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oda9_'s review
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
bookishjade's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
annarella's review
3.0
I loved other books by Edmund White and was excited to read this one.
The premise sounded really interesting and, even if I liked the storytelling, I couldn't care for the characters that I found a bit too self-centered.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
The premise sounded really interesting and, even if I liked the storytelling, I couldn't care for the characters that I found a bit too self-centered.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
inthelunaseas's review
2.0
This book is a bit like a sucker punch. I'm genuinely stuck between rating this two or three stars, and I'm looking forward to talking about this with my queer book club.
The first- what? half? two thirds?- of the book is just smut. Pure smut. Ruggero and Constance, our leads, read verbatim their memoirs about their previous relationships. It's a weird set up, and even more peculiar that most of their discussions are about the sex therein, and it gave me very big Lady Chatterley's Lover vibes (and I was glad to see this book referenced in here).
The sex scenes are so bad. God. I have never read 'meatus' in porn before, and I never want to again. When I reached the second page and Edmund was stroking Ruggero's dick with a twenty dollar bill, I had to put the book down and go for a walk. The second damn page.
It was also written in a rather curious way. It was a combination of pure dialogue and then 'Constance thought: [text]' or 'Ruggero read: [text]'. This chapter- chapter 4- is also the bulk of the book and takes up a good 150 or so pages. And though the characters here are talking about themselves, it's actually difficult to know who they are. Yes, we know what their past was like and the actions they took, but who are they are? What are their personalities, their feelings? They're both narcissists, but what else?
Time also moves in this strange, liquid manner and I can't help but feel White wasn't sure how old Ruggero was meant to be. Ruggero mentions losing people to the AIDS crisis, but he was born in 1979 - yes, it's entirely fathomable he did lose friends to AIDS at some point through his life, but it does feel like a bit of a stretch.
The second 'part' of the book, after Constance and Ruggero have gone their separate ways, actually carried some wait. I still find Edmund's inclusion as a character, both as himself and as a metafiction version of himself, to waver between poignant and an eye roll. He references this book by title, he is very degrading about himself, reference his piss fetish and micro dick, plus his fungal smell, and he's very tongue in cheek about what he's doing... but it also felt very skewed with the first section. If the second section was actually the novel itself and the whole thing played into the metafiction without the graphic descriptions of sex, I might be able to appreciate this book more.
This, ultimately, is my problem with the book. The first portion was just too much. Two very wealthy people, who I personally wouldn't stand if I met them, having a lot of sex and spending copious amounts of money to travel. The second section... I mightn't like it, but it has more feeling. More emotion.
This is a book I want to talk about, but not one I'd recommend for an enjoyable read.
The first- what? half? two thirds?- of the book is just smut. Pure smut. Ruggero and Constance, our leads, read verbatim their memoirs about their previous relationships. It's a weird set up, and even more peculiar that most of their discussions are about the sex therein, and it gave me very big Lady Chatterley's Lover vibes (and I was glad to see this book referenced in here).
The sex scenes are so bad. God. I have never read 'meatus' in porn before, and I never want to again. When I reached the second page and Edmund was stroking Ruggero's dick with a twenty dollar bill, I had to put the book down and go for a walk. The second damn page.
It was also written in a rather curious way. It was a combination of pure dialogue and then 'Constance thought: [text]' or 'Ruggero read: [text]'. This chapter- chapter 4- is also the bulk of the book and takes up a good 150 or so pages. And though the characters here are talking about themselves, it's actually difficult to know who they are. Yes, we know what their past was like and the actions they took, but who are they are? What are their personalities, their feelings? They're both narcissists, but what else?
Time also moves in this strange, liquid manner and I can't help but feel White wasn't sure how old Ruggero was meant to be. Ruggero mentions losing people to the AIDS crisis, but he was born in 1979 - yes, it's entirely fathomable he did lose friends to AIDS at some point through his life, but it does feel like a bit of a stretch.
The second 'part' of the book, after Constance and Ruggero have gone their separate ways, actually carried some wait. I still find Edmund's inclusion as a character, both as himself and as a metafiction version of himself, to waver between poignant and an eye roll. He references this book by title, he is very degrading about himself, reference his piss fetish and micro dick, plus his fungal smell, and he's very tongue in cheek about what he's doing... but it also felt very skewed with the first section. If the second section was actually the novel itself and the whole thing played into the metafiction without the graphic descriptions of sex, I might be able to appreciate this book more.
This, ultimately, is my problem with the book. The first portion was just too much. Two very wealthy people, who I personally wouldn't stand if I met them, having a lot of sex and spending copious amounts of money to travel. The second section... I mightn't like it, but it has more feeling. More emotion.
This is a book I want to talk about, but not one I'd recommend for an enjoyable read.
kenepps's review
2.0
The sporadic, but beautifully perceptive insights on the male and female sexual psyche could not save this horrible novel.
ken_bookhermit's review
5.0
I loved it. Every minute and every word of it.
I can't remember how it was that I found out about Edmund White in the first place; just that I read his book of essays ([b:Arts and Letters|109719|Arts and Letters|Edmund White|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328856065l/109719._SX50_.jpg|16186764]) and lost myself in his essay on Nabokov. I really need to make better note of how I find these authors, I swear... But. I do know that Edmund White writes autobiographical fiction—and so it came as no surprise to me that he is a character in his own novel that is about him only in the secondary way (yet is still very much about him). The first half of A Previous Life centers around Constance and Ruggero, a married couple with a vast age difference between them, whereas the latter half of the book mirrors the fallout of Constance and Ruggero's marriage with the exposition of Ruggelo and Edmund's love affair.
