gorecki's review against another edition
2.0
Chaos. What started as an enjoyable book, ended as a crazy mix of 500 characters, 50 different stories, and unexplained paranormal and psychic activity. Oates is an incredibly inventive and imaginative writer, that’s a fact, but this book surpassed my patience. Hero after hero, story after story, she takes us deep into the family tree of the aristocratic inhabitants of the Bellefleur castle. In this book you have everything. A medium, a vampire, a shapeshifter, enchanted objects, a man going into a room only to disappear completely, a hermit looking for God’s face in the wilderness, some people with strong political beliefs, and I’m sure I’m leaving out a dozen more - it’s all fascinating until the moment you reach page 900 and realise it will never add up to anything and it will never make any sense. Not to mention the writing is too detailed and full of side stories and clarifications, half of which could have been omitted.
Even though I enjoyed some of the stories and found them very captivating, my impatience to finish reading it and the felling of “unfinishedness” kind of ruined this book for me.
Even though I enjoyed some of the stories and found them very captivating, my impatience to finish reading it and the felling of “unfinishedness” kind of ruined this book for me.
haileyybean's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
stephwithaph's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
baxtervallens's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
emilyb775's review against another edition
5.0
This book is difficult, oftentimes disturbing, and many of the characters are horrible people. That being said, it is one of the most beautiful novels I've read in a long time. The story is over 700 pages of disjointed narrative and some people might have trouble with the magical realism, but by the end I wished it was longer. It's true that you have to pay close attention because the author does not hold your hand, but once I started following a Bellefleur family tree it became easier. I wish I could live in this book, the sprawling castle, the sinister Lake Noir, but I can't, so I guess I'll have to read JCO's other gothic novels.
okenwillow's review against another edition
5.0
À travers six générations JCO nous tisse un destin familial riche et dense. Les Bellefleur sont une famille peuplée de personnages romanesques, depuis Jean-Pierre Bellefleur, aristocrate français arrivé à l’aube du XIXe siècle, à Germaine, dernière née de la famille, une petite fille bien étrange. Oates nous perd et nous rattrape sans cesse au fil de ses flashbacks, son avertissement nous met en garde, le temps n’a pas beaucoup de sens et la vraisemblance n’est pas de mise dans ce récit. L’auteur ne nous propose pas d’intrigue à proprement parlé, mais une suite ininterrompue d’anecdotes, où les époques se croisent, se mélangent, pour laisser de temps en temps la place à la dernière génération des Bellefleur, celle qui tente de reconstruire un empire tout aussi morcelé que le récit lui-même. Oates nous offre une sacrée galerie de personnages, ainsi que des destins souvent hors norme, parfois tragiquement banals. L’histoire des Bellefleur s’inscrit dans la grande Histoire, mais reste empreinte d’une aura de mystérieux, les légendes concernant certains membres de la famille peuplent l’imaginaire de plusieurs générations. La folie, la passion, le désespoir et la mélancolie sont les moteurs principaux des Bellefleur.
Ce roman fut le premier best-seller de JCO, et n’est pas sans rappeler Nous étions les Mulvaney, écrit bien plus tard. Ce dernier reprend le même principe de narration, mais se concentre sur deux générations et un seul événement clé, et me parait peut-être plus digeste pour le non-initié à l’œuvre de JCO. Bellefleur constitue une vrai prouesse narrative, un labyrinthe géant, avec de multiples histoires, racontées à la façon d’un puzzle. La multitude de détails est étourdissante, tout contribue à un réalisme poignant, tout en distillant de subtils éléments de merveilleux, d’inexpliqué, d’irrationnel. La vraisemblance n’est pas le souci de l’auteur, elle nous met en garde dès le début. Tout est alors permis, la bizarre côtoie l’étrange, les repères temporels sont souvent trompeurs, quelques indices nous permettent de situer plus ou moins certaines scènes, mais d’autres indices les contredisent. Ajoutons à cela que la famille Bellefleur semble vivre un peu à l’ancienne, à la manière des grandes familles, avec leurs principes, us et coutumes, etc, et le décalage avec leur époque n’est que plus troublant.
