A Partisan's Daughter
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'a sweet story' --Evening Standard
Tatler
'The author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin gives us and bittersweet love story set in Seventies London'
--This text refers to the
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It can be crippling for a writer when one of their books becomes a worldwide sensation, and with a read like Captain Corelli's Mandolin it was seen as inevitable, however, after reading A Partisans Daughter it doesn't seem as if he has fallen into this category. This book is not only engaging and captivating but also unexpected.
Looking in hindsight at the first few pages, it's misleading. De Bernières introduction provokes a tonal feeling of sexual deviancy and promiscuity due to his prolific referencing to prostitution. The story starts with Chris, a middle-aged man who is trapped in a burnt out marriage. Chris recounts the story of a friend who has told of his experiences with a prostitute. From here De Bernières moves onto Chris' own `experience'. However, Chris' encounter is far from the stories of his friend. He befriends Roza, a Serbian Partisan's Daughter mistaken to be a prostitute, who, instead of having sex with Chris, takes him on a different journey every time they meet. De Bernières descriptive approach enables the reader to fully engage with the story due to his ability to sparingly flesh-out the story, leaving enough for the reader to apply their own unique subjective imagery. Over a long period of time, and with each visit, Roza tells Chris her life story. However, one is never sure whether Chris is there for the stories or there to see Roza; and as the story progresses, it becomes transparent that Chris isn't sure either.
A Partisan's Daughter is written in the form of memoirs, and interchanges from narrator to narrator. De Bernières personal approach lets the reader make their own decision on the characters, rather than an overt third person narrative that can cause detachment, it feels as if the narrators are talking directly to the reader. A Partisan's Daughter takes you all over the world with different stories relating to different emotions and raising different Eastern European political issues, all from the tiny dilapidated shack the story is set in. It is thanks to this vast scope that enables the novel to captivate such a wide audience, and because of the different worldly scenarios that De Bernières creates, it can relate to many people's own experiences. Because of the love, hate and just the emotions people feel, the book hooks the reader's emotional side and reflects their own feelings letting you see them in a different context through Roza's recollections. However, there is one flaw that is persistent, the inconsistent language from Roza. At some points, the English seems fluent; however, at the beginning of the story her English language seems basic. `Oh, you think I'm bad girl'. If this is noticed early on, it can become irritating.
If someone asked me whether they should read this book, my answer would be yes. Because of the diverse topics and experiences in the story, it doesn't let you get bored. To describe this book into one sentence it would be `100 stories rolled into one'.
Looking in hindsight at the first few pages, it's misleading. De Bernières introduction provokes a tonal feeling of sexual deviancy and promiscuity due to his prolific referencing to prostitution. The story starts with Chris, a middle-aged man who is trapped in a burnt out marriage. Chris recounts the story of a friend who has told of his experiences with a prostitute. From here De Bernières moves onto Chris' own `experience'. However, Chris' encounter is far from the stories of his friend. He befriends Roza, a Serbian Partisan's Daughter mistaken to be a prostitute, who, instead of having sex with Chris, takes him on a different journey every time they meet. De Bernières descriptive approach enables the reader to fully engage with the story due to his ability to sparingly flesh-out the story, leaving enough for the reader to apply their own unique subjective imagery. Over a long period of time, and with each visit, Roza tells Chris her life story. However, one is never sure whether Chris is there for the stories or there to see Roza; and as the story progresses, it becomes transparent that Chris isn't sure either.
A Partisan's Daughter is written in the form of memoirs, and interchanges from narrator to narrator. De Bernières personal approach lets the reader make their own decision on the characters, rather than an overt third person narrative that can cause detachment, it feels as if the narrators are talking directly to the reader. A Partisan's Daughter takes you all over the world with different stories relating to different emotions and raising different Eastern European political issues, all from the tiny dilapidated shack the story is set in. It is thanks to this vast scope that enables the novel to captivate such a wide audience, and because of the different worldly scenarios that De Bernières creates, it can relate to many people's own experiences. Because of the love, hate and just the emotions people feel, the book hooks the reader's emotional side and reflects their own feelings letting you see them in a different context through Roza's recollections. However, there is one flaw that is persistent, the inconsistent language from Roza. At some points, the English seems fluent; however, at the beginning of the story her English language seems basic. `Oh, you think I'm bad girl'. If this is noticed early on, it can become irritating.
