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The Snow Ball
A comedy of manners set at a Baroque ball on New Year's Eve, this novel portrays a variety of characters who embark on erotic relationships during the ball.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
33 people are currently reading
1198 people want to read
About the author
Brigid Brophy
40 books50 followersBrigid Antonia Brophy, Lady Levey (12 June 1929, in Ealing, Middlesex, England – 7 August 1995, in Louth, Lincolnshire, England) was an English novelist, essayist, critic, biographer, and dramatist. In the Dictionary of Literary Biography: British Novelists since 1960, S. J. Newman described her as "one of the oddest, most brilliant, and most enduring of [the] 1960s symptoms."
She was a feminist and pacifist who expressed controversial opinions on marriage, the Vietnam War, religious education in schools, sex (she was openly bisexual), and pornography. She was a vocal campaigner for animal rights and vegetarianism. A 1965 Sunday Times article by Brophy is credited by psychologist Richard D. Ryder with having triggered the formation of the animal rights movement in England.
Because of her outspokenness, she was labeled many things, including "one of our leading literary shrews" by a Times Literary Supplement reviewer. "A lonely, ubiquitous toiler in the weekend graveyards, she has scored some direct hits on massive targets: Kingsley Amis, Henry Miller, Professor Wilson Knight."
Brophy was married to art historian Sir Michael Levey. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1984, which took her life 11 years later at the age of 66.
She was a feminist and pacifist who expressed controversial opinions on marriage, the Vietnam War, religious education in schools, sex (she was openly bisexual), and pornography. She was a vocal campaigner for animal rights and vegetarianism. A 1965 Sunday Times article by Brophy is credited by psychologist Richard D. Ryder with having triggered the formation of the animal rights movement in England.
Because of her outspokenness, she was labeled many things, including "one of our leading literary shrews" by a Times Literary Supplement reviewer. "A lonely, ubiquitous toiler in the weekend graveyards, she has scored some direct hits on massive targets: Kingsley Amis, Henry Miller, Professor Wilson Knight."
Brophy was married to art historian Sir Michael Levey. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1984, which took her life 11 years later at the age of 66.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 100 reviews
January 6, 2021
This book was on display at Waterstones before Christmas, and I picked it up initially because I had seen Brigid Brophy's name recently, and that was because Iris Murdoch dedicated a novel to her. Once I saw that the introduction was by Eley Williams and the blurb quotes came from Isabel Waidner and David Hayden among others, I couldn't resist buying it. I was a little horrified to discover that some idiot in marketing had appended "The Classic Christmas Romance" to the book title here. Brophy deserves better, as this is far more than a romance and is set on the night of a New Year masked ball, so has very little relevance to Christmas either. The book owes much to Mozart, and is inspired by his opera Don Giovanni, but it is the writing that stands out, and its playful irreverence.
There is very little plot to speak of - the book is all about mood, atmosphere, artifice and desire. The whole story occupies a time span of around ten hours. The main protagonist Anna has come to the eighteenth century ball dressed as Donna Anna (who appears in the first scene of Mozart's opera), and much of the book centres on her encounter with a masked man dressed as Don Giovanni, whose real name we never learn.
There is very little plot to speak of - the book is all about mood, atmosphere, artifice and desire. The whole story occupies a time span of around ten hours. The main protagonist Anna has come to the eighteenth century ball dressed as Donna Anna (who appears in the first scene of Mozart's opera), and much of the book centres on her encounter with a masked man dressed as Don Giovanni, whose real name we never learn.
October 17, 2024
This is one of those well written, clever books that just did not happen to grab me.
The whole book takes place on New Year’s Eve through to early New Year’s Day. The Snow Ball is a masquerade ball. If you know your operas (I do not) this book is a take on the Don Giovanni opera by Mozart. There is a man dressed as Don Giovanni and he meets his Donna Anna. Will he be able to seduce Donna Anna- that is the primary question. There are other people who flit in and out, but these two are our main focus.
The book is very artful, very elaborate in its set ups but it left me cold and ready to move on.
I read this book for an upcoming course. I am hoping I gain more insight after the lecture.
Published: 1964
The whole book takes place on New Year’s Eve through to early New Year’s Day. The Snow Ball is a masquerade ball. If you know your operas (I do not) this book is a take on the Don Giovanni opera by Mozart. There is a man dressed as Don Giovanni and he meets his Donna Anna. Will he be able to seduce Donna Anna- that is the primary question. There are other people who flit in and out, but these two are our main focus.
