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Possession was loaned to me by Jeff's aunt and came highly recommended. It was one of the more sophisticated books I've read in some time and I will admit to the fact that I struggled now and again with the vocabulary used. It felt a bit like a book I would have been assigned to read in college. Words like beech-mast and quondam are used with abandon (and I found both of those words by just flipping open to a random page), along with references to people like Prospero and Feuebach and wow, apparently I am le stupid because I can't remember who any of these people anymore and I don't know what any of those words mean. But here's the thing - the language is truly beautiful, it's won the Booker prize, and the romance eventually does suck you in. At the end I was totally addicted.
1 comment:
I'm ashamed of myself for poking a bit of fun at someone who told me she was intimidated by Virginia Woolf - I 'get' her for some reason or maybe just don't care if stuff goes over my head in her books. BUT I am intimidated by Byatt's vocabulary and am hesitant to try this. but I really do want to.
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