A novel, translated by Robert Baldick. A young man staying in a Paris boarding house finds a hole in the wall above his bed. Alternately voyeur and seer, he obsessively studies the private moments and secret activities of his neighbors: childbirth, first love, marriage, betrayal, illness and death all present themselves to him through this spy hole. Decades ahead of its time, "Hell" shocked and scandalized the reviewing public when first released in English in 1866. Even so, the New Republic praised "the beauty of the book's nervous yet fluid rhythms... The book sweeps, away life's illusions."
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
The previous reviewer is so very wise and absolutely correct: this is indeed a masterpiece. Barbusse's little aperture on the soul beckons the reader in to a work which is part myth of creation, part chronicle of creation's fall. Here is an invitation to a game of spiritual voyeurism where the stakes are higher than the simple life and the easy death: this is a battle for the primacy of the soul of man. The struggle is enjoined in lyrical prose of great beauty as the narrator looks on as life's complex developments unfold, finding unplumbed depths in the shallows of humanity. This is imaginative writing of the very highest order and once read its shadowy - and seemingly ephemeral - images will linger like music in the memory.
3 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The narrator is a Tiresiasian figure, observing birth and death, hatred and lust and the destruction of the soul from his hotel room. This book is an absolute masterpiece of fiction, inventive and innovatory, Barbusse has produced a book that will be remembered and recommended for many, many years.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars
14 reviews
42 of 43 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Solipsism.
5 Nov 2002
By Luc REYNAERT
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Although sometimes considered as an erotic work, this is in fact a philosophical novel about solipsism.
This theme is treated brilliantly: a man looks through a hole in a wall in a hotel room into another room, where he observes scenes about life and death, like sex or a dying person who insults a priest.
He always asks himself: is this real or are these scenes only in my thoughts? Does the world outside me exist? His answer is negative: I am alone.
It brings him on the brink of schizophrenia. Even science cannot help him. But ultimately he chooses to continue to live, because there is still a sparkle of hope. To find out why, you should read this novel.
An ambitious, not always well understood, but brilliant work about an essential philosophical problem.
This theme is treated brilliantly: a man looks through a hole in a wall in a hotel room into another room, where he observes scenes about life and death, like sex or a dying person who insults a priest.
He always asks himself: is this real or are these scenes only in my thoughts? Does the world outside me exist? His answer is negative: I am alone.
It brings him on the brink of schizophrenia. Even science cannot help him. But ultimately he chooses to continue to live, because there is still a sparkle of hope. To find out why, you should read this novel.
An ambitious, not always well understood, but brilliant work about an essential philosophical problem.
51 of 57 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of a kind
23 July 2004
By J from NY
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
It is hard to overestimate the power of this book. A young man (it is regrettable that we never get to put a name to the narrator) cuts a small hole in the wall of his room and watches life, quite literally, 'pass him by'. He bears witness to everything: false love, carnal desire, death (there is an unforgettable scene in which a volatile old man refuses to confess to a priest on his deathbed) all the while making biting observations which strip away, layer by layer, the lies we tell ourselves to keep living. As one reads one almost feels guilty, thinking to oneself "yes, I claimed to love and didn't really love in this situation, I behaved in this way, etc...." It is that true to life despite being a work of solipsism. This is a must.
17 of 20 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
My judgment on Hell
24 Aug 2006
By Sudo Mayhap
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
The dialogue is a bit trite. For example, you have 13 year old lovers each speaking like... well, like despairing 19th century romantics alone in the privacy of their bathrooms. Clearly Barbusse was no master of dialogue. There are some inconsistencies and absurdities (in the ridiculous, not "good", sense) in the plot. However, this is well compensated for by the vivid description of the smallest details; instead of such a thing boring the reader, you find yourself anticipating when Barbusse will next describe the evening light on a cabinet, the formation of furniture, the casual setting of a cafe, etc. This book truly reads like a magnificent painting. Despite the 3 star rating (for reasons above), I highly recommend it.
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4.2 out of 5 stars
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