The book is very artful, very elaborate in its set ups but it left me cold and ready to move on.
I read this book for an upcoming course. I am hoping I gain more insight after the lecture.
Published: 1964
July 7, 2013
In this witty comedy Brophy channels her inner Ronald Firbank and comes out smiling beneath her sly masquerade. Set in a large Victorian house in the (presumed) 1960s, various guests assemble for a masked ball on New Years’ Eve dressed as characters from popular literature and opera and the like. Among the cast are Anne and Anna, who meets the masked Don Giovanni, from Mozart’s opera of the same name, and finds herself embroiled in a canny mirroring of the tale throughout the snowy evening. Teenagers Ruth and Edward also perform their own romantic dance that night, ending with an unsatisfactory encounter in a Bentley. A comedy of manners, the baroque descriptions and charming dialogue mirror Firbank, who Brophy admired enough to revive in her critical profile, Prancing Novelist: A Defence of Fiction in the Form of a Critical Biography in Praise of Ronald Firbank. Brophy seems to don new masks and styles in each of her novels, making her a BURIED writer to look out for.
January 5, 2022
The Snow Ball could be the lovechild of Angela Carter and Virginia Woolf: trippy and fluid, existential and erotic, funny and witty.
A hedonistic comedy of manners, it is also excruciatingly detailed; I found myself schooling my impatience on more than one occasion. I couldn’t decide whether I loved it or hated it. (Evidently, I settled on the former.)
This is certainly not for everyone; nebulous and a little difficult to grasp.
A hedonistic comedy of manners, it is also excruciatingly detailed; I found myself schooling my impatience on more than one occasion. I couldn’t decide whether I loved it or hated it. (Evidently, I settled on the former.)
This is certainly not for everyone; nebulous and a little difficult to grasp.
April 16, 2024
Although the blurb claims this was a "scandalous" book on 1st publication I doubt it would raise much of an eyebrow these days with it's subtle evocation of lesbian love.
However that's not the point. This is a witty tale of several sets of star-crossed lovers set at a New years Eve costume party. I enjoyed the word play very much, for some reason it reminded me (slightly) of Peter Greenaway's film The Draughtsmans Contract in that respect.
I'll be hunting down more of Brigid Brophy's work in future
However that's not the point. This is a witty tale of several sets of star-crossed lovers set at a New years Eve costume party. I enjoyed the word play very much, for some reason it reminded me (slightly) of Peter Greenaway's film The Draughtsmans Contract in that respect.
I'll be hunting down more of Brigid Brophy's work in future
March 18, 2021
Oh man, this was a lot of fun. Such a strong sense of intelligence and wit behind every sentence.
Read
April 30, 2022A book I admired more than enjoyed. Clever, witty and intellectually pleasing, but it left me cold. Probably just me / wrong book, wrong time etc - I probably could have read this under different conditions and loved it.
December 23, 2021
Picked this up at McNally Jackson because: (1) the cover design is eye-catchingly gorgeous, (2) any friend of Iris Murdoch is a friend of mine, and (3) how could a little novel about intrigues at a masquerade ball not be up my alley? The Snow Ball is sublimely well-written, intelligent, learnèd, and compellingly suspenseful: I just plowed through it because I had to know how it ends. But I do wish the author had challenged the protagonist's worldview a bit more -- I was rather disappointed when she seemed to end in more or less the same place where she began.
June 3, 2019
A playful, seductive book, shot through with a captivating sense of wit. In essence, Brophy is riffing with the themes of Mozart’s celebrated opera Don Giovanni, reimagining the relationship between the titular character, DG, and Donna Anna, the young woman he tries to seduce. (As the opera opens, the attempted seduction has just taken place, but its success or otherwise remains unclear.)
To read my review, please click here:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2019...
To read my review, please click here:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2019...
January 2, 2021
Dull, pretentious, over complicated. Only glad it was short
January 3, 2024
Reread: January 2024. Just as great as I remembered it!
While browsing around Waterstones in Belfast at the end of October, I saw a beautiful book with a white cover, its title in gold font, framed by mint green, dark pink and gold curlicues. It was The Snow Ball by Brigid Brophy. Curiosity piqued, I read the back cover and discovered that it’s not a Christmas tale but a New Year’s Eve one! The summary is short but was detailed enough to entice me: “When Anna is kissed by a mysterious stranger at a NYE masquerade ball, a dance of seduction begins.” Does it ever.
