hannahsoothers's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
didactylos's review against another edition
4.0
Another panoramic novel of a whole life. I found this more unified, and certainly more crafted. Very clever use of photographs.
booknerdjo's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book from the very first line!
Like several other novels by Boyd, this is a fictional biography which tells the story of a fictional character against the backdrop of real historical events and encounters with real people.
Amory Clay is born in 1908 and her life spans most of the 20th Century. Hers is a life touched again and again by war and conflict, and she moves from being a society photographer to being a pioneering female war photographer.
I loved Amory: restless, passionate and determined but also pragmatic and rational.
I found it hard to believe that this book was a work of fiction written by a man, so real and compelling was Amory's voice.
Moving, heartbreaking, inspiring, joyful.
Like several other novels by Boyd, this is a fictional biography which tells the story of a fictional character against the backdrop of real historical events and encounters with real people.
Amory Clay is born in 1908 and her life spans most of the 20th Century. Hers is a life touched again and again by war and conflict, and she moves from being a society photographer to being a pioneering female war photographer.
I loved Amory: restless, passionate and determined but also pragmatic and rational.
I found it hard to believe that this book was a work of fiction written by a man, so real and compelling was Amory's voice.
Moving, heartbreaking, inspiring, joyful.
merle24's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
susanlawson's review against another edition
4.0
The life story of Amory Clay and, indeed, the 20th Century, including wars and cultural change on a global scale. As a photographer, Amory observes and records the changes she witnesses and lives a full and eventful life, according to her own wishes.
fictionfan's review against another edition
1.0
Why not Bulgaria?
In the early days of the twentieth century, young Amory Clay decided to emulate her uncle Greville and become a professional photographer. Many years later, Amory reminisces about where her profession has taken her over the years. And of course it has taken her to all the places we’d expect – the decadence of ‘30s Berlin, the rise of the Nazis, WW2, Vietnam, in most of which places, this being a Boyd book, she has sex with a “scandalous” edge – married men, women, etc.
I’m afraid I abandoned this halfway through, after it taking me over a month to get to that point. I used to love William Boyd and still think his earlier books, and an occasional later one, are great stories well told. But recently I’ve found myself struggling to get up any real interest in the lives of his characters or in their stories. This one has been told before and told better by Boyd himself, in Any Human Heart, the story of a man who lived through all the major events of the twentieth century (and had lots of sex). Why Boyd felt it would be a good idea to do it again with a female lead beats me, but even if I wasn’t having strong feelings of déjà vu I doubt if Avery would have won my heart.
The thing about her is that she goes to these interesting places – Berlin, London, New York – and seems to miss everything interesting about them, perhaps because she spends so much time in bedrooms. I found myself wearily wishing that just once an author would find somewhere new to explore rather than the overtrodden path of Nazis/WW2, etc. Not to labour the point, but the twentieth century lasted for a hundred years and involved countries other than the UK, the USA and Germany. Wouldn’t it be brilliant if some author leapt into the unknown and took us to, say, Bulgaria, or Bahrain, or Venezuela? I assume something must have happened in these countries over the course of a century. I know, I know – plenty of authors have gone further afield, but I was feeling bored and a little bitter while I was musing. Boyd used to be one of the authors to whom I looked to expand my fictional horizons, but recently his books feel safely settled in the overly familiar.
He’s also uses an odd device in this one, which I feel doesn’t work at all. Over the years in real life, he has collected random photographs from sales, etc., which he presents here as Amory’s work. This meant that, firstly, it often felt to me that he was manipulating the story to fit round the photos so that oddly random episodes would be included, like Amory briefly working as a fashion photographer, which didn’t sit well with the character or the overall thrust of her life. Secondly, the photos are not particularly special – for the most part they are rather mundane snaps of people doing random things. I felt that if these were supposed to highlight Amory’s talent, then the poor girl clearly didn’t have much.
My other major complaint is that Amory comes over as such a passive character, which I don’t think was Boyd’s intent at all. I think he was trying to portray her as adventurous, daring, ahead of her time – an early example of a woman playing men at their own game. But at every step of her life (up to the halfway mark when I gave up), every job she gets is arranged for her by a man – her photographer uncle, her rich lover, and so on. Even when she crosses to Berlin to photograph the seedy side of life with a view to gaining some notoriety, she does so at her uncle’s suggestion and funded by his money, and on her return, it is he who arranges her exhibition and tempts the interest of the press. Amory fades to near invisibility in terms of her own input to the trajectory of her life.
So, bored and dismal, I gave up. Sorry, Mr Boyd!
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
In the early days of the twentieth century, young Amory Clay decided to emulate her uncle Greville and become a professional photographer. Many years later, Amory reminisces about where her profession has taken her over the years. And of course it has taken her to all the places we’d expect – the decadence of ‘30s Berlin, the rise of the Nazis, WW2, Vietnam, in most of which places, this being a Boyd book, she has sex with a “scandalous” edge – married men, women, etc.
