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The Beginners
Anna has been living happily for twenty years with loving, sturdy, outgoing Guillaume when she suddenly (in fact, truly at first sight) falls in love with Thomas, intelligent and handsome, but apparently scarred by a terrible early emotional wound. He reminds Anna of Jude the Obscure and—adift and lovelorn—she tries unsuccessfully to fend off her attraction, literally torn between the two men: How strange it is to leave someone you love for someone you love. You cross a footbridge that has no name, that’s not named in any poem. No, nowhere is a name given to this bridge, and that is why Anna found it so difficult to cross. Anne Serre offers here, in her third book in English, her most direct novel to date. The Beginners is wildly unpredictable, sensual, exhilarating, oddly moral, perverse, absurd, and entirely unforgettable.
185 pages, Paperback
First published August 25, 2011
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1350 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
November 16, 2022
Was expecting a more highbrow variation on Normal People and instead I got this quiet exploratory little philosophical novel about love as a painful never-ending pursuit. Anne Serre seems to see romantic love as this inherently greedy desire rather than a mutual give-and-take, and her protagonist Anna essentially just gives up on twenty years of a comfortable healthy relationship after meeting someone else in the street who she literally on-sight begins to love in a different way than her partner Guillaume. Is she an asshole for that or is that kind of restlessness just another messy part of being human? I could not tell you (probably a little column A, a little column B) but I love reading Anne trying to articulate these very complicated emotions that feel so rarely explored in art.
May 14, 2022
A short, swift, weird, funny puzzle of a book. One of the blurbs on the back cover says “Tight and fabulist, like something born from an orgy between Charles Perrault, Shirley Jackson, and Angela Carter.” And apparently it is the most conventional of Serre’s writings. I loved it. I also thought the English translation is exceptional.
November 22, 2021
I loved this book and read it all in one sitting. I learned about it from a mention in The New Yorker. In total it is an unusual analysis of love, of what romantic love can be at its very best, with its equal parts of conjuring of illusion and of more earthbound practical realities. I love this story of a woman torn asunder by unexpectedly, unpredictably deeply loving two men, and her expression of the different facets of the nourishing romantic love she found with each of them.
August 29, 2021
"It is only by mistake perhaps that we love at all... we want to be overcome with the desire we mistake for love."
I wanted to read something that would crush me. But anything too whimsical didn't do it, I have aged into being too jaded for my adolescent comforts.
The pain of this story was in the very real moments of small heartbreaks that happen in such a passive way that you dont even realize you're falling to pieces. That all the passion can sometimes only amount to quiet suffering.
"in his heart there was a small explosion. He ignored it,"
I love a stream-of-consciousness. It was perfect storytelling for this kinda romance/kinda not; dwelling on the realities of the flawed nature of a human in love, or infatuation, and the ways we try and find justification for our maladjusted fantasies.
I wanted to read something that would crush me. But anything too whimsical didn't do it, I have aged into being too jaded for my adolescent comforts.
The pain of this story was in the very real moments of small heartbreaks that happen in such a passive way that you dont even realize you're falling to pieces. That all the passion can sometimes only amount to quiet suffering.
"in his heart there was a small explosion. He ignored it,"
I love a stream-of-consciousness. It was perfect storytelling for this kinda romance/kinda not; dwelling on the realities of the flawed nature of a human in love, or infatuation, and the ways we try and find justification for our maladjusted fantasies.
August 19, 2021
Mental theater...Infinite monologue...needed an Advil for the second half.
November 20, 2021
I was simultaneously appalled and fascinated by this book. For me, the heroine was unnerving, selfish, and contradictory, yet, as with the best fiction, I needed to see how it would all turn out, even as I shuddered at some of her choices and assertions. Her line of thinking was uncomfortably recognizable!
October 18, 2025
Inexplicably very French. I resonate with our main character’s struggle, being torn between a fulfilling and happy old/current love and a sparkly, fierce new love. Though I do admire Anne Serre’s ability to capture a troubled person’s internal thoughts and monologue through rambles of writing, I just don’t think it’s my preferred style of writing. It’s often perfectly executed, but there are moments throughout where it can be difficult to read between the lines due to lack of understanding what’s actually being done or said.
