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A review by 1outside
Angels & Insects: Two Novellas by A.S. Byatt
3.0
I read Angels & Insects because I quite enjoyed the mid-90's film of the same title, based on the first of the two novellas featured in this book.
Now that I've finished both novellas I feel like I've just returned from a battle. Fatigued, limping, bleeding (if I were smarter I would make an ant analogy here; but I'm not).
This has been quite an unusual experience...whenever I thought I couldn't go on, something would appear and pick my interest enough to go on. I'm talking mainly about The Conjugal Angel here, the 2nd novella. I nearly abandoned the thing cca the first third in.
Morpho Eugenia is a pleasant enough story, quite easy to read, apart from the excerpts from the written work of the characters. I suppose it ads a little...colour, but for me, too little to merit their inclusion.
I saw someone point out in their review, that especially Matty's fairytale towards the end absolutely annihilates the flow of the story. I suppose I do see why the author included it, but at the same time I definitely could have done without it, let alone some those philosophical bits preceding it in the novella (let's just say our hero wasn't a very riveting author...).
The Conjugal Angel was a less enjoyable experience. Reading it I periodically went through bouts of interest and despair. I didn't find the style of the prose (actually different to the one used in ME) easy at all, had to re-read passages and sometimes go way way back.
You see, I'm not a native English speaker. I know of Tennyson, but never read any of the poems (and can't say I'll be hurrying to do it now, to be honest). Hallam I'd never even heard of until this book, and for a while got confused and thought he was Tennyson's brother, and not Emily's. So a mess, partly brought on by my ignorance, partly because the style didn't exactly help people like me, who had barely any knowledge of the basic facts it was referring to.
A note:
But good on Byatt for sneaking some gay into this book. Yay for gay.
Now that I've finished both novellas I feel like I've just returned from a battle. Fatigued, limping, bleeding (if I were smarter I would make an ant analogy here; but I'm not).
This has been quite an unusual experience...whenever I thought I couldn't go on, something would appear and pick my interest enough to go on. I'm talking mainly about The Conjugal Angel here, the 2nd novella. I nearly abandoned the thing cca the first third in.
Morpho Eugenia is a pleasant enough story, quite easy to read, apart from the excerpts from the written work of the characters. I suppose it ads a little...colour, but for me, too little to merit their inclusion.
I saw someone point out in their review, that especially Matty's fairytale towards the end absolutely annihilates the flow of the story. I suppose I do see why the author included it, but at the same time I definitely could have done without it, let alone some those philosophical bits preceding it in the novella (let's just say our hero wasn't a very riveting author...).
The Conjugal Angel was a less enjoyable experience. Reading it I periodically went through bouts of interest and despair. I didn't find the style of the prose (actually different to the one used in ME) easy at all, had to re-read passages and sometimes go way way back.
You see, I'm not a native English speaker. I know of Tennyson, but never read any of the poems (and can't say I'll be hurrying to do it now, to be honest). Hallam I'd never even heard of until this book, and for a while got confused and thought he was Tennyson's brother, and not Emily's. So a mess, partly brought on by my ignorance, partly because the style didn't exactly help people like me, who had barely any knowledge of the basic facts it was referring to.
A note:
But good on Byatt for sneaking some gay into this book. Yay for gay.