Using allegory and allusion, Brophy uses Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s famous opera Don Giovanni to frame the protagonist’s storyline. Anna attends her friend Anne’s opulent ball dressed as Donna Anna, the woman who is seduced/assaulted by the title character in the opera. The mysterious stranger referred to in the synopsis is dressed as Don Giovanni, so perhaps it’s unsurprising that—at the stroke of midnight—Don Giovanni (the character in the novel) passionately and aggressively kisses Anna.
In spite of some heavy subject matter—aging and death—what follows is a lighthearted romp of a good time interspersed with some retrospective conversations and smart dialogue. And although Anna is preoccupied with the passing of time as some are at the beginning of a new year, she is looking for some fun! Her mixed emotions play out in astute observations of the guests, her friend’s Rococo-styled home, excess, and sex. Yes, lots of sex: readers are privy to seemingly innocent conversations about mint creams (candies) when they’re given a quick history lesson: according to Greek mythology, Minthe was a wood nymph (https://naturalsociety.com/mythology-...). Ah, Brophy. You were a clever girl.
The story is, if nothing else, playful: Rococo art is known for being asymmetrical, a reflection prominent in the two characters Anna and Anne; the characters Donna Anna and Don Giovanni in Mozart’s opera and Anna (dressed as Donna Anna) and the unnamed male character dressed as Don Giovanni, including their relationships; and the deaths in the opera and the story.
Now, say you’re not interested in doing the legwork to feel like you understand the complexity of this shorter fiction—that’s okay. I think you’d still enjoy it because Brophy plays on the complexities of our (western/European) beliefs that people have, throughout history, perpetuated but also exploited for their own gains, specifically women and their sexual liberation. How does this relate to the story? Well, the central question in the opera Don Giovanni is whether or not DG (Don Giovanni) seduced DA (Donna Anna). If he did seduce her? Well in the 18th century, an unmarried woman willing sleeping with a man was still frowned on, to put it mildly. But if he didn’t seduce her, then he must have sexually assaulted her. But as Dr. Brompeus (a character in The Snow Ball) tries to impress on anyone who’ll listen to him: to ask the question about whether DG seduced DA is to ignore the culture and ideologies prevalent during the 18th century, culture and ideologies that were still around in the 60s and that are, sadly, still alive and thriving today.
By the time the story comes to an end, it’s very clear that Brophy used the masked ball to play with ideas of fantasy versus reality, perceived reality versus reality, letting go of inhibitions (playfulness and frivolity), duplicity, fetishes, and ornamentation.
If you enjoy reading about desire, sex, philosophy, Mozart, observing others (not in a creepy way though), and NYE masquerade balls, then this could be the book for you!
I’ve now listened to Brophy’s masterpiece (republished by Faber & Faber in 2020) on audio three times, and I’ve loved it more each time I’ve read it. Shawn the Book Maniac and I chatted about this publication. Now that the video is live, I’ve included the link here.
[Audiobook, Scribd]
While browsing around Waterstones in Belfast at the end of October, I saw a beautiful book with a white cover, its title in gold font, framed by mint green, dark pink and gold curlicues. It was The Snow Ball by Brigid Brophy. Curiosity piqued, I read the back cover and discovered that it’s not a Christmas tale but a New Year’s Eve one! The summary is short but was detailed enough to entice me: “When Anna is kissed by a mysterious stranger at a NYE masquerade ball, a dance of seduction begins.” Does it ever.
Using allegory and allusion, Brophy uses Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s famous opera Don Giovanni to frame the protagonist’s storyline. Anna attends her friend Anne’s opulent ball dressed as Donna Anna, the woman who is seduced/assaulted by the title character in the opera. The mysterious stranger referred to in the synopsis is dressed as Don Giovanni, so perhaps it’s unsurprising that—at the stroke of midnight—Don Giovanni (the character in the novel) passionately and aggressively kisses Anna.
In spite of some heavy subject matter—aging and death—what follows is a lighthearted romp of a good time interspersed with some retrospective conversations and smart dialogue. And although Anna is preoccupied with the passing of time as some are at the beginning of a new year, she is looking for some fun! Her mixed emotions play out in astute observations of the guests, her friend’s Rococo-styled home, excess, and sex. Yes, lots of sex: readers are privy to seemingly innocent conversations about mint creams (candies) when they’re given a quick history lesson: according to Greek mythology, Minthe was a wood nymph (https://naturalsociety.com/mythology-...). Ah, Brophy. You were a clever girl.
