laura_sonja's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to love this, and I kinda didn’t. I loved how sensory and lush the writing was, but I found some of the dialogue kind of...clunky? That could just be a translation issue though! I also just didn’t enjoy the chapters were Colette talks about like, the Don Juans she has known. The chapter on Renee Vivien was definitely my favourite chapter of the book.
raphaelsandingjr's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-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
3.25
hillarytully's review against another edition
challenging
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
pennepasta's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
ellaura's review against another edition
2.5
well-written and observed, but ultimately fell a bit flat for me as I was waiting for more profoundness or genuine emotion that never really came.
slowheaven's review against another edition
3.0
Smoke-like observations of sexuality, sexual deviance, and love in the 20th century. What held the observations from floating away and dissipating was the way Colette grounded them in the sensory; she engages all of the senses in her descriptions. However fragmentary the representations of the people in The Pure and the Impure, I found them coming alive through her descriptions. A mostly pleasurable reading experience, although I disagree vehemently with many of her sweeping generalizations of love between women and love between men.
james20xx's review against another edition
funny
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
4.0
jackieeh's review against another edition
3.0
An excellent Shakespeare & Co impulse purchase. I wasn’t exactly riveted, but I loved this glimpse into Colette’s milieu.
ebtomkinson's review against another edition
5.0
Stunningly written. A tapestry of interesting characters
t4lulla's review against another edition
4.0
This book is very poetic, thought provoking, and gorgeous, as well as raising a lot of thoughts about the mindset of queer women in the specific time period of the early 20th century. There is a lot of loathing and judgement towards other women who are very clearly reacting to the place they have been put in within an inherently misogynist, insensitive society and I think in living in this society Colette tends to miss a lot of the nuance of how women ended up in these places. Even as a queer woman herself she holds the freedom of men to express themselves with less bitterness on a pedestal and resents how people affected by queerphobia and sexism tend to think and act as a clear defense mechanism against the cruelty towards their natural expression. That being said, it is really interesting to see how all these people's gender and sexuality affect their mindset and lifestyle, even within the hedonistic setting that most of the characters revolve around. As a person who has researched a lot of random dead gay European poets and artists it was a lot of fun spotting the people I had already read about and realizing just how connected the queer spaces of the time period were. I like her writing style too it is very poetic and melodramatic but also very funny and Frank sometimes :)