The story itself is captivating with a lingering question of will-she-won’t-she haunting every scene. Personally, it’s hard for me to sympathize with any type of cheater in any story. Serre wrote our protagonist (?) Anna in such a way I could not help but sympathize with her quandary. Leave or stay. Remain in comfort or take a leap of faith. It’s not just that, though. Her difficulty in making a choice is rooted from many areas of trouble. Her conundrum and everything it stems from is beautifully written as a part of the human condition.
I, unfortunately, don’t think it was for me, but I still finished decently satisfied, and with a great recommendation for anyone who wishes to know of a good absurdist and existential fiction!
The story itself is captivating with a lingering question of will-she-won’t-she haunting every scene. Personally, it’s hard for me to sympathize with any type of cheater in any story. Serre wrote our protagonist (?) Anna in such a way I could not help but sympathize with her quandary. Leave or stay. Remain in comfort or take a leap of faith. It’s not just that, though. Her difficulty in making a choice is rooted from many areas of trouble. Her conundrum and everything it stems from is beautifully written as a part of the human condition.
I, unfortunately, don’t think it was for me, but I still finished decently satisfied, and with a great recommendation for anyone who wishes to know of a good absurdist and existential fiction!
July 19, 2024
A beautiful & solemn reflection in close third. Anna is the age her mother & sister were when they died, when she runs into a man on the street and falls in love at first
sight—but she’s been with her partner for 20 years.
A stunning novel where the only thing that happens is the churning over of leaving someone you love for someone you love.
Stunning prose, observations, and sentences
“She, who had no wish to be welcomed anywhere, just to carry on playing fast and loose with love!”
“How can you walk away from a man who puts himself in your hands? Who looks to you for the coming of spring? Who looks to you to release him from the woe that was his life? Who only half believes in his life, if that, but nevertheless, since meeting you, believes in it a wee bit more just the same?”
“Yet whenever she was overcome with desire like this at the sight of Thomas, she would lose the ability to compare, to see herself from the outside, and would live exclusively with her powerful emotions, pressed up against them, tucked up inside them, feeling their warmth and life like a cat ensconced in a basket with her litter of newborn kittens.”
sight—but she’s been with her partner for 20 years.
A stunning novel where the only thing that happens is the churning over of leaving someone you love for someone you love.
Stunning prose, observations, and sentences
“She, who had no wish to be welcomed anywhere, just to carry on playing fast and loose with love!”
“How can you walk away from a man who puts himself in your hands? Who looks to you for the coming of spring? Who looks to you to release him from the woe that was his life? Who only half believes in his life, if that, but nevertheless, since meeting you, believes in it a wee bit more just the same?”
“Yet whenever she was overcome with desire like this at the sight of Thomas, she would lose the ability to compare, to see herself from the outside, and would live exclusively with her powerful emotions, pressed up against them, tucked up inside them, feeling their warmth and life like a cat ensconced in a basket with her litter of newborn kittens.”
October 9, 2024
2.5….. very boring…. but alas
July 29, 2025
This novella narrates a very specific genre of psychological event: namely, the experience of being torn between two romantic partners whom you love equally, and of ending things with one of them to be with the other. I can't remember the last time I read a book dealing with this narrowly specific kind of situation, so there's definitely an element of novelty here. At times, though, the analysis didn't feel as deep or as universalizing as I craved. Some parts were packed with details, while in other places crucial areas were strangely left blank or spacy.
I did feel transfixed/accused by this glorious passage: "Whenever she finds herself surrounded by the furnishings and fabrics of her childhood, she tries desperately to keep them at bay, to depersonalize them and see them as wholly alien to herself. Nothing could be more abhorrent in her eyes than objects having a sentimental value.... Yes, they share the same masked horror of the past. They both keep up appearances, for to have the upper hand you must deceive the enemy continually, it’s the only way; to meet him face to face is quite impossible, you would lose. They both pretend, therefore, to retain a tenderhearted interest in the past.... And so they can allude to their childhood as if it had been a natural one. It’s a wise move, moreover, as we all have need of an imagined childhood."
Now I'm wondering: what is my "imagined childhood," and what needs in me does it satisfy?
I did feel transfixed/accused by this glorious passage: "Whenever she finds herself surrounded by the furnishings and fabrics of her childhood, she tries desperately to keep them at bay, to depersonalize them and see them as wholly alien to herself. Nothing could be more abhorrent in her eyes than objects having a sentimental value.... Yes, they share the same masked horror of the past. They both keep up appearances, for to have the upper hand you must deceive the enemy continually, it’s the only way; to meet him face to face is quite impossible, you would lose. They both pretend, therefore, to retain a tenderhearted interest in the past.... And so they can allude to their childhood as if it had been a natural one. It’s a wise move, moreover, as we all have need of an imagined childhood."
