Claire Messud's most recent book, A Strange Eventful History, tells fictionalized stories of her family's lives in "French" Algeria, as does this book, her second novel. The 15 year-old narrator, the daughter of an American mother, and French "pied-noir" father, interlaces their present lives of the French side of the Mediterranean from her family's past in Algeria. I refreshed my recollection of the war for Algerian independence, which helped me understand. It's a long novel--about 570 pages--but a relatively easy read.

Claire Messud personifies writing as art. She is a joy to read, no matter what the story is about, every sentence is a work of art. She is particularly impactful with stories about young girls coming of age in difficult circumstances. This is one of her masterpieces. It's Pulitzer Prize worthy, and it should be a matter of time before she wins one.

I slogged through the first 2/3 - the meandering, vapid teen angst, oblivious to life outside her limited sight. Not a bildungsroman. Some odd uses of words - like they were just tossed in after a dictionary search. Word salad. A good editor was needed to get the book on track.
Interspersed were paragraphs, pages of insight and glimmers of what the book was really about - our past and its haunting. influence. importance.
The last third was the book it should have been throughout. Thoughtful, interesting, struggling with identity and loss and a society that I knew little about (save for Camus) the pieds noir, French colonialism and the ensuing war in Algeria.

This is a hard book to read. Not only is the subject matter sad--even depressing--but also the structure and style of the novel make it a difficult book to read. It is literary fiction, perhaps not at its finest, but definitely at its most demanding. That said, there is much to recommend this novel by Claire Messud--just don't read it on the beach.

Told in the first person by Sagesse LaBasse, who recalls as a young adult the events of several of her most formative teenage years, the story takes place primarily in the south of France on the Mediterranean Sea. Sagesse describes her wealthy, but tortured, family's existence--refugees from Algeria who never quite fit in in France despite extraordinary business success. But even more devastating to them than always feeling like "the other" are the many dark secrets that plague and haunt the LaBasse family over several generations.

The plot line, such as it is, is secondary to the almost stream-of-consciousness dialogue carried on by Sagesse as she first narrates and then examines in depth each piece of the action. It is far more about the analysis--emotional and psychological--of what happens than anything else. And, yes, it can be quite tedious at times. But it's also like a flower, opening and probing the secrets of life, the secrets of what it means to be human.

If you enjoy serious literary fiction, this is a must-read. If you prefer your books to have a riveting storyline, skip it.

Aside to Kindle Readers: Originally published in 1999, this book has had a less-than-perfect translation to Kindle format. There are numerous errors--misspellings and missing apostrophes being the most blatant. It's a shame, but doesn't take away too much from the story. Most unfortunately, the second to the last sentence of the book is poetic--or it would be if there weren't a horrendous typo in it that nearly ruins it. But the human brain is smart enough to figure it out. It's just a shame...that's all.

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.

Could NOT wait to get this one over with! Ugh!

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.

I really ought to give up on Claire Messud. She writes about big issues I am interested in - the fallout from the French leaving Algeria in this book - but somehow deals with them in such a way that I find I care less at the end of the book than I did at the beginning. Contrast the Michael Haneke film Caché, that dealt with the same subject so much more powerfully. I think, perhaps, it's that she doesn't take many risks as a writer, doesn't let the really powerful undercurrents rise up into her prose.

very good,. I like this author. Will try emperors children again. took a long time to read. finished in Lima after Peruvian ceviche and my first pisco sour.




after

Gorgeously written coming of age story of Sagesse, a young girl who is descended from the pied-noir French colonialists in Algeria. This book is sad and dark and thought-provoking. I thoroughly enjoyed the settings of Algeria and Marseilles, and watching the revelation of the La Basse family’s secrets against the backdrop of their hotel on the Mediterranean was captivating. Negative reviews of The Last Life claim that Messud’s vocabulary and allusions (like to Albert Camus) were too sophisticated for a 14-year old girl, but I thoroughly disagree, as Sagesse is of a wealthy, educated, and sophisticated old money family in France. Besides, Camus was a pied-noir and the protagonist identifies with him and is writing about him for a school project, which is completely plausible. Early in the book, after reading Messud’s description of the produce in the bustling open air market, I fell in love with her writing and had trouble putting the book down, which is why I finished it in only 2 days.

Not a novel. More a memoire or diary, told in the first person with perfect, total, incredible recall, purportedly told from a decade or more in the future. Even to the recounting of the lives of her parents and grandparents. Little descriptive action, scene setting, or plot building. Obviously well written with all the bells and whistles, but lacking any building of emotion or excitement. Further, I never found a character that I was attracted to or even interested in. The narrator and her story were interesting enough to carry the book, but not ultimately exemplary or appealing.

Overwrought. Both writing and content.