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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
What I Loved is a deeply touching elegiac novel that mourns for the New York artistic life, which was of a time but now has gone--by extension, it is about all losses swept away by mischance and time. Half-blind and alone, Leo tells us of marriage and friendship, and makes the sheer fragility of what seemed forever not only his subject, but perhaps the only subject worth considering. Scholars Leo and his wife Erica admire, and befriend, artist Bill and his first and second wives--their respective sons Matthew and Mark grow up together until the first of a series of tragedies strikes. And things get gradually worse from then on, both because terrible things happen and because people do not get over them.
Part of the strength of this impressive novel is its emotional intensity and part is the context in which those emotions exist; these are smart and talented people, even the children, and we luxuriate, even when things are at their worst, in the sheer intelligence they bring to bear on their situations. It is also impressive that, for Hustvedt, intelligence is an end in itself rather than something that prevents tragedy or makes it more bearable. This is a powerful book because everything Leo knows makes him ever more the victim of exquisite pain. --Roz Kaveney --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'Breathtaking' (James Urquhart, Independent )
'A love story with the grip and suspense of a thriller. It makes you ponder human existence with a peculiar mixture of stoicism and wonder.' (Noonie Minogue, Times Literary Supplement )
'Defiantly complex and frequently dazzling ... she has created a conceptually exciting work that demands we think, but which still allows us room to feel.' (Alex Clark, Sunday Times )
'Substantial, moving and beautifully written' (Christian House, Independent on Sunday )
'A big, wide, sensuous novel - clever, sinister, yet attractively real' (Julie Myerson, Guardian )
'A consummately intelligent novel, highly literate but also intensely moving.' (Jackie McGlone, Scotsman )
'Riveting ... erudite and immensely detailed ... a rich, densely textured and utterly absorbing novel' (Lesley Glaister )
'Subtle, compassionate, wise, and supremely intelligent, it's a striking achievement.' (Kieron Corless, Time Out )
'Hustvedt ranks amongst the finest American writers working today' (Jennifer O'Connell, Sunday Business Post )
'a powerful novel of love, loss and longing, exquisitely written' (Anne Donovan, Sunday Herald )
'A love story with the grip and suspense of a thriller. It makes you ponder human existence with a peculiar mixture of stoicism and wonder.' (Noonie Minogue, Times Literary Supplement )
'Defiantly complex and frequently dazzling ... she has created a conceptually exciting work that demands we think, but which still allows us room to feel.' (Alex Clark, Sunday Times )
'Substantial, moving and beautifully written' (Christian House, Independent on Sunday )
'A big, wide, sensuous novel - clever, sinister, yet attractively real' (Julie Myerson, Guardian )
'A consummately intelligent novel, highly literate but also intensely moving.' (Jackie McGlone, Scotsman )
'Riveting ... erudite and immensely detailed ... a rich, densely textured and utterly absorbing novel' (Lesley Glaister )
'Subtle, compassionate, wise, and supremely intelligent, it's a striking achievement.' (Kieron Corless, Time Out )
'Hustvedt ranks amongst the finest American writers working today' (Jennifer O'Connell, Sunday Business Post )
'a powerful novel of love, loss and longing, exquisitely written' (Anne Donovan, Sunday Herald )
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What I Loved is a beautiful, sprawling novel about love and loss. Once you get past the first hundred or so pages, that is. Divided into three parts, the first third genuinely doesn't seem to know where it's going, with interwoven flashbacks that quickly become disorientating. Persevere, though, because the good stuff is yet to come. The book as a whole reads as if Hustvedt honed her literary skills during the course of writing it - and then simply didn't bother to go back and edit part one. The worst of it is that her narrator's voice doesn't ring true at first either. This is supposedly written from the perspective of an elderly man, but Siri Hustvedt is very much female - and it shows. For the longest time there's simply no avoiding the glaring fact that it's a woman speaking here, not a man. Then the novel takes a dramatic turn, and from that point onwards she seems to get into her strides, so to speak.
The method Hustvedt uses to get your attention is hardly original, but it's powerful nonetheless. I hadn't expected to care so much, but a growing affection for the characters had crept up on me somehow and from that point on I was hooked. In short, there's never been a more deserving candidate for the phrase `flawed but interesting'. In spite of the bumpy start there's some magnificent stuff here. This is (partly) a book about the outskirts of the New York art scene, and her lengthy descriptions of one artist's works are rendered stunningly well. Even potentially dry academic subjects are given life and vigour by Hustvedt's pen. Oddly enough, when the book moves into horror film territory, she really excels at the gory stuff - everything is fleshy and real, almost sickeningly so.