I’m afraid I abandoned this halfway through, after it taking me over a month to get to that point. I used to love William Boyd and still think his earlier books, and an occasional later one, are great stories well told. But recently I’ve found myself struggling to get up any real interest in the lives of his characters or in their stories. This one has been told before and told better by Boyd himself, in Any Human Heart, the story of a man who lived through all the major events of the twentieth century (and had lots of sex). Why Boyd felt it would be a good idea to do it again with a female lead beats me, but even if I wasn’t having strong feelings of déjà vu I doubt if Avery would have won my heart.
The thing about her is that she goes to these interesting places – Berlin, London, New York – and seems to miss everything interesting about them, perhaps because she spends so much time in bedrooms. I found myself wearily wishing that just once an author would find somewhere new to explore rather than the overtrodden path of Nazis/WW2, etc. Not to labour the point, but the twentieth century lasted for a hundred years and involved countries other than the UK, the USA and Germany. Wouldn’t it be brilliant if some author leapt into the unknown and took us to, say, Bulgaria, or Bahrain, or Venezuela? I assume something must have happened in these countries over the course of a century. I know, I know – plenty of authors have gone further afield, but I was feeling bored and a little bitter while I was musing. Boyd used to be one of the authors to whom I looked to expand my fictional horizons, but recently his books feel safely settled in the overly familiar.
He’s also uses an odd device in this one, which I feel doesn’t work at all. Over the years in real life, he has collected random photographs from sales, etc., which he presents here as Amory’s work. This meant that, firstly, it often felt to me that he was manipulating the story to fit round the photos so that oddly random episodes would be included, like Amory briefly working as a fashion photographer, which didn’t sit well with the character or the overall thrust of her life. Secondly, the photos are not particularly special – for the most part they are rather mundane snaps of people doing random things. I felt that if these were supposed to highlight Amory’s talent, then the poor girl clearly didn’t have much.
My other major complaint is that Amory comes over as such a passive character, which I don’t think was Boyd’s intent at all. I think he was trying to portray her as adventurous, daring, ahead of her time – an early example of a woman playing men at their own game. But at every step of her life (up to the halfway mark when I gave up), every job she gets is arranged for her by a man – her photographer uncle, her rich lover, and so on. Even when she crosses to Berlin to photograph the seedy side of life with a view to gaining some notoriety, she does so at her uncle’s suggestion and funded by his money, and on her return, it is he who arranges her exhibition and tempts the interest of the press. Amory fades to near invisibility in terms of her own input to the trajectory of her life.
So, bored and dismal, I gave up. Sorry, Mr Boyd!
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
nocto's review against another edition
4.0
Another fictional autobiography, but unlike [b:Rodham|50253429|Rodham|Curtis Sittenfeld|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1580749557l/50253429._SY75_.jpg|75164713] which I read recently this one is of an entirely fictional character: Photographer Amory Clay who was born in 1908 and is writing her book in the 1970s. I really enjoyed it and the way her life developed and changed over the course of the years seemed very realistic. I was impressed with how it read very much like a real life rather than a fictional one, I'm not quite sure why, something of the foreshadowing of fiction was missing perhaps. Different parts of her life didn't mesh together neatly, and some of the events in the book seemed to appear from nowhere but it all made sense together.
The book is illustrated with photographs, supposedly taken by Amory, though I believe they were all collected by the author and he shaped the story around them. I was reading the book as an e-library copy and in 'dark mode' which made the photos appear in reverse as if they were negatives. I thought this was a feature at first and liked it. Eventually I twigged as to how my electronic copy was screwed up and went into 'light mode' to view the pictures, but I quite liked it with the photographer's darkroom view really!
The book is illustrated with photographs, supposedly taken by Amory, though I believe they were all collected by the author and he shaped the story around them. I was reading the book as an e-library copy and in 'dark mode' which made the photos appear in reverse as if they were negatives. I thought this was a feature at first and liked it. Eventually I twigged as to how my electronic copy was screwed up and went into 'light mode' to view the pictures, but I quite liked it with the photographer's darkroom view really!
rhonaea's review against another edition
3.0
It's many years since I read Brazzaville Beach and Sweet Caress was a birthday present. It was a sweeping view of C20th life through a few events as experienced by photographer Amory Clay. A fictional character who felt pretty real and provided the device to link disconnected features of our times. These included the dissolute lifestyle of 20s Berlin with communes of 70's, fascism in Britain with an alcoholic Scottish laird husband, PTS-suffering father and 5 lovers.
If you enjoy historical fiction, you'll appreciate this but I recommend The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli if the female photographer in Vietnam appeals
If you enjoy historical fiction, you'll appreciate this but I recommend The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli if the female photographer in Vietnam appeals
fiona_with_the_cats's review against another edition
2.0
Sometimes I think I must be very stupid. I read this book as part of a radio book club so it's fair to say I probably wouldn't have chosen it myself. However, I am aware that it has received glowing reviews from many newspaper reviewers and has a very positive reputation in general. This is the part that makes me feel stupid because I just don't get it.
I personally found the book mediocre and did not find Amory Clay to be a realistic character. As for the photographs included in the book I saw nothing to convince me she had any sort of talent which only added to the disbelief.
I personally found the book mediocre and did not find Amory Clay to be a realistic character. As for the photographs included in the book I saw nothing to convince me she had any sort of talent which only added to the disbelief.