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wordsmithreads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
daphnesayshi's review against another edition
1.0
I just can't do this anymore......
I'm finding it very difficult to trudge through the meandering thoughts of the 4 (was it 4? 3? it could have been 300 and it wouldn't have made a difference) protagonists as they move their narratives towards some kind of a climax or conclusion. or so I assume, because I do not know and think never will.
But to be honest, this failing could be mine alone – I've never been very good at processing the stream of consciousness way some choose to write, and other writers like Woolf or Beckett have been failed by me before so...
I'm just gutted because I really liked A Man Walked Into the Room. Oh well, maybe next time.
I'm finding it very difficult to trudge through the meandering thoughts of the 4 (was it 4? 3? it could have been 300 and it wouldn't have made a difference) protagonists as they move their narratives towards some kind of a climax or conclusion. or so I assume, because I do not know and think never will.
But to be honest, this failing could be mine alone – I've never been very good at processing the stream of consciousness way some choose to write, and other writers like Woolf or Beckett have been failed by me before so...
I'm just gutted because I really liked A Man Walked Into the Room. Oh well, maybe next time.
bohoautumn's review against another edition
5.0
Interwoven self-contained tales threaded together by an object passing between the characters. Each story reveals minute details of inner lives, some of the situational facts, but so much more is left out, left unsaid.
If you enjoy your novels linear, focused on plot-development, without guess-work, and no loose ends then this one isn't for you.
I was totally immersed into the themes and subjects of secrecy, intense yet disconnected relationships, isolation, loneliness, memory, moral ambiguity, loss, creativity, Jewishness, regret, literal and psychological inheritance.
It's a novel of emotional arcs and pensive moods.
I found her writing as gorgeous as ever. And that endears her work to me. But I did also enjoy this multi-narrative premise.
If you enjoy your novels linear, focused on plot-development, without guess-work, and no loose ends then this one isn't for you.
I was totally immersed into the themes and subjects of secrecy, intense yet disconnected relationships, isolation, loneliness, memory, moral ambiguity, loss, creativity, Jewishness, regret, literal and psychological inheritance.
It's a novel of emotional arcs and pensive moods.
I found her writing as gorgeous as ever. And that endears her work to me. But I did also enjoy this multi-narrative premise.
searser's review against another edition
4.0
Great House was somewhat of a mystery to me, even if it isn't technically in the mystery genre; it was fun to see how all of the stories eventually connected and how the desk fit into all of the characters' lives. I found myself anxious to hear again from my more favored characters, but eventually grew fond of then all. I will be reading more from this author!
mapdock's review against another edition
4.0
I inhaled this book over the course of a few days and a cross-country trip. It's a bit awkward to be weeping openly during a plane ride, but that's exactly what happened several times while I was reading Great House. Krauss has put together this wonderfully disaggregated narrative that delves into the ties of family, the pain of loss, and Jewish identity, all woven around the central images of moving furniture and houses. Truly moving work.
porktheorc's review against another edition
The writing was too stuffy and self-aware for me. I couldn't get lost in it.
rsinclair6536's review against another edition
Wonderful if disjointed story about the different owners of a desk. Krauss has a way of describing the human experience that evokes my own experience (or what I'd like to experience were I smarter). Two of the characters are female writers, and their comments on the process of writing gave me the feeling that Krauss was speaking to the reader directly.
dialhforhgai's review against another edition
5.0
We search for patterns, you see, only to find where the patterns break. And it's there, in that fissure, that we pitch our tents and wait.
citypearl's review against another edition
3.0
I didn’t get this. Maybe at another time, or maybe the short stories just aren’t for me.