This final third of the book, a kind of psychological mystery story, reminded me fleetingly of `The New York Trilogy' by Paul Auster, to whom this book is dedicated. The fact that he's also Hustvedt's husband made me wonder if his literary influence had rubbed off on her somehow... But in the end this mostly magical book is unique to Hustvedt, I think. Not perfect by a long shot, but unforgettable nevertheless.
The method Hustvedt uses to get your attention is hardly original, but it's powerful nonetheless. I hadn't expected to care so much, but a growing affection for the characters had crept up on me somehow and from that point on I was hooked. In short, there's never been a more deserving candidate for the phrase `flawed but interesting'. In spite of the bumpy start there's some magnificent stuff here. This is (partly) a book about the outskirts of the New York art scene, and her lengthy descriptions of one artist's works are rendered stunningly well. Even potentially dry academic subjects are given life and vigour by Hustvedt's pen. Oddly enough, when the book moves into horror film territory, she really excels at the gory stuff - everything is fleshy and real, almost sickeningly so.
This final third of the book, a kind of psychological mystery story, reminded me fleetingly of `The New York Trilogy' by Paul Auster, to whom this book is dedicated. The fact that he's also Hustvedt's husband made me wonder if his literary influence had rubbed off on her somehow... But in the end this mostly magical book is unique to Hustvedt, I think. Not perfect by a long shot, but unforgettable nevertheless.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Challenging, slow, elitist, moving...
You can see I'm confused by my own responses to this novel! What I like is Siri Hustvedt's refusal to lighten the psychology/art history weight of her story. So it is skillful and challenging and if you can stick with it for the first third, you may find yourself being pulled into the journey of the characters.
I think it ultimately becomes a penetrating account of human relationships and expectations of roles as parents, children, lovers, friends, academics, together with a search for what is lost: people, meaning, time.
You can see I'm confused by my own responses to this novel! What I like is Siri Hustvedt's refusal to lighten the psychology/art history weight of her story. So it is skillful and challenging and if you can stick with it for the first third, you may find yourself being pulled into the journey of the characters.
I think it ultimately becomes a penetrating account of human relationships and expectations of roles as parents, children, lovers, friends, academics, together with a search for what is lost: people, meaning, time.
47 of 55 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt, is one of the most extraordinary novels I have read for a long time. It is primarily a novel of ideas and yet has a great plot and is very gripping. It is the story of 2 couples who are part of the artistic bohemian set in Greenwich Village, they are a very close group of friends and few other people permeate into their world. This book charts the relationships between these people and their children. The novel incorporates art, the process of biography, memory and how it fluctuates, love, loss, hysteria, eating disorders and many many other issues. It is one of those rare things a book which stays with you for a long time after you have read it. I urge everyone who enjoys fine writing and thoughtful concepts to read this book it is a real treat.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Thought-Provoking and Thrilling
A rather surprising novel, which begins as a gentle, rather intellectual examination of the friendship between Leo (an art historian) and Bill (an artist, who works as a painter,... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Kate Hopkins
Ok read but derivative
Just recently read this book, as it was considered to be one of the great recent literary classics. I have to say it is an ok read. Read more
Published 10 months ago by T. Byrne
Don't judge this book by its cover!
A marvellous book - let down by an very unengaging title, and a perfectly awful cover illustration (which, as is so often the case, seems to have nothing at all to do with the... Read more
Published 13 months ago by The Cosmic Whelk
Excellent book, hooked from page 1.
This is a really excellent book. It brims with emotion, from despair to love (obviously) to a brilliantly written creeping terror. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Book Worm
Jackson Pollocks
A good deal of paint was splashed about during the making of this book; if you are of a mind to spend a long time staring at it in order to make your own considered interpretation,... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Mark Hancock
Too long
I was really taken by the first part of the book although I did find the relationships of the protagonists a bit incestuous and not really like the real world which is exactly my... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Mr. R. Thornton
A compelling read.
The story the narrative of which is through the eyes of an ageing man is utterly convincing and it is hard to realise that the Author is a woman. Read more
Published 21 months ago by S. P. Newcombe
Heartbreaking, beautiful and ambititious
What I Loved is an epic novel that covers 30 years of an artist's life, seen through the eyes of his best friend. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Victor Ward
Pretentious and pointless
I have to say this book was very disappointing and I only got about a quarter of the way through it. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Writer
Huh?
This book gave me a similar feeling to the one I get when I've looked at some pieces of modern art, I just don't get it, I see I pile of rubbish and yet others think it's... Read more
Published on 14 April 2010 by D. S. Smith
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