7 ratings (3.29 avg)
7 reviews

Berengaria Liedmeier

Add friend

Berengaria’s Bookshelves

to-read‎ (13)

currently-reading‎ (2)

read‎ (5)

magical-beguiling‎ (0)

Stats | More…

Berengaria is Currently Reading

Berengaria Liedmeier rated a book really liked it

Tender Is the Night

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Berengaria Liedmeier said: " I want to suggest a sixth option for the rating in stars: [Abstain from Rating]. I have no idea what amount of stars I should give to Tender is the Night. I am sure I do not understand a vast amount of what is being written. Then again maybe sometime I want to suggest a sixth option for the rating in stars: [Abstain from Rating]. I have no idea what amount of stars I should give to Tender is the Night. I am sure I do not understand a vast amount of what is being written. Then again maybe sometimes I actually do understand but what is implied is so uncomfortable I am not willing to believe it and in stead I feign ignorance. At other moments the accuracy of what is being described and the clarity of the words in which it is captured make me gasp in awe.

a moment of awe: girls asking entrance to a hotelroom so they can wave goodbye to their sailors from the balcony:

[One of the girls hoisted her skirt suddenly, pulled and ripped at her pink step-ins and tore them to a sizable flag; then, screaming "Ben! Ben!" she waved it wildly.]

This is so convincing I feel it must have happened and the mastery of Fitzgeralds words just made me an eye witness of the past.

Then the weirdness:

[But whereas a girl of nineteen draws her confidence from a surfeit of attention, a woman of twenty-nine is nourished on subtler stuff. Desirous, she chooses her aperitifs wisely, or, content, she enjoys the caviare of potential power.]

yeah yeah I can cough up some suspected meanings of the above, none of them very flattering to the Fitz, or take the easy way out, decide to not understand it and continue reading.

I wrote it before (see the review of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell): I read anti-plotwise. To me it's vastly preferable to skip and hop through a tale as if I am a curious bunny. Often I google the summary so I don't have to deal with the nuisance of not-plot-knowing. Somehow I get a better grasp of what I as a reader am experiencing, see above. This brings me to the following:

I would love to read a second version of Tender is the Night, in which the rich white people problems were printed in an almost transparant ink, and the seemingly unimportant things happening - girls waving their step-ins, black men being murdered in yet other hotel rooms - appeared in Bold

The Great American Novel is a patriarchal trope. ...more "

Jul 08, 2025 04:15AM · see review

Berengaria Liedmeier rated a book it was amazing

Piranesi

by Susanna Clarke

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Berengaria Liedmeier said: " I am in awe. I wander through the stories I've read like Piranesi meanders in his world. The statues he meets bring him insights that lead to gratitude and wonder. Like so memories of stories resurface into my conscience. They are brimming with wisdo ...more "

May 29, 2025 03:53AM · see review