Now I'm wondering: what is my "imagined childhood," and what needs in me does it satisfy?
February 10, 2025
I haven’t even finished this yet but the main character is such a fucking cunt I can’t even believe her audacity. Wondering why your partner left you? ITS BECAUSE YOU WERE HAVING AN AFFAIR YOU AWFUL PIECE OF SHIT
and then she gets mad because Thomas wants her to meet his kids?? Ive never hated a main character like I hate Anna.
Great book, but fuck Anna for real. I don’t ever want to hear about Jude the Obscure ever again jfc.
and then she gets mad because Thomas wants her to meet his kids?? Ive never hated a main character like I hate Anna.
Great book, but fuck Anna for real. I don’t ever want to hear about Jude the Obscure ever again jfc.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 4, 2024
i am going to have to journal about this
Read
May 29, 2022Oh my word that took me WAY longer than I wanted it to. I really enjoyed elements of this book. There are some really wonderful sentences and thoughts and paragraphs, but I struggled to get through it here and there due to the nature of the writing and the meandering-thought stream of consciousness that was the whole book. I was really happy to be done. But that being said, I do really appreciate this book and the things it contemplated and explored. The mind of this book will stay with me.
October 9, 2025
3.5 interesting book… a bit rambly with basically no dialogue. anna “falls in love” with another man and then is confused why her husband leaves her?? i felt like the story was pretty stretched out despite the book being quite short. can definitely tell the characters / setting is french by the way things are described!
May 29, 2025
4.5, an amazing reading experience. Essentially a single moment in time stretched out in an extremely creative way. A woman in a long term, happy, loving relationship falls in love with a new man, and that mix of emotions and urges and joy and guilt is rolled around and around, like wine swirling in a glass, and we can smell and appreciate the depth and beauty of its contents.
The first two thirds were the strongest, hence the 4.5.
The first two thirds were the strongest, hence the 4.5.
December 13, 2025
Beautifully complex; on love, betrayal, and fate
“How strange it is to leave someone you love for someone you love.”
“So she tells the story again, in the same way that people will sometimes mutilate a body or tear out a heart without understanding why it's convulsing and bleeding.”
“How strange it is to leave someone you love for someone you love.”
“So she tells the story again, in the same way that people will sometimes mutilate a body or tear out a heart without understanding why it's convulsing and bleeding.”
October 10, 2024
This book was a fever dream I couldn’t put down and won’t soon forget
January 15, 2024
Anne vive, da ormai vent'anni, un'intensa e appassionata storia d'amore con Guillame. Tutto sembra perfetto e indissolubile, fino al momento in cui, però, all'età di 43 anni, incontra Thomas. Per lui, Anne prova un sentimento nuovo, diverso, particolare, originale, intenso. Non è amore ma, al tempo stesso, è qualcosa di più. E, allo stesso modo, sente di amare ancora Guillame e di non poter rinunciare a lui. Così, con estrema naturalezza, ma al contempo con infinite e inutili riflessioni, Anne cerca di vivere entrambi gli amori cercando di convincere sia l'uno che l'altro della possibilità di trascorrere i suoi anni futuri così, divisa tra due uomini, amante di uno e dell'altro, appartenente sia ad uno, sia all'altro.
Lasciata dal compagno storico, quindi, decide di intraprendere una nuova vita con Thomas, uomo misterioso e criptico quasi quanto lei, trascorrendo le sue giornate nel continuo confronto con il vecchio amore, interrogandosi infinite volte sul significato del loro sentimento e farneticando su aspetti surreali di vita quotidiana.
Questo romanzo è un insieme, piuttosto soporifero, di riflessioni e sproloqui sul senso dell'amore, sul significato di questo sentimento e sulla sua forza dirompente, che non si ferma dinnanzi a niente e a nessuno. Non contano le età e gli anni passati; non contano le aspettative del futuro e le problematiche oggettive del presente: ciò che conta è solo l'amore. In tutto ciò, però, in questo testo emerge, a mio avviso, un forte egoismo appartenente alla protagonista, nonchè la sua naturale incapacità di assumersi le proprie responsabilità e di prendere decisioni. Il suo vittimismo e, soprattutto, il suo infinito rimuginare su qualsiasi cosa, la rendono piuttosto disturbante e sgradevole.
