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momoyoon's review against another edition
2.0
Read for class. Clearly not my cup of tea, some things were interesting, but just...pretty boring in general and not a book that I will remember as memorable. Sorry.
louloup_reads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
manda2491's review
2.0
The Counterfeiters by Gide is a work of metafiction – at once the novel itself and a story about a novel, by the same name, being written by Edouard (or the guise of Gide). The novel can be a bit difficult to fully comprehend at times because of the sheer volume of characters, families, and intersecting plotlines (some reviewers have compared the novel to a soap opera and I would agree).
The novel certainly shows it's age as it obsesses over purity, the dichotomy of good and evil, and the culture of schoolboys while it's blatant homosexuality is kept on the hush hush.
The novel certainly shows it's age as it obsesses over purity, the dichotomy of good and evil, and the culture of schoolboys while it's blatant homosexuality is kept on the hush hush.
adeslibrary's review against another edition
3.0
Sorry for the spelling mistakes and grammars.
I read it for school. I still read it because the teacher said we need to read it a lot for exams in june but it's hard.
So, the first time I read "Les faux-monnayeurs", I was sceptic. (If you want to know more about how Gide wrote this story, read "Journal des faux-monnayeurs"). You read page by page and you don't know how it is going to end. Gide didn't have the idea either. You are like "what the f*ck" but the second time, you appreciate it better because you know the story and you finally understand the little things that make all the difference.
The story it's a learning novel. You grow up with the characters (and there's a lot of them !). You read them doing the worse as the best of them. I can't tell you much about this novel. It's something you need to read for sure. It's not like any other novels that you are going to read. It's special.
I read it for school. I still read it because the teacher said we need to read it a lot for exams in june but it's hard.
So, the first time I read "Les faux-monnayeurs", I was sceptic. (If you want to know more about how Gide wrote this story, read "Journal des faux-monnayeurs"). You read page by page and you don't know how it is going to end. Gide didn't have the idea either. You are like "what the f*ck" but the second time, you appreciate it better because you know the story and you finally understand the little things that make all the difference.
The story it's a learning novel. You grow up with the characters (and there's a lot of them !). You read them doing the worse as the best of them. I can't tell you much about this novel. It's something you need to read for sure. It's not like any other novels that you are going to read. It's special.
manonpalmer's review against another edition
2.0
j'ai rien compris, on parlait pas de fausse monnaie ici?
spano150's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
reflective
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
5.0
julienh's review against another edition
4.0
Avant-garde in its narrative structure, almost cinematic perspective, and metacognitive characters. A French classic that does well to capture the French spirit of the early twentieth century.
_dustypage_'s review
2.0
I feel like this book belongs to where Picasso's artworks stand.
Really artistic, but at the same time confusing for normal readers like me.
Really artistic, but at the same time confusing for normal readers like me.
michael5000's review
3.0
This book seems to be known best for "the frank sexuality of its contents" and for being one of the first books to speak openly about homosexuality, despite not having any frank sexuality in its contents and not speaking anything like openly about homosexuality. Highly episodic and emotionally remote, Counterfeiters seems to be as much an experiment in structure as anything. One of the characters is writing a novel called "The Counterfeiters," which is as much an experiment in structure as anything. Hmm.
joanna_m's review against another edition
3.0
Another book I found hard to rate- I definitely didn't love it, but I feel I got quite a lot from reading it. I came across it on the Le Monde 100 Best Books of the Century (https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/28640.Le_Monde_100_Books_of_the_Century) and wasn't sure what to expect. I found the text quite dense, so I had to read it over a few weeks in order properly to digest it, but sometimes the number of characters and subplots tripped me up, as it had been a while since I had last encountered their situation. Overall I found its structure to be almost great, but not quite. The use of the writers journal against the omniscient narrators prose I found useful, both as an aid to viewing the characters, and alsoas a varying device in the tone. The final section of the book, where all the minor notes and subplots came together I found in some ways quite satisfactory, as this was fairly well resolved without unexplained loose ends, but I did wonder whether the 300 meandering pages leading up to that point had really been as well constructed, or, indeed worthwhile. There were many occasions when I turned the corners of pages in the book, as certain passages struck me as particularly important. Boris I saw as crucial to the whole thing, the innocent child called guilty, brought up on false morals which will bring his downfall, society in microcosm. However, his ending in particular I found somewhat melodramatic, which only served to sadden me rather than to increase my pity for him, or my anger at the injustice done to all the characters. Armand and Sarah seemed to me the truest characters, although as a body I could recognise real people under the fictional husks, but these two are sadly sidelined in the novel. Perhaps I am reading this at the wrong time in the wrong place, as I am not all that bothered about what happens to self important posh boys and a morality I barely recognise.
Also, a quick note on the translation-the version I read was DOrothy Bussey's from 1931, and the language was archaic to the point of innaccuracy. Also, most of the French epigrams at the start of chapters, and more importantly those that the boys are discussing, were not translated, and I was unable to follow them very well at all.
Also, a quick note on the translation-the version I read was DOrothy Bussey's from 1931, and the language was archaic to the point of innaccuracy. Also, most of the French epigrams at the start of chapters, and more importantly those that the boys are discussing, were not translated, and I was unable to follow them very well at all.