary: Still Life
Review: Byatt's use of words, language, create beautiful mental images. I've never run across an author who is able to "paint" with words. I didn't like Frederica Potter, introduced in the first novel of Byatt's four-book series, A Virgin In The Garden. I didn't sympathize with her. I didn't understand her cold, passionate, intellectual personality. By the end of Still Life, I desperately cared for her. The third book, Babel Tower, disturbs me. That's a different review. Still Life is superior to A Virgin In The Garden. I couldn't put it down. If you're a Byatt fan, don't miss these novels. The seem to be more unwieldly than Possession, but Byatt's genius is all there.
Rating:
Summary: Still Life
Review: Byatt's use of words, language, create beautiful mental images. I've never run across an author who is able to "paint" with words. I didn't like Frederica Potter, introduced in the first novel of Byatt's four-book series, A Virgin In The Garden. I didn't sympathize with her. I didn't understand her cold, passionate, intellectual personality. By the end of Still Life, I desperately cared for her. The third book, Babel Tower, disturbs me. That's a different review. Still Life is superior to A Virgin In The Garden. I couldn't put it down. If you're a Byatt fan, don't miss these novels. The seem to be more unwieldly than Possession, but Byatt's genius is all there.
Rating:
Summary: Still Life
Review: Byatt's use of words, language, create beautiful mental images. I've never run across an author who is able to "paint" with words. I didn't like Frederica Potter, introduced in the first novel of Byatt's four-book series, A Virgin In The Garden. I didn't sympathize with her. I didn't understand her cold, passionate, intellectual personality. By the end of Still Life, I desperately cared for her. The third book, Babel Tower, disturbs me. That's a different review. Still Life is superior to A Virgin In The Garden. I couldn't put it down. If you're a Byatt fan, don't miss these novels. The seem to be more unwieldly than Possession, but Byatt's genius is all there.
Rating:
Summary: Simply beautiful...
Review: Having read The Virgin in the Garden, I couldn't wait to read the second part of this so far wonderful series about the Potter family. Still Life centers on Frederika, Marcus and Stephanie and their struggles with their Yorkshire upbringing and their thirst for all things intellectual. Stephanie has abandoned the life of academia and opted for a family of her own. She is somewhat content with her life, but things fall apart for her after a tragedy ensues. Marcus has some struggles of his own. He does not know his place in the world. Does he belong in Yorkshire, or should he do what his sister Frederika did? She goes to Cambridge to quench her thirst for knowledge. What transpires is a story about various intellectuals and the changes in their respective lives. There are various twists throughout this novel.
Still Life, like The Virgin in the Garden, has beautiful, flawless language that you cannot help but devour in one sitting. I love A.S. Byatt's writing. Hers is a voice that I cannot get enough of. This trilogy is literary, thought-provoking and lyrical. It is difficult to write a review about it without giving some piece of imperative information about the plot. It is something you have to read and later discuss with friends or book club members. I cannot wait to tell friends about this amazing novel. Still Life is a literary marvel. I am still thinking of Frederika, such a memorable character. This is a truly superb story by an obvious master storyteller. I recommend Still Life, but I advise readers to read The Virgin in the Garden a whirl before this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Challenging, complex, yet very readable
Review: I must disagree with the reviewer who found it ultimately "empty," perhaps because my favorite character is different. Yes, it is sad. One of the main characters dies. I knew this was going to happen, but I still mourned for her; the death affected me more than any fictional character since Alcott's Beth. Odd, since there is nothing sentimental or cloying about Byatt's writing. I would recommend this book highly, although I think readers should start with the first in the series, _The Virgin in the Garden._
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful work, BYATT! (buy it)
Review: I read Still Life two years ago, I found it in a horrid little used book store on West Main Street, the type that pile books on top of books instead of using walls. The inside first page says, from mom and pop on Christmas Day. "You don't celebrate Christmas!" shreiked my friend, no, I don't - but apparently I still receive great gifts. Thanks mom and pop, Still Life is a masterpiece of words.
Rating:
Summary: Challenging, complex, yet very readable
Review: One thing I have to say about Byatt's books is that while I'm reading them, I do nothing else. Both this book and Possession were all-nighters for me. Still Life was fun for me because of the Van Gogh connection and seeing one of the characters fall hopelessly in love with a Cambridge don. But when it was all over, I felt empty. The ending is eerily sad, my favorite character remains ungrounded, other characters end up hanging out in strange places, and I ask myself, why bother? Having said all this, I don't hesitate recommending it to any past Byatt reader who wants more tale telling.
Rating: 
Summary: Classic Byatt story of intrigue and relationships
Review: One thing I have to say about Byatt's books is that while I'm reading them, I do nothing else. Both this book and Possession were all-nighters for me. Still Life was fun for me because of the Van Gogh connection and seeing one of the characters fall hopelessly in love with a Cambridge don. But when it was all over, I felt empty. The ending is eerily sad, my favorite character remains ungrounded, other characters end up hanging out in strange places, and I ask myself, why bother? Having said all this, I don't hesitate recommending it to any past Byatt reader who wants more tale telling.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps Byatt's best so far.
Review: Second in A.S. Byatt's ongoing Yorkshire quartet (the first and third novels are "The Virgin in the Garden" and "Babel Tower") I couldn't put Still Life down from the moment I picked it up. Tracing the Potter clan's lives through Stephanie's childbirth (and lingering chillingly on the degrading way mid-50's medicine treated expectant mothers), Still Life is one of the few books I've read in many years that brought me to the verge of tears. Strongly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A Must for Byatt Fans!
Review: Still Life is the second of A.S. Byatt's sequenced novels that begin with The Virgin In the Garden. The novel continues to chronicle the Potter clan in the late 1950s. Can you dive into the second without having read the first? Probably. In the early part of Still Life, Byatt provides just enough background to situate the characters. Of course, "just enough" will never be the same as reading the first novel.Still Life reads differently from The Virgin in the Garden, the author less obssessed with moment-to-moment reporting through painstakingly-gathered details. It is more sprawling, emphasizing characters' growth over a wider span of time (relatively speaking). What hasn't changed is Byatt's love for and mastery of language, and concern for the life of the mind. The novel contains many passages where Byatt boldly, and almost intrusively, airs her provocative views on everything from writing, visual perception, love, to politics (i.e. delivered in the authorial first person instead of through a character's mouth or mind). But she is also an astute observer of the ordinary, whether depicting childbirth, adultery, or domestic vignettes. There's something for everyone here. The final section is a shocker. I finished the book not quite convinced that a freak accident belongs in a literary novel. All the same, be prepared to read some moving passages on grieving.
|