Personalmente, a causa della lunghezza infinita dei pensieri della protagonista, dell'inutilità di questo continuo pensare e di uno stile di scrittura poco accattivante e piuttosto soporifero, non ho apprezzato questo romanzo.
Lasciata dal compagno storico, quindi, decide di intraprendere una nuova vita con Thomas, uomo misterioso e criptico quasi quanto lei, trascorrendo le sue giornate nel continuo confronto con il vecchio amore, interrogandosi infinite volte sul significato del loro sentimento e farneticando su aspetti surreali di vita quotidiana.
Questo romanzo è un insieme, piuttosto soporifero, di riflessioni e sproloqui sul senso dell'amore, sul significato di questo sentimento e sulla sua forza dirompente, che non si ferma dinnanzi a niente e a nessuno. Non contano le età e gli anni passati; non contano le aspettative del futuro e le problematiche oggettive del presente: ciò che conta è solo l'amore. In tutto ciò, però, in questo testo emerge, a mio avviso, un forte egoismo appartenente alla protagonista, nonchè la sua naturale incapacità di assumersi le proprie responsabilità e di prendere decisioni. Il suo vittimismo e, soprattutto, il suo infinito rimuginare su qualsiasi cosa, la rendono piuttosto disturbante e sgradevole.
Personalmente, a causa della lunghezza infinita dei pensieri della protagonista, dell'inutilità di questo continuo pensare e di uno stile di scrittura poco accattivante e piuttosto soporifero, non ho apprezzato questo romanzo.
August 18, 2021
Solid book that had a logical ending. I don't know if it was satisfactory since the choice was actually made by another character halfway through the story (and the main character's reconciliation with this fact was still viewed as a choice). Life doesn't always work that way, but our minds do (and this is definitely a book of the mind).
June 24, 2024
A very beautiful book. Simple in its writing but so complex and brain turning. Each page has you thinking differently, it's like following her mind perfectly, it's so human the way her thoughts are portrayed, so raw and without filter. The choice is clear one moment for her and the next it's muddled. Love isn't simple or clear cut, there are different ways to love, different degrees to it, and this book shows that.
September 12, 2021
This book was not good. It was all in third person and there was no plot it was the same story for 200 pages. would not recommend to my friend Ashley Ann.
August 8, 2023
I wanted to like this. The first page is good. But the repetition of the same few notes for 180+ pages after that makes it almost unreadable.
September 10, 2025
This is not a story about love, not entirely.
It is not about passion, being in love and torn between two people at once (whether you believe it’s possible to be in love with two people at once or not is another matter entirely).
Sure, it contains these things, but what it is about is greed, selfishness and narcissism.
It is also about desire, to be known, understood and how often times we will ensnare the hearts of others and use them as playthings; whether we mean to or not, calling it love with doe eyes and pretty smiles to cover the ache of living.
What it also is about, is broken people reaching out to compare wounds and finding comfort that the wounds sometimes resemble their own.
Serre's main character Anna has lived twenty happy years with Guillaume, a strong, lively, tender man who has at every turn held her close and made sure she knew laughter, love, comfort.
Until she spots Jude the Obscure, or Thomas. It’s love at first sight, truly.
They strike up something far from just friendship as soon as they close the distance between each other. They’ve already sowed their seeds of attraction and desire when they talk about art, so much so they find themselves meeting everyday and allowing their connection to grow steadily. Their chats eventually lead to more, and it causes a disturbance in the love Anna and Guillaume share. One that Guillaume senses early on, because he knows her and because he loves her, though it is not one he cares to speak aloud for fear this small tear in the fabric of their love will be un-mendable.
I can understand attraction, I can understand the unbridled desire for skin to touch between two lovers. Not necessarily sexually, but intimately, with open vulnerability and patience. To peel back the layers of one’s being like clothing, and hold tenderly what you find. What I cannot understand, is her greed. Her selfishness. Her narcissism at the expense of one she claims to love. (Well of course I can understand, human emotions and what drives us aren’t hard to understand at all in the end; not when you’re really paying attention.)
