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Stephanie Patterson
A beautiful but difficult novel
This book, based on some of Claire Messud’s family history is ambitious in scope both in terms of timespan and geography. It is beautifully written. If you are a fan of subtlety and nuance this book is for you. We follow members of the Cassar family as they cope with what history and fate has dealt them.
While this is a beautiful novel, it is important for the reader to understand that it is not your standard page turner. Messud takes time to tell her story. It is not an easy read. People lives are changed by their decisions but also by history. I often felt as restless as some of the characters. This is a sign
…more of how powerful Messud’s writing is. If you feel elated by stories that are beautifully and artfully told, you’ll be rewarded. If you’re expecting a conventional happy ending, this may not be for you. (less)
Cathryn Conroy
An Ambitious Family Saga Based on Fact, Embellished by Imagination
Who among us hasn't thought that our family story would be perfect for a novel? Claire Messud has written that novel about her family. This bighearted, cosmopolitan family saga begins in 1940 at the start of World War II and continues for three generations until 2010.
While the names have been changed (for the most part) and the intimate conversations, fierce arguments, private thoughts, and hopeful dreams have been embellished with this novelist's rich imagination, the bones of the story are based on fact. And those facts take us around the world—from Algeria to Australia to Argentina, from New England to
…more England, from Canada to France. It's all over the map—literally.
We first meet Gaston and Lucienne Cassar, a couple who married with a huge age difference—she is13 years older than he is—and were utterly devoted to one another through a life that no one would describe as easy. They are French, but they think of their home as Algiers. Gaston is the French naval attaché and diplomat and so the family moves a lot. They have two children, François (the author's father) and Denise. François is a brilliant academic with a troubled and miserable marriage to Barbara, a Canadian, while fragile, tightly-wound Denise never marries and suffers multiple bouts of depression. François, who is irascible, a heavy smoker, and an alcoholic, and Barbara have two children, Loulou and Chloe (Chloe being the fictional version of the author).
The final chapter—the epilogue—takes us back to 1927 when a secret about Gaston and Lucienne—often hinted at during the novel, but never revealed—is shockingly exposed. And it's a big one!
There is no plot, per se, but rather a rich, profound, and dramatic narrative about the lives of these people as the years pass and their relationships with each other become more complex and tangled—and more secrets are revealed.
More subtle is the nod to Shakespeare's "As You Like It." Both the title of the book and the idea that a human life has seven ages come from the play—and there are seven sections in the book that mirror this. (less)Very unlike Messud's usual work, this is a sprawling family story that examines how history and chance work on families and can reverberate through generations. It is based on Messud's own family history so it is clearly a labor of love. It is not always an easy read, but you will want to to know what happens to the Cassar family.
NM
A story of belonging
Claire Messud's This Strange Eventful History depicts the story of the Cassar family's journey through generations as they navigate global events and family dynamics. In the beginning, Algeria is their home, or so they believe in their hearts, until revolution casts them out and back to France, a home they've never really known. As the characters search for a place to belong in the world, they search for their place in their own family. Social, religious, and cultural barriers challenge them at every turn. A comprehensive family saga full of (more than a few) surprises.
Laura C. (Woodworth, LA)
The search for home
Algeria's violent and bloody 8-year war for independence from France began in 1954. Native Algerians were just as much French citizens as people born in France, and, as such, were allowed to choose to live in France. Algerians who did so, called pieds noirs, were ultimately welcome in neither country after the war.
In This Strange Eventful History, Gaston and Lucienne Cassar struggle to find a place that they can call home and raise their children in the aftermath of Algerian independence. Claire Messud follows three generations of Cassar descendents over 70 years and to places as far flung as Argentina and
…more Australia. Messud's rich, in-depth descriptions of the struggles, successes and failures of family members makes this not a quick read but is testament to her extraordinary talent. The theme of home and what it means to have no place to truly call home should be of interest to book clubs who members are prepared for the extra effort this 400 page saga may require. (less)but a languid literary exploration of what family means and what home. The novel spans seven decades and is told in multiple viewpoints from members of the Cassar family. I found some of the voices more engaging than others and some of the chapters dragged for me, but all share a literary quality and a gift for evocative description. Sometimes the descriptions are too elaborate in my opinion (do we really need to know every name and background of people attending a party if we never meet them again?) and the large cast of characters was overwhelming, but there are moments of great beauty. The history of
…more colonialism and how personal identity is forged are fascinating topics. This was a slow (okay, at times boring) read for me but I don't regret finishing these 425 pages. (less)This beautifully written and very readable book is at the same time strange and unsettling. The author follows the lives of an Algerian couple and their children and grandchildren from 1940 to 2010. Set in Algeria, France, Argentina, and Australia, the chapters weave back and forth among different members of the family. The mother and father are totally in love and devoted to each other; the son and daughter struggle to find contentment, living either in a fantasy world or an all-too realistic one. The two granddaughters' observations offer interesting perspectives on the mismatched marriage of their parents and
…more their aunt's mental and physical deterioration. A series of lengthy disturbing anecdotes, the resulting narrative leaves the reader to ponder questions of genetics vs. experiences, family alliances, and the origins of self-destructive behavior. (less)4.5. The Cassars lived in Algeria from 1940 to 2010. They thought of themselves as 100 belonging there and 100 French citizens. Yet when Algeria became independent, they had to leave -not wanted in Algeria or France.
This is a story about a family, without roots, moving from country to country. Gaston and Lucienne, the parents, who have the perfect marriage, and their children, Francoise and Denise, who can never achieve this perfection. Based on the lives of the author's own family, the novel brings alive the thoughts, emotions, and desires of these individuals. I felt I really knew these people and cared about
…more their lives.
I knew nothing about Algeria and would have liked to know more about their lives there. (less)
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