Like The Emperor's Children, The Last Life created its distinct seductive mood, while still providing recognizable (and relatable) details of, in this case, the life of a teenage girl forced to think for herself. Though I enjoyed, and perhaps related more to, the satire of literary academia in The Emperor's Children, The Last Life was a deeper, and sweeter read.

Really enjoyed this novel, start to finish. Brilliantly written and craftily constructed, the drama balanced with observation and lyrical insight. A novel that makes me want to complete Messud’s oeuvre.

Exceptionally well-written; richly describes contemporary Algerian history from the perspective of priveledged French teenager. Messud is impressive.

This was a very sad book and not until the last 100 pages did I really appreciate the story. The writing was very beautiful and tender but I felt somewhat removed from their lives and pain while reading. So cannot say much more about it than that. It felt distant and wary and maybe that was her objective.

I didn’t really like this book because it had too many cons. For example, the flashbacks are annoying because in the different acts they talk about how the protagonist was in a accident, when she looks back on it it gives less detail the more she keeps bringing it up. Another example is when the protagonist speaks is confusing because through out the book she talks with really long words. She is also 14 years old and that’s strange with this type of vocabulary. To this in chapter 6 in act 7 she says premeditated caresses. Also how the protagonist is lonely is sad because in the times of the acts she spends some sort of time by herself with not talking to anyone at all. There is always a moment in the acts where she is by herself. This book had one pro for me where how they expressed the feelings is detailed because in the first act when the accident happened they expressed how they were going through it and how they were feeling. It gave a lot of description about this accident. This book really didn’t catch my attention like some that I already read.

[4+] What a superb, multi-layered, complex, atypical, coming-of-age story! Sagresse is 14 at the start of the novel and struggling to come to terms with her feelings of displacement amidst the burden of a family weighed down by its history and secrets. At times, Messud's psychological and philosophical insights are overpowering - but being in the hands of such a smart, assured writer is worth it. I adore Messuds' writing. I listened to the audio, narrated beautifully by Saskia Maarleveld.

I have not finished it, but I have read enough of the reviews to know that what is frustrating me is not going to change. I might finish it, skim the rest, or give up entirely. There are some lovely worded phrases, but the story itself is not clear or compelling, the much hyped shooting doesn't really amount to much, the characters do not command my affection or interest, and sometimes her syntax is just too much work with little payoff in clarity.

At another time and with more patience with wealthy people who assume maids and nurses and servants at every turn, I might care.

In the mean time, there are books I will enjoy more just waiting for me to give them a chance.

LATER: Among those waiting was The Woman Upstairs, which I loved.

An interesting journey with a young girl as she develops into a young lady. The trials and tribulations of a family and how it affects her adolescents. She believes at first it started with one gunshot but as she looks deeper into her families past she realizes that the in fact the sequences of events started many,many years ago. Good read.

What I enjoyed - themes related to colonialism, family, belonging, otherness.
What I did not enjoy- overly descriptive prose, Sargesse, the main character, lacked insight throughout, even as she aged into adulthood. Too much foreshadowing!

Finally, Sargesse's relationship with Etienne, her disabled brother, was gross and her thoughts about him and actions toward him seemed to be included purely for shock. I do not believe a girl, herself a virgin, would casually give her disabled brother a hand job. Her relationship to her mother is also puzzling.

Messud returns repeatedly to the idea that Etienne, in his passive existence somehow represents everyone, but quite clearly through all the choices every other character has the agency to make, that is not true.

Not my favorite writing style; far too many run on sentences and commas to describe every little thing. Nearly every sentence had 3 + commas!

Aside from that, the story was dreadfully boring.

Found this in a little free library and am completely floored by it. Such a crazy and intricate life story of a girl between the ages of 16-18, her family history, her place in it. A coming of age story that I’ve never seen told. Wonderful read.

Now that there’s no one to tell me what to read & I don’t read for aspirational purposes, I have little patience for stories about the upper class. I find their struggles and lives less interesting than those of lower income people.