Anna begins an affair with Thomas, and because she feels so guilty, she tells Guillaume and can’t for the life of her understand why he’s upset. Why he, who has been the only one to truly know her, can’t understand how her love for him and her love for Thomas are different but still true.
It’s infuriating.
Anna to me is something like a black hole, a region with gravity so strong all she knows how to do is take within herself so that she’s full.
She tries to explain to Guillaume once, twice, what has happened, that her and Thomas’ love have nothing to do with the love she and Guillaume feel. She can’t fathom the idea that this is the true breaking point, that Guillaume will leave her, sorry, abandon her is the phrase she likes to use. This idea is laughable to her.
Had she expected, hoped, he would be able to love her all the same? That they would just split days and nights between him and her other lover?
I don’t know if Anna ever truly loved Guillaume, or just the warmth and safety he was able to tend her wounds with.
I will say Thomas is not a bad guy.
I will say Anna could have handled this better, but I suppose we can always handle things better.
Anna and Thomas are broken people, finding comfort in their ability to sit together with their wounds and hold each other through the weight of it all. They have both lost loved ones in the same way, tragedy has held them as closely as they hold each other.
There is beauty in that. The ability to find someone that can love you and understand your wounds.
I enjoyed Serre’s writing style and the thought put into exploring love, greed and the trials of life.
It is not about passion, being in love and torn between two people at once (whether you believe it’s possible to be in love with two people at once or not is another matter entirely).
Sure, it contains these things, but what it is about is greed, selfishness and narcissism.
It is also about desire, to be known, understood and how often times we will ensnare the hearts of others and use them as playthings; whether we mean to or not, calling it love with doe eyes and pretty smiles to cover the ache of living.
What it also is about, is broken people reaching out to compare wounds and finding comfort that the wounds sometimes resemble their own.
Serre's main character Anna has lived twenty happy years with Guillaume, a strong, lively, tender man who has at every turn held her close and made sure she knew laughter, love, comfort.
Until she spots Jude the Obscure, or Thomas. It’s love at first sight, truly.
They strike up something far from just friendship as soon as they close the distance between each other. They’ve already sowed their seeds of attraction and desire when they talk about art, so much so they find themselves meeting everyday and allowing their connection to grow steadily. Their chats eventually lead to more, and it causes a disturbance in the love Anna and Guillaume share. One that Guillaume senses early on, because he knows her and because he loves her, though it is not one he cares to speak aloud for fear this small tear in the fabric of their love will be un-mendable.
I can understand attraction, I can understand the unbridled desire for skin to touch between two lovers. Not necessarily sexually, but intimately, with open vulnerability and patience. To peel back the layers of one’s being like clothing, and hold tenderly what you find. What I cannot understand, is her greed. Her selfishness. Her narcissism at the expense of one she claims to love. (Well of course I can understand, human emotions and what drives us aren’t hard to understand at all in the end; not when you’re really paying attention.)
Anna begins an affair with Thomas, and because she feels so guilty, she tells Guillaume and can’t for the life of her understand why he’s upset. Why he, who has been the only one to truly know her, can’t understand how her love for him and her love for Thomas are different but still true.
It’s infuriating.
Anna to me is something like a black hole, a region with gravity so strong all she knows how to do is take within herself so that she’s full.
She tries to explain to Guillaume once, twice, what has happened, that her and Thomas’ love have nothing to do with the love she and Guillaume feel. She can’t fathom the idea that this is the true breaking point, that Guillaume will leave her, sorry, abandon her is the phrase she likes to use. This idea is laughable to her.
Had she expected, hoped, he would be able to love her all the same? That they would just split days and nights between him and her other lover?
I don’t know if Anna ever truly loved Guillaume, or just the warmth and safety he was able to tend her wounds with.
I will say Thomas is not a bad guy.
I will say Anna could have handled this better, but I suppose we can always handle things better.
Anna and Thomas are broken people, finding comfort in their ability to sit together with their wounds and hold each other through the weight of it all. They have both lost loved ones in the same way, tragedy has held them as closely as they hold each other.
There is beauty in that. The ability to find someone that can love you and understand your wounds.
I enjoyed Serre’s writing style and the thought put into exploring love, greed and the trials of life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 4, 2024
The Beginners was different, thought-provoking, and beautiful. The story is about a woman who is already in a relationship with someone for the past twenty years then she falls in love with another man (love at first sight).