Un roman étrange et envoûtant, tout à la fois gothique, fantastique, subtil, rocambolesque, tragique, romanesque, déconcertant, farfelu, invraisemblable, poétique, enthousiasmant, troublant, réaliste, psychologique, familial, universel, foisonnant, onirique, extravagant, excessif, animalier, anachronique, dense, grandiloquent, hypnotique, fascinant, fantaisiste, merveilleux.
Ce roman fut le premier best-seller de JCO, et n’est pas sans rappeler Nous étions les Mulvaney, écrit bien plus tard. Ce dernier reprend le même principe de narration, mais se concentre sur deux générations et un seul événement clé, et me parait peut-être plus digeste pour le non-initié à l’œuvre de JCO. Bellefleur constitue une vrai prouesse narrative, un labyrinthe géant, avec de multiples histoires, racontées à la façon d’un puzzle. La multitude de détails est étourdissante, tout contribue à un réalisme poignant, tout en distillant de subtils éléments de merveilleux, d’inexpliqué, d’irrationnel. La vraisemblance n’est pas le souci de l’auteur, elle nous met en garde dès le début. Tout est alors permis, la bizarre côtoie l’étrange, les repères temporels sont souvent trompeurs, quelques indices nous permettent de situer plus ou moins certaines scènes, mais d’autres indices les contredisent. Ajoutons à cela que la famille Bellefleur semble vivre un peu à l’ancienne, à la manière des grandes familles, avec leurs principes, us et coutumes, etc, et le décalage avec leur époque n’est que plus troublant.
Un roman étrange et envoûtant, tout à la fois gothique, fantastique, subtil, rocambolesque, tragique, romanesque, déconcertant, farfelu, invraisemblable, poétique, enthousiasmant, troublant, réaliste, psychologique, familial, universel, foisonnant, onirique, extravagant, excessif, animalier, anachronique, dense, grandiloquent, hypnotique, fascinant, fantaisiste, merveilleux.
kaitykat's review against another edition
3.0
This was one of the most unusual books I’ve ever read but I enjoyed it! This book is about the Bellefleurs, a family that has inhabit a manor for generations. The Bellefleurs are an unusual family as a “curse” and magic seem to have touched every member of this family, they’re quite “quirky” lol, but to an extreme level. There’s a lot of tragedy, grotesque oddness.. and a grandfather who became a drum. I truly don’t even know what to think of it other than it weirded me out but in the best way possible? I don’t know; it was very interesting!! My favorite character was definitely the cat, hehe. 3.5 stars!! ✨
snowmaiden's review against another edition
5.0
It took me the whole summer to read this book, but that was not necessarily because of the length. (Although 558 pages of very tiny print was a lot to get through, definitely.) Rather, I tried only to read this book when I was not distracted or rushed, which means I put it away for weeks at a time when my young stepson was visiting. The reason I gave this book such hallowed treatment is because Oates is writing in very heightened prose here, and it definitely keeps you on your toes. Some of her sentences stretch on forever, but they never feel stilted or forced, just languorous.
My disjointed reading of this book was aided by the fact that each chapter is on a totally different theme. Some recount a particular event, some quickly sketch the life story of a minor family member we haven't heard much about, while others enumerate one type of possession among all the family members through all the generations. (For instance, the chapters called "Horses" and "Automobiles.") The chapters hop around throughout time, so that we are learning the stories of all the Bellefleur generations simultaneously. (However, there is a "present" of the book where the main action occurs; this is during the time that Germaine Bellefleur is a young child, and she is what I would call the main character, if I had to name one.)
Speaking of time, Oates is definitely playing games with it in this book. I think it's not a coincidence that she omits almost all dates from the family tree at the beginning of the book, with only the first few generations having definite birth and death dates. At first I was convinced that the "present" of the book was in the late 1800's, but then about halfway through the book, the first car appeared, and by the end of the book, things were happening that could only have happened in the 1960's. Likewise, the ages of the characters seem amorphous. The book opens right before Germaine is conceived and ends on her fourth birthday, so the action would be expected to take about 5 years. However, the twins Bramwell and Christabel are said to be 5 years old in the beginning. By the midpoint of the book, Christabel has married, while Bramwell is said to be 11 1/2 years old. Clearly time does not proceed at the same rate for all family members.