The story is, if nothing else, playful: Rococo art is known for being asymmetrical, a reflection prominent in the two characters Anna and Anne; the characters Donna Anna and Don Giovanni in Mozart’s opera and Anna (dressed as Donna Anna) and the unnamed male character dressed as Don Giovanni, including their relationships; and the deaths in the opera and the story.
Now, say you’re not interested in doing the legwork to feel like you understand the complexity of this shorter fiction—that’s okay. I think you’d still enjoy it because Brophy plays on the complexities of our (western/European) beliefs that people have, throughout history, perpetuated but also exploited for their own gains, specifically women and their sexual liberation. How does this relate to the story? Well, the central question in the opera Don Giovanni is whether or not DG (Don Giovanni) seduced DA (Donna Anna). If he did seduce her? Well in the 18th century, an unmarried woman willing sleeping with a man was still frowned on, to put it mildly. But if he didn’t seduce her, then he must have sexually assaulted her. But as Dr. Brompeus (a character in The Snow Ball) tries to impress on anyone who’ll listen to him: to ask the question about whether DG seduced DA is to ignore the culture and ideologies prevalent during the 18th century, culture and ideologies that were still around in the 60s and that are, sadly, still alive and thriving today.
By the time the story comes to an end, it’s very clear that Brophy used the masked ball to play with ideas of fantasy versus reality, perceived reality versus reality, letting go of inhibitions (playfulness and frivolity), duplicity, fetishes, and ornamentation.
If you enjoy reading about desire, sex, philosophy, Mozart, observing others (not in a creepy way though), and NYE masquerade balls, then this could be the book for you!
I’ve now listened to Brophy’s masterpiece (republished by Faber & Faber in 2020) on audio three times, and I’ve loved it more each time I’ve read it. Shawn the Book Maniac and I chatted about this publication. Now that the video is live, I’ve included the link here.
[Audiobook, Scribd]
June 17, 2021
Proof that Brophy not only wrote her novels in very different styles from each other, but in different styles of camp. I have to admit I prefer the Joycean camp of In Transit and the Firbankian camp of The Finishing Touch. The Snow Ball is more a naturalistic and sedate type of literary camp in comparison, but as Eley Williams's new foreword points out, it's still 'a camp refiguring of canons of Western art'. In terms of what it sets out to do, it's a work of art.
The foreword is also worth reading for a neat demonstration of how Williams's 2020 style differs from Brophy's 1964 style - EW has a more surgical yet playful obsession with words. In The Snow Ball, writes Williams, there are 'words as frescoes, carefully wrought in sentences such as "the walls’ plumbness she had turned into plumpness", so that the trompe l’oeil of a dripping filigree or the swing of a New Year’s Eve pendulum can be traced in the letter b’s transformation into a p.’
There is (incredibly) no mention of dripping filigrees or pendulums in the Brophy book - that's Williams. It's a nice reminder that Brophy's spirit continues in living writers like Williams, and indeed in the work of Isabel Waidner, who supplies a quote on the back flap.
This 2020 paperback edition by Faber is highly welcome: a gorgeous (anonymous) swirl of colours on the white front, with luxurious cover flaps, all suggestive of the peppermint creams that punctuate the titular ball. Hopefully the same treatment can soon be given to In Transit and The Finishing Touch - and perhaps even Prancing Novelist, which Williams includes in a list of further reading. Will people who enjoy this book be seeking out a 600 page study of Ronald Firbank? I can only dream.
The foreword is also worth reading for a neat demonstration of how Williams's 2020 style differs from Brophy's 1964 style - EW has a more surgical yet playful obsession with words. In The Snow Ball, writes Williams, there are 'words as frescoes, carefully wrought in sentences such as "the walls’ plumbness she had turned into plumpness", so that the trompe l’oeil of a dripping filigree or the swing of a New Year’s Eve pendulum can be traced in the letter b’s transformation into a p.’
There is (incredibly) no mention of dripping filigrees or pendulums in the Brophy book - that's Williams. It's a nice reminder that Brophy's spirit continues in living writers like Williams, and indeed in the work of Isabel Waidner, who supplies a quote on the back flap.