The most interesting thing about this novel is how it manages to disrupt one's sense of time. It goes back and forth temporally but above all else, I think what messed me up the most is how the book, A Previous Life, is mentioned in the story itself as if it is a different book altogether. Or at least, that's what I want to think, given how much I'm struggling with the self-referential-ness of it all.
It amazes me how Edmund White (the writer) can talk about Edmund White (the character) in the way that he does in the novel. Self-effacing or self-aggrandizing? Who's to say?
But yes. I love how obscene and pornographic it gets in one page, and insightful and philosophical in another. I want to read everything Edmund White has ever written.
I can't remember how it was that I found out about Edmund White in the first place; just that I read his book of essays ([b:Arts and Letters|109719|Arts and Letters|Edmund White|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328856065l/109719._SX50_.jpg|16186764]) and lost myself in his essay on Nabokov. I really need to make better note of how I find these authors, I swear... But. I do know that Edmund White writes autobiographical fiction—and so it came as no surprise to me that he is a character in his own novel that is about him only in the secondary way (yet is still very much about him). The first half of A Previous Life centers around Constance and Ruggero, a married couple with a vast age difference between them, whereas the latter half of the book mirrors the fallout of Constance and Ruggero's marriage with the exposition of Ruggelo and Edmund's love affair.
The most interesting thing about this novel is how it manages to disrupt one's sense of time. It goes back and forth temporally but above all else, I think what messed me up the most is how the book, A Previous Life, is mentioned in the story itself as if it is a different book altogether. Or at least, that's what I want to think, given how much I'm struggling with the self-referential-ness of it all.
It amazes me how Edmund White (the writer) can talk about Edmund White (the character) in the way that he does in the novel. Self-effacing or self-aggrandizing? Who's to say?
But yes. I love how obscene and pornographic it gets in one page, and insightful and philosophical in another. I want to read everything Edmund White has ever written.
burrowsi1's review
challenging
emotional
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
johntenner's review
challenging
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Why did he write this?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, and Incest
tia_georgiabooks's review
adventurous
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
fiendfull's review
3.0
A Previous Life is a sprawling tale of love, sex, and beauty, as two bisexual lovers finally tell each other about their pasts. Sicilian musician Ruggero and his younger wife Constance have mostly kept their various pasts a secret, but after Ruggero is confined to bed, they decided to write out their memoirs and read them aloud to each other, sharing past loves and great affairs, until it is time to think about Ruggero's affair with the famous writer Edmund White.
I was intrigued by the idea of the book, having read White's famous A Boy's Own Story. The concept of the novel, ignoring the metafictional element of having Edmund White as a character, is straightforwardly intriguing, a chance to read about how two people unfold their romantic and sexual histories, defying boundaries and telling their own stories in particular ways. Though reading it gets a bit confusing at times (the pair narrate what they've written, but it is interjected with the others' thoughts and occasional conversation), it has a classic feel, like 20th century novels about relationships, which is probably the intended tone given Ruggero at least is meant to be aging.
The Edmund White elements, though hinted earlier on, come out more in the later part of the novel, which changes format slightly, and felt quite different at times to the earlier part. As the 'present' of the novel is in the future, this is the part of the past that gets up to COVID, making it an even more surreal experience, and as I found the earlier part started to drag, I perhaps was less engaged by this part, and wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to make of the metafictional parts given that they discuss White's death in the 'future' and mainly showed Ruggero's narcissism.
A Previous Life is a hard book to define, but one that has a timeless feel to the writing style even as it projects into the future. It has some interesting explorations of sexuality and polyamory, concluding in a way that really brings these to the forefront and generally thinking about how people love and age and define things, though there were a few odd moments (right at the end there's a trans child referenced, seemingly for their parent to use as a reflection on if it was 'revenge' for their own polyamory/sexuality). Personally, I found the book started to drag, especially as it is almost two books in one, and possibly that's the danger with trying to tell the stories of two different characters who have a lot going on throughout their lives. It's a hard one to know what my lingering thoughts of it will be.
I was intrigued by the idea of the book, having read White's famous A Boy's Own Story. The concept of the novel, ignoring the metafictional element of having Edmund White as a character, is straightforwardly intriguing, a chance to read about how two people unfold their romantic and sexual histories, defying boundaries and telling their own stories in particular ways. Though reading it gets a bit confusing at times (the pair narrate what they've written, but it is interjected with the others' thoughts and occasional conversation), it has a classic feel, like 20th century novels about relationships, which is probably the intended tone given Ruggero at least is meant to be aging.
The Edmund White elements, though hinted earlier on, come out more in the later part of the novel, which changes format slightly, and felt quite different at times to the earlier part. As the 'present' of the novel is in the future, this is the part of the past that gets up to COVID, making it an even more surreal experience, and as I found the earlier part started to drag, I perhaps was less engaged by this part, and wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to make of the metafictional parts given that they discuss White's death in the 'future' and mainly showed Ruggero's narcissism.
A Previous Life is a hard book to define, but one that has a timeless feel to the writing style even as it projects into the future. It has some interesting explorations of sexuality and polyamory, concluding in a way that really brings these to the forefront and generally thinking about how people love and age and define things, though there were a few odd moments (right at the end there's a trans child referenced, seemingly for their parent to use as a reflection on if it was 'revenge' for their own polyamory/sexuality). Personally, I found the book started to drag, especially as it is almost two books in one, and possibly that's the danger with trying to tell the stories of two different characters who have a lot going on throughout their lives. It's a hard one to know what my lingering thoughts of it will be.