Even more puzzling is the case of Jedediah Bellefleur, one of the earliest family members, who spent twenty years of his life, from 1806 to 1826, living as a hermit on the top of Mount Blanc. Although we have definite beginning and ending dates for his time on the mountain, he is never able to keep track of time while he's up there, and among his visitors are a modern Girl Scout troop clad in multi-colored parkas and one of Germaine's uncles who is surveying the mountain. The sense I got from this is that all times exist simultaneously on top of the mountain. No wonder Jedediah was so befuddled while he was up there!
I had never read a novel by Joyce Carol Oates before, but I had read many of her short stories, and this is definitely a different mode that she's writing in here. In tone the book reminded me most of [b:Little, Big|90619|Little, Big|John Crowley|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1347231418s/90619.jpg|518635] and [b:One Hundred Years of Solitude|320|One Hundred Years of Solitude|Gabriel García Márquez|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327881361s/320.jpg|3295655]. If you are a fan of either of those books, you might want to give this one a try.
My disjointed reading of this book was aided by the fact that each chapter is on a totally different theme. Some recount a particular event, some quickly sketch the life story of a minor family member we haven't heard much about, while others enumerate one type of possession among all the family members through all the generations. (For instance, the chapters called "Horses" and "Automobiles.") The chapters hop around throughout time, so that we are learning the stories of all the Bellefleur generations simultaneously. (However, there is a "present" of the book where the main action occurs; this is during the time that Germaine Bellefleur is a young child, and she is what I would call the main character, if I had to name one.)
Speaking of time, Oates is definitely playing games with it in this book. I think it's not a coincidence that she omits almost all dates from the family tree at the beginning of the book, with only the first few generations having definite birth and death dates. At first I was convinced that the "present" of the book was in the late 1800's, but then about halfway through the book, the first car appeared, and by the end of the book, things were happening that could only have happened in the 1960's. Likewise, the ages of the characters seem amorphous. The book opens right before Germaine is conceived and ends on her fourth birthday, so the action would be expected to take about 5 years. However, the twins Bramwell and Christabel are said to be 5 years old in the beginning. By the midpoint of the book, Christabel has married, while Bramwell is said to be 11 1/2 years old. Clearly time does not proceed at the same rate for all family members.
Even more puzzling is the case of Jedediah Bellefleur, one of the earliest family members, who spent twenty years of his life, from 1806 to 1826, living as a hermit on the top of Mount Blanc. Although we have definite beginning and ending dates for his time on the mountain, he is never able to keep track of time while he's up there, and among his visitors are a modern Girl Scout troop clad in multi-colored parkas and one of Germaine's uncles who is surveying the mountain. The sense I got from this is that all times exist simultaneously on top of the mountain. No wonder Jedediah was so befuddled while he was up there!
I had never read a novel by Joyce Carol Oates before, but I had read many of her short stories, and this is definitely a different mode that she's writing in here. In tone the book reminded me most of [b:Little, Big|90619|Little, Big|John Crowley|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1347231418s/90619.jpg|518635] and [b:One Hundred Years of Solitude|320|One Hundred Years of Solitude|Gabriel García Márquez|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327881361s/320.jpg|3295655]. If you are a fan of either of those books, you might want to give this one a try.
fuchsia_groan's review against another edition
5.0
Novela gótica, saga familiar, realismo mágico, Bellefleur es una novela absolutamente fascinante, plagada de excéntricos e inolvidables personajes, una obra inmensa.
A pesar de sus más de 900 páginas, si pienso en todo lo que me ha contado Oates aquí, en todo lo que he vivido con los Bellefleur, me parecen pocas. Tantas generaciones, tantas relaciones, tantas vidas e historias perfectamente diferenciadas...
Me parece magistral cómo maneja el tiempo, cómo pasa de una generación a otra, incluso en el mismo párrafo, cómo los sitúa a todos en una época mítica, de leyenda. Una vez se construye la mansión es casi como si el tiempo se hubiese detenido.
A pesar de sus más de 900 páginas, si pienso en todo lo que me ha contado Oates aquí, en todo lo que he vivido con los Bellefleur, me parecen pocas. Tantas generaciones, tantas relaciones, tantas vidas e historias perfectamente diferenciadas...
Me parece magistral cómo maneja el tiempo, cómo pasa de una generación a otra, incluso en el mismo párrafo, cómo los sitúa a todos en una época mítica, de leyenda. Una vez se construye la mansión es casi como si el tiempo se hubiese detenido.