This 2020 paperback edition by Faber is highly welcome: a gorgeous (anonymous) swirl of colours on the white front, with luxurious cover flaps, all suggestive of the peppermint creams that punctuate the titular ball. Hopefully the same treatment can soon be given to In Transit and The Finishing Touch - and perhaps even Prancing Novelist, which Williams includes in a list of further reading. Will people who enjoy this book be seeking out a 600 page study of Ronald Firbank? I can only dream.
January 6, 2021
In ‘The Snow Ball’, Brophy takes the heady, lusty, excitement that comes with new love and mingles it with the exuberance, decadence, and hedonism of New Years Eve. Set at an 18th C Masquerade party in a faux Baroque/Rococo Georgian mansion, this book has all the opulence and excess you’d expect of such an occasion/setting. Erotic, ecstatic, existential and stylistically particularly bizarre, ‘The Snow Ball’ was a short swirling treat to set off the new year with.
The worst thing about reading this novel was that I started it on NYE in 2020 and it reminded me of actually being able to see people. I’ll definitely try to reread this another New Year, and probably remind myself I don’t like big parties that much anyway!
The worst thing about reading this novel was that I started it on NYE in 2020 and it reminded me of actually being able to see people. I’ll definitely try to reread this another New Year, and probably remind myself I don’t like big parties that much anyway!
May 29, 2016
I suppose I'm a missing an extra dimension of references here due to my ignorance of Mozart in general and "Don Giovanni" in particular. This is a book that assumes its readers are comfortable with those matters, and classical references in general.
In some respects this is a dry run for some ideas that will turn up in later books such as "In Transit". Popular music is rubbish and just a din in the background that needs to be cleared away before "real music" can commence. Wealthy people are philistines who don't appreciate the trappings of culture they accumulate. Young people and their rebellions are simply banal. More importantly, we can all play games with the masks we live and work behind, aware of their artificiality and with no imperative to shed them - rather, we can have more fun once we know how much is simply a game. Women don't have to play by the rules men set for them. They don't have to define themselves around a significant male, they might even forget they ever had one in common. There may even be ambiguous relationships between women that don't fit any stereotypes or expectations. Nobody quite understands their own motivations, Freud hovers in the background.
Be warned, there is a dreadful little public schoolboy character who is drawn with total accuracy, including racism and adolescent attitudes to female sexuality.
In some respects this is a dry run for some ideas that will turn up in later books such as "In Transit". Popular music is rubbish and just a din in the background that needs to be cleared away before "real music" can commence. Wealthy people are philistines who don't appreciate the trappings of culture they accumulate. Young people and their rebellions are simply banal. More importantly, we can all play games with the masks we live and work behind, aware of their artificiality and with no imperative to shed them - rather, we can have more fun once we know how much is simply a game. Women don't have to play by the rules men set for them. They don't have to define themselves around a significant male, they might even forget they ever had one in common. There may even be ambiguous relationships between women that don't fit any stereotypes or expectations. Nobody quite understands their own motivations, Freud hovers in the background.
Be warned, there is a dreadful little public schoolboy character who is drawn with total accuracy, including racism and adolescent attitudes to female sexuality.
August 7, 2025
I told myself this year that I would DNF books if I didn’t like them. However, I’m a sucker for completing books for bookclub, so alas, here we are.
This book felt pretentious, was overtly wordy with unnecessary descriptions, and left me unsure of what the whole point was. The writing style was awkward and did not flow well. For how long-winded many of the scenes were, it did not summarize any of the relationships or explain the nuances between characters well at all. The diary scenes were difficult to read, with abbreviations that no one uses.
This book wasn’t long, and I should have been able to get through it faster than I did. I just wasn’t compelled to pick it up.
This book felt pretentious, was overtly wordy with unnecessary descriptions, and left me unsure of what the whole point was. The writing style was awkward and did not flow well. For how long-winded many of the scenes were, it did not summarize any of the relationships or explain the nuances between characters well at all. The diary scenes were difficult to read, with abbreviations that no one uses.
This book wasn’t long, and I should have been able to get through it faster than I did. I just wasn’t compelled to pick it up.
December 31, 2020
An odd little book that follows relationships and seductions at a New Year’s Eve masquerade ball in London in the 1960s. It most definitely isn’t a Christmas romance as per the subtitle although it is (just about) Christmas and there is romance... I struggled to get into it but I think it probably needs to be read in one sitting if possible as you are living the night of the ball almost in real time - once I put aside some time to just concentrate on it I enjoyed it much more. It’s witty, evocative, a bit scandalous and subversive, a bit feminist, and all in all if you don’t mind something fairly plotless and slow moving it’s a very satisfying experience. Brophy was a fascinating character and I’d be interested in searching out some of her other works to compare.