I like that the author made it a point to say that with love at first sight, it isn’t always “instant attraction” on both sides. Sometimes you need to sit with the emotions felt then you come to realize more was there.
There is a constant back and forth will or won’t they get together and the final outcome of this connection. I underlined a lot of pretty great quotes.
“How strange is it to leave someone you love for someone you love.“
“You can be spared unbridled love and its torments: you just have to say no. No to the mess and chaos, no to the loss of self, no to the transformation. In that case you remain within the confines of a more bearable life.” I love this so so much, BEAUTIFUL.
I will say I wasn’t the biggest fan of Anna’s. I found her to be dense and sorta unlikeable. Multiple times she questions why Guillaume abandons her and obviously it’s because she cheated on him and told him that she loved another man! He wasn’t gonna fight.
Anne Serre does it again for me. I cannot wait to continue reading her backlist! 5⭐️
“It was so beautiful to have found it, so unhoped-for, so grandiose. It’s not every day you find a book to write, a love affair to experience.”
I like that the author made it a point to say that with love at first sight, it isn’t always “instant attraction” on both sides. Sometimes you need to sit with the emotions felt then you come to realize more was there.
There is a constant back and forth will or won’t they get together and the final outcome of this connection. I underlined a lot of pretty great quotes.
“How strange is it to leave someone you love for someone you love.“
“You can be spared unbridled love and its torments: you just have to say no. No to the mess and chaos, no to the loss of self, no to the transformation. In that case you remain within the confines of a more bearable life.” I love this so so much, BEAUTIFUL.
I will say I wasn’t the biggest fan of Anna’s. I found her to be dense and sorta unlikeable. Multiple times she questions why Guillaume abandons her and obviously it’s because she cheated on him and told him that she loved another man! He wasn’t gonna fight.
Anne Serre does it again for me. I cannot wait to continue reading her backlist! 5⭐️
“It was so beautiful to have found it, so unhoped-for, so grandiose. It’s not every day you find a book to write, a love affair to experience.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 22, 2022
To begin with a note about the writing. For the most part I thought it worked well but as it lacked much dialogue and was very much in the mind of Anna, the main character, sometimes I would be reading and get lost in the words. I'd find myself not remembering what the author wrote, even earlier in the page.
But I did like it. I enjoy Anne Serre. This novel seemed to explore the complexities and joys of falling in love with someone, in the particular case when you have been involved with someone for 20 years. Even though I was aware Anna loved Thomas, I felt myself wanting her to be with Guillaume, a man who seemed to understand and be completely devoted to her. But as the story progressed and he left her I wondered about the love between them. Its easy to understand the betrayal and hurt he felt but I wondered how it seemed he was able to just pack up and leave. How did the conversation go when Anna told him of her feelings for Thomas? We don't know. It felt like a disservice. I'm also aware though that from the time Anna first mentions Thomas to Guillaume, he is aware that things are changing between them.
But I did like it. I enjoy Anne Serre. This novel seemed to explore the complexities and joys of falling in love with someone, in the particular case when you have been involved with someone for 20 years. Even though I was aware Anna loved Thomas, I felt myself wanting her to be with Guillaume, a man who seemed to understand and be completely devoted to her. But as the story progressed and he left her I wondered about the love between them. Its easy to understand the betrayal and hurt he felt but I wondered how it seemed he was able to just pack up and leave. How did the conversation go when Anna told him of her feelings for Thomas? We don't know. It felt like a disservice. I'm also aware though that from the time Anna first mentions Thomas to Guillaume, he is aware that things are changing between them.
April 23, 2022
About a woman, Anna, who, twenty years into a happy marriage with her husband, Guillaume, falls compulsively in love with another man, Thomas, whom she knows nothing about. Most of the novel deals with the inner debate she has over choosing one over the other, debate that includes the opinions of her female friends and an older couple she knows.
Her dithering over choosing one man over the other only increases the misery of all three. And just as the metaphoric pot for the characters seems set on eternal simmer, Guillaume leaves Anna, which comes unexpectedly because he has been presented as unperturbable and eternally patient. Both Anna and Guillaume turn out to have inner lives and needs the other was unaware of, no matter the compatibility that has sustained them for twenty years
After Guillaume leaves her, she continues dithering a bit over Thomas, too, but eventually ends up marrying Thomas and living a life that isn’t happily ever after but is which she feels is realistic because it contains pain, unlike her marriage to Guillaume. (Spoiler alert.)
