The Mark Of The Angel

I own a copy of this book I d be willing to burn, but there is no checkbox option on here for that There are three things I hate in any story This book does all of them.The first is to have unsympathetic, static characters No one in this book is a good person Nor are they bad people in interesting ways The characters are flat, sad, and awful.Second, having a book be essentially about the slow decline of awful, unsympathetic people is one thing Having a cheap and stupid climax is an entirely new [...]

WOW Again, it was one of those books that when i started it, wasn t sure if i d bother to finish it It seemed silly and slow and almost amateur However, the farther i read the i became enthralled in it Amateur, it is NOT It s the kind of story that is about everything and nothing all at once.just a glimpse into the lives of the characters.

No s qu hacer con esta lectura.Desde el comienzo sabes que est s entrando de lleno a la novela del siglo XXI Nada tan experimental como para ser incomprensible, pero, con esos gui os del narrador autor que te ubican en una forma contempor nea de hacer literatura.Al final, la novela, la autora, quien cuenta nos da un bofetad n y hace un planteamiento poco usual, lo digo Realmente importa Bueno, no lo har , quiz s s lean el libro, aunque lo dudo.Nunca me ha gustado contar la trama La an cdota es s [...]

This author is from France The book was such a bestseller there that it was translated for the States Need I say While I was in New York City in August 2000 I read in the NY Times Book Review about this book It primarily appealed to me because of the review written by Arthur Golden, author of MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA I had just finished his book Arthur Golden wrote that this book was Compelling and highly originalYou many never read a novel crafted with wonder and mystery I would agree with that ex [...]

SPOILER ALERT painfully recognizable, this novel in a nutshell deals with war, french imperialism, love and betrayal i had a very tough time getting through this story i couldnt get into saffies mindset at all spoiler alert ahead.i dont care if she was unhappy with her husband he meant well although he remains a flawed human being you just dont betray people like this im too much familiar with the dark side of love to enjoy reading about adultery so misschievously and heartbreakingly described i [...]

Beautiful, precise, fallout of infidelity and the horrors of war Hauntingly sad Read it in English but if I happen to get my hands on a French copy it would be worth the reread.

After reading Nicole Brossard s Yesterday, at the Hotel Clarendon , I thought of exploring works by French Canadian authors when one of my friends recommended The Mark of the Angel I got it recently and finished reading it today Here is what I think.The story told in The Mark of the Angel starts in 1957 in Paris It has been twelve years since the end of the Second World War, but some things don t seem to have changed much There is trouble in Algeria and French troops are trying to get the situa [...]

Out of the bookcase as I was looking for material I had not read and this beautiful and powerful story came to my hand and I am absolutely blown away What a story A young German woman Sapphie comes to work as a maid for a young French musician Raphael who has a great deal of money It is hard to say whether he falls in love with her at the start or whether he simply wants her Nonetheless they had a sexual relationship which results in marriage and a child Emil which she does not want He sends her [...]

Set in late 1950s Paris, a city still somewhat traumatised by its WWII experiences, this is the story of Saffie, a somewhat inscrutable young Swiss woman who applies to me the maid of a successful flautist Raphael Bewitched by her strange remoteness, he marries her, and they have a child together, despite their distant, cool relationship And then she meets Andras, who enters the story to repair Raphael s flute This is their story, and the story of the bloody Algerian conflict tearing Paris apart [...]

Rather disappointing

Una historia demasiado tr gica Tuve que leerlo r pido porqu necesitaba terminar con tanta angustia.

in ogni storia d a folle c una svolta pu giungere prima o poi, ma in genere arriva abbastanza presto la maggior parte delle coppie sbagliano nell affrontarla, slittano, si ribaltano e vanno a sfracellarsi contro il muro, con le ruote per aria la ragione semplice contrariamente a quanto si era creduto durante le prime ore, i primi giorni, o al massimo durante i primi mesi dell incantesimo, l altro non ci ha trasformato il muro contro cui ci si schianta dopo la svolta il muro di s se stesso cattiv [...]

Ya debes de haber reparado en c mo los mayores parecen recuperar un aire de inocencia El tiempo misericordioso pasa una goma de borrar por sus mentes y cuerpos, desdibujando sus rasgos caracter sticos, borrando sus recuerdos, disolviendo, una tras otra, las duras lecciones que les ha ense ado la vida Uno olvida, ya sabes Ah, s , uno olvida

Nancy Huston m a eu Je ne la connaissais pas Elle m a eu Sous les traits d un amour adult re Paris entre une jeune allemande et un migr hongrois juif, ce couple qui est toujours accompagn par le nouveau n mil, fils du mari fl tiste Rapha l la carri re internationale, se campe l histoire qui d bute en m me temps que la d cennie 50.En effeuillant un un les v tements du pass s du n o couple infid le juif allemand, Huston met nu les personnages Habillement, elle trace le parall le de la guerre de la [...]

Every time I pick up this book I read it again.Each time it s a different experience as the world changes year by year It has had influence on my own writing than anything I ve ever read Sophie is the effect of war and tragedy For her, happiness is an intense and fragile joy surrounded by a void of non existence She stands there and does nothing On the opening page there is a poem part of which reads Now, now, don t cry If I had been a teacher my ideal assignment would be two books Mark of an A [...]

I read this book with great interest, and was quite moved and captivated The book starts and ends grimly, but there is no other hope for Saffie, as we learn of her past I was entranced by the beauty of the middle part of the book, and it made a mark on me There is a fresh perspective on the holocaust, as seen through a child s innocent eye, and there is an epic love affair that is forbidden I thought