If someone asked me whether they should read this book, my answer would be yes. Because of the diverse topics and experiences in the story, it doesn't let you get bored. To describe this book into one sentence it would be `100 stories rolled into one'.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I used to buy a packet of button-sized biscuits each topped with a tooth-decaying whirl of variously-coloured rock-solid icing sugar, they were called Little Gems and I loved them. Sadly you can't get them anymore but you can get this instead, a little gem by Louis de Bernieres that is just as delicious and leaves you wanting more, which is just how I like them, rather than overly long like so many otherwise excellent novels.
Back in the 70's and mirroring the country's political crisis in his personal circumstances, Chris is a forty-something travelling salesman who has pretty much given up on the likelihood of any more pleasure let alone excitement in his life, which definitely includes sex with his disinterested wife. One evening, for no apparent reason and seemingly quite out of character, he somehow finds himself sub-consciously in kerb-crawling mode and cack-handedly tries to pick up a girl in North London who he mistakenly decides is on the game. That girl is Roza, one-time hostess-come-prostitute (so Chris might be excused his error), Serbian daughter of one of Titos's partisans and currently inhabitant of a derelict property in Archway. Sequentially confused and then amused by Chris's blunder, and subsequently having put Chris right about her current circumstances, Roza nonetheless gets into his car and, in wonderfully direct and east-European English, tells him to take her home, it is, after all, the least he can do. He dutifully and shamefacedly does as ordered, from which encounter blossoms an acquaintance, leading to a deliciously slow-burning friendship leading to a wonderful Arabian-Nights tale of Roza's life and Chris's fall into basic infatuation.
Apart from Roza's house-mates, a motley bunch of false-identities including the delightfully vacant BDU, or Bob Dylan Upstairs, whose stuttering love-life is alone worthy of greater exposure but is left tantalisingly unexplored, the only characters in the story are Chris, Roza and Roza's trail of exotic pleasures, misery, heartache and trauma. Told by chain-smoking Roza as a series of episodes, each one released as Chris pays another coffee-drinking visit to the Archway ruin, this is a beautiful, funny, romantic, tragic and rapturous tale that captivates both Chris and the reader.
Is it fiction or fantasy, well who cares, written as well as this it simply doesn't matter. You can interpret this as a tale of lost opportunity or once-in-a-lifetime friendship, depending on your predisposition to life, but either way simply lose yourself in a cascade of old-fashioned story-telling and forget whatever else it was you meant to do, lie back and enjoy. Bliss.
Back in the 70's and mirroring the country's political crisis in his personal circumstances, Chris is a forty-something travelling salesman who has pretty much given up on the likelihood of any more pleasure let alone excitement in his life, which definitely includes sex with his disinterested wife. One evening, for no apparent reason and seemingly quite out of character, he somehow finds himself sub-consciously in kerb-crawling mode and cack-handedly tries to pick up a girl in North London who he mistakenly decides is on the game. That girl is Roza, one-time hostess-come-prostitute (so Chris might be excused his error), Serbian daughter of one of Titos's partisans and currently inhabitant of a derelict property in Archway. Sequentially confused and then amused by Chris's blunder, and subsequently having put Chris right about her current circumstances, Roza nonetheless gets into his car and, in wonderfully direct and east-European English, tells him to take her home, it is, after all, the least he can do. He dutifully and shamefacedly does as ordered, from which encounter blossoms an acquaintance, leading to a deliciously slow-burning friendship leading to a wonderful Arabian-Nights tale of Roza's life and Chris's fall into basic infatuation.