October 15, 2025
Gek einde, wel entertainment en grappig voor zn tijd
December 31, 2020
An ornate masterpiece. Sensual, wicked, clever; its dark heart glittering. So pleasurable and original and weird. It's quite nice indeed to end the year with this gem.
*(Bonus: Having Jessie Ware's "What's Your Pleasure?" playing on repeat while you take occasional breaks from this just to savour the world you've entered.)
*(Bonus: Having Jessie Ware's "What's Your Pleasure?" playing on repeat while you take occasional breaks from this just to savour the world you've entered.)
December 13, 2020
Wowie wow. What a weird little book! I don’t even know how I feel about it or what I just read. More later when I figure it out. I don’t even know how to assign stars...
Update:
I think I love this crazy little book. Love the way it captures the strange, manufactured optimism and breathlessness of New Year's Eve. Enjoy the three romantic relationships and their various approaches to seduction. It's super sexy without being graphic, tawdry, or eye-roll-y. And there were a few points that made me hoot out loud with glee for the language and audacity. I listened to the audiobook and the narration was *chef's kiss& fantastic.
Update:
I think I love this crazy little book. Love the way it captures the strange, manufactured optimism and breathlessness of New Year's Eve. Enjoy the three romantic relationships and their various approaches to seduction. It's super sexy without being graphic, tawdry, or eye-roll-y. And there were a few points that made me hoot out loud with glee for the language and audacity. I listened to the audiobook and the narration was *chef's kiss& fantastic.
January 2, 2025
a surprise ! this made me Taste frothy champagne and spun sugar and chocolate-mint and grainy meringue and the first snowflake you catch on yr tongue and the lingering burnt-coffee aftertaste of existential dread. also maybe a hint of peach a la the labyrinth ballroom scene ? decadent & ornamental & artful & slightly horrible.
May 30, 2016
A charming novel, I devoured this in a single day. I don't know anything about Don Giovanni, but enjoyed the dreamy, frantic atmosphere of the ball very much.
January 20, 2021
Exquisite!
December 31, 2023
like an episode of gossip girl, in the best way
December 30, 2025
The Snow Ball by Brigid Brophy is described by Eley Williams as dazzling; I’d also add unsettling, and cruel in the way only intelligent novels are. Over one New Year’s Eve (can you tell I’m a seasonal reader?) masquerade it mixes opera, sex, and comedy into something strange and dark. It’s a bit of a “nothing novel” in that nothing distinctly happens; Brophy refuses tidy answers — which is exactly why it lingers.
April 14, 2018
[1964] Beautiful, detailed descriptions; interesting, well-developed characters. Pacing was good, moved well. Had a little of a lot of things but not too much of anything. Takes place all in one night, from 10:30p or so until dawn at a new year's eve fancy dress ball. The time that it was written, early '60s, comes through in feel. Interesting choice to give two of the main characters the same name. This relatively short novel felt efficient - like I got a much more fleshed out picture of the people, places, and things than I should have from only 143 pages.
January 7, 2021
The most amazing imagery. Extremely well written and very different to modern books. I can see the influence of her lover Iris Murdoch. Very brave for the times. Woman centred. Rich people but class awareness. Dark humour. Left me wanting more. A re issued copy read for one of my bookshop book groups. Faber and Faber and a beautiful cover. Glad I read it.
December 25, 2020
Probably 3.5 stars for me. An interesting read. Lyrical, witty and seductive. Would recommend as something different.
Read
January 10, 2023highbrow midcentury romance novel with some wry existentialism thrown in. not my thing
February 7, 2023
3.5*
I was gonna be generous and give it 4 stars for its goodreads rating but that last chapter was just baffling. 3.5* either way
I was gonna be generous and give it 4 stars for its goodreads rating but that last chapter was just baffling. 3.5* either way
Read
May 30, 2021This is another that I'm going to have DNF.
The story just feels way too fragmented and slow for me to have any interest in it.
I'm going to leave it unrated as I feel it unfair to provide a rating when I haven't read enough to warrant one.
The story just feels way too fragmented and slow for me to have any interest in it.
I'm going to leave it unrated as I feel it unfair to provide a rating when I haven't read enough to warrant one.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 100 reviews