For more of my reviews, please see https://www.thebookbeat.com/backroom/...
Her dithering over choosing one man over the other only increases the misery of all three. And just as the metaphoric pot for the characters seems set on eternal simmer, Guillaume leaves Anna, which comes unexpectedly because he has been presented as unperturbable and eternally patient. Both Anna and Guillaume turn out to have inner lives and needs the other was unaware of, no matter the compatibility that has sustained them for twenty years
After Guillaume leaves her, she continues dithering a bit over Thomas, too, but eventually ends up marrying Thomas and living a life that isn’t happily ever after but is which she feels is realistic because it contains pain, unlike her marriage to Guillaume. (Spoiler alert.)
For more of my reviews, please see https://www.thebookbeat.com/backroom/...
August 22, 2023
There is something particularly entertaining about French overthinking for me. The passionate interior voice. Particularly combined with romance. Very much all in and all out at the same time. This story balances this in a playful way. With thick layers of sadness and pain of these vulnerable normal creatures described in lusty detail. I found much of it gleefully silly and ridiculous. In a good way. Like “Ohmyghard, I could never.” I feel like I was able to empathize with the character more because I was able to laugh at them—and myself. I wanted to read The Governesses, but I couldn’t find it. I am more curious about it now as it does not look like it has the same restraint this one does. Or does it?
“Needless to say, arranging the rendezvous proves very complicated. She hunts around for hotels in Paris, visits a good ten rooms, sees some nice ones and books a few, but it’s strange to be choosing a pretty room in a hotel for a rendezvous with someone you’re in love with — it’s vulgar, it’s embarrassing, no, she really can’t go through with it.”
“Needless to say, arranging the rendezvous proves very complicated. She hunts around for hotels in Paris, visits a good ten rooms, sees some nice ones and books a few, but it’s strange to be choosing a pretty room in a hotel for a rendezvous with someone you’re in love with — it’s vulgar, it’s embarrassing, no, she really can’t go through with it.”
May 26, 2024
Hilarious, incredibly french. Ridiculous! Picked this one up as an in-between read since it's so short but it ended up taking me forever to read since it's so taxing. I was actually very interested in this one because I often dismiss books like this written by men, saying they're so male and masturbatory but I would be okay with it if there were some written by women. Enter The Beginners! An intelligent grown woman engaging a powerful love and sex life? Nice! Yet I have now discovered I just hate this kind of book regardless. There were some good moments but really it's just a long poem diary entry about being the coolest girl in the world. Never-mind the stuff about her imagining herself as her 12 year old self to be able to have sex with Thomas and then "screaming and howling" incessantly when he touches her shoulder lmfao. Overall I'm just being a hater, there's definitely women who would love this book but it's not me. An excursion out of my usual book path has done me well but I'm excited to return home from this!!
May 2, 2025
Where do I begin? Listen, Anne Serre is a great writer. She manages to convey wide ranges of emotions and ideas with beautifully simple sentences. As far as her characterization goes… listen, I’m partial to love triangle settings in general and there’s nothing more grating to me than a woman pondering for centuries on who she’d want to boink best in her near future but I could compromise if only Things Were Happening. But truly not much was happening here. And the book felt painstakingly long despite having only 180 or so pages. I guess the whole point was to convey that Anna’s love was greedy as hell but I wish we had spent less time reading her thoughts and more time maybe seeing the whole situation from another perspective? Also I was promised sensuality and there was none. Anna’s descriptions of love-making sounded naive and conceptual. Thomas felt like a faceless shape. Guillaume felt like a jolly ghost. And I, the reader, wanted to be anywhere else but with them.
May 14, 2025
Interesting... A love triangle is a classic framework for a plot. In this short novel translated from French, Anna has been in a happy relationship with Guillaume for twenty years until she meets Thomas and falls madly in love. This is revealed to the reader in the first paragraph. From there, we learn how Anna and Guillaume's relationship fares as she slowly becomes involved with Thomas. That's it in a nutshell. As an American, this all seemed very French with its emphasis on clothing, being attractive, and meeting in cafes and restaurants. That's probably unfair to the French, but that was my superficial impression. There is an interesting exploration of romantic infatuation and its difference from a long-term relationship, but the build-up was slow to the point of tedium. Anna's narcissism was also quite annoying. Despite all the critiques, it was a mildly entertaining and fast read.
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