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Loading... The Summer Without Men: A Novel (original 2011; edition 2011)by Siri Hustvedt
Work InformationThe Summer without Men by Siri Hustvedt (2011)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Much going on in this novel. V accomplished. ( ) I loved this book, for the plot less than for reasons of tone. The narrative voice is so similar to one that could be mine-- 50-ish woman, on the outs with a man fairly typical of her generation, too smart for her own good and ridiculously and indulgently well-read--over-read?--Mistress Overdun, in a way, but with the undercurrent of a sturdy and salty midwestern voice that never loses its humor. Feelings and words and coming back to the self. Light and tripping and celebratory even though the subject matters don't sound that effervescent: recovering from a nervous breakdown caused by her husband's affair, getting to know her mother's friends in the assisted living center, dealing with the hurtful back-stabbing wounds of a group of young teen girls. Maiden, mother, and crone plus memory and presence. I really like Hustvedts's writing. It's always smart and emotional and just on the right side of being pretentious. She's smart in that she picks intelligent, worldy, artistic characters as her voice so that her novels are believable. In this short novel, 50-something year old Mia has been left by her husband, had a mental breakdown, and gone to visit her mother for the summer. During this summer, she is surrounded by women. She is a poet and author and teaches a summer course on poetry to a group of seven drama-filled young teenage girls. She also gets to know her mother's aging circle of friends in her nursing home. Setting up the contrasts and similarities between these two groups gives the book structure and depth. And then she also meets a neighbor who is a young mother in an abusive marriage. This is not my favorite Siri Hustvedt novel (that remains The Blazing World), but it's a good and accessible intro to her writing.
Here, although the subject matter is serious - a woman's search for her lost identity - the tempo is upbeat. In a narrative without chapter breaks, Hustvedt explores the idea that differences between the genders is less important than "how much difference the difference makes". Hustvedt creates a voice for Mia that is witty, concise, demanding; delighted by the concordances of sounds in words, compassionate and aware of its own faults. Hustvedt shows us Mia as she stumbles through the female relationships around her, all painted in with a wry eye. Velment, men ikke helt vellykket Siri Hustvedt er med sitt navn og sine aner liksom litt norsk, selv om hun er oppvokst i Minnesota og nå bor i Brooklyn. Hun skriver sine bøker på engelsk, og de oversettes til mange språk, deriblant norsk. Hennes siste roman er velment, men ikke udelt vellykket. Spenstig om kvinneliv Siri Hustvedts nye roman «Sommeren uten menn» har en overraskende letthet kombinert med en intellektuell spenst og vitalitet som synes å ha blitt forfatterens varemerke. Siri Hustvedt byr på mye humor og mye klok menneskelig innsikt i denne nye og tynne lille romanen på drøye 200 sider. Med utgangspunkt i en utroskapshistorie av den svært konvensjonelle og slitesterke typen: Middelaldrende ektemann vil ha en pause fra sitt 30-årige fellesliv med sin kone Mia for å dyrke sin nye franske og unge lidenskap, stiger det fram en fortelling om kvinneliv i flere generasjoner. Det hele fortalt med omtanke og omsorg, med brutalt klarsyn og med høyt refleksjonsnivå Er det mulig å tilgi en utro ektemann? Siri Hustvedt har skrevet en sjeldent god bok ANMELDELSE: Når jeg leser en bok, setter jeg alltid eselører ved de sidene der jeg finner noe virkelig godt. I «Sommeren uten menn» kunne jeg gjerne hatt flere på hver eneste side. For dette er en sjeldent god bok
Mia is forced to reexamine her life when her husband puts their marriage on "pause" after thirty years. She returns to the prairie town of her childhood, and is drawn into the lives of those around her. No library descriptions found. |
LibraryThing Early Reviewers AlumSiri Hustvedt's book The Summer Without Men was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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