Apart from Roza's house-mates, a motley bunch of false-identities including the delightfully vacant BDU, or Bob Dylan Upstairs, whose stuttering love-life is alone worthy of greater exposure but is left tantalisingly unexplored, the only characters in the story are Chris, Roza and Roza's trail of exotic pleasures, misery, heartache and trauma. Told by chain-smoking Roza as a series of episodes, each one released as Chris pays another coffee-drinking visit to the Archway ruin, this is a beautiful, funny, romantic, tragic and rapturous tale that captivates both Chris and the reader.
Is it fiction or fantasy, well who cares, written as well as this it simply doesn't matter. You can interpret this as a tale of lost opportunity or once-in-a-lifetime friendship, depending on your predisposition to life, but either way simply lose yourself in a cascade of old-fashioned story-telling and forget whatever else it was you meant to do, lie back and enjoy. Bliss.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
It is dificult to categorise this one. As with Red Dog[see my recent review] it is neither an epic historical novel per Birds Without Wings and Captain Corelli nor a mythical romp per Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts and The Troublesome Offspring Of Cardinal Guzman. This book is on a much smaller scale , but none the less as enjoyable.
It is like eaves'dropping on an intimate conversation which is really none of our business. Perhaps this intimacy hightens the drama ,humour and urgency to finish the book in one sitting. The lives of the two narrators unfold:The lonely sexually frustrated middle aged man; the young Yugoslav of the title with her roller coaster background of romance, abuse and hurt. Through their conversations we watch their love develop but will it be consumated?
At the end we know who Chris is , but who is The Partisans Daughter?
It is like eaves'dropping on an intimate conversation which is really none of our business. Perhaps this intimacy hightens the drama ,humour and urgency to finish the book in one sitting. The lives of the two narrators unfold:The lonely sexually frustrated middle aged man; the young Yugoslav of the title with her roller coaster background of romance, abuse and hurt. Through their conversations we watch their love develop but will it be consumated?
At the end we know who Chris is , but who is The Partisans Daughter?
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A slow burner
I read this book over a number of months which may partly account for my description of it as a slow burner, but also possibly because the initial chapters didnt prove so gripping... Read more
Published 4 days ago by PJordan
A Partisan's Daughter by Louis de Bernieres
This is the story of Chris and Roza set in the late 1970s. Chris is a 40-something sales rep, stuck in a humdrum life and a loveless marriage. Read more
Published 13 months ago by iandliz
Loneliness expressed through a conversation
Novella from de Bernieres written in the form of a conversation. Chris is bored, middle aged, middle England, suffering loss of meaning in a tired marriage that has past its... Read more
Published 14 months ago by John Holland
Good in parts
At times a moving story - especialy the final ending, but much was simply unconvincing - for example the scene at the beginning when the protagonists first meet. Read more
Published 19 months ago by R. Newton
Begins promisingly but doesn't get anywhere
I thought I would enjoy this book when I started it; it was immediately engaging. But it just dragged on and on with Roza telling these imaginary stories. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Florence
Well written and enjoyable
Christian meets Roza and she tells him stories from her life while he wonders if she will sleep with him. Read more
Published on 10 Feb 2010 by VCBF (Val)
Dark but well written
A very dark offering punctuated with black humour like most De Bernieres books. I though it was brilliantly written and well worth a read.
Published on 16 Jan 2010 by J. P. Marshall
Good Try but Doesn't Work
I think the de Bernieres has tried to write a 'Mr Ordinary' story, which is a laudable thing to want to do. Read more
Published on 23 Dec 2009 by D. Collier
Interesting
This is an observation of life which is both equally disturbing and amusing contrasting the futility and mundanity of life with its potential for opportunity played out by the two... Read more
Published on 18 Oct 2009 by R. Connolly
Return to Form
I've always been a fan of Louis de Bernieres and was sad when the underwhelming film of Captain Corelli's Mandolin detracted from the impact of the original novel. Read more
Published on 29 July 2009 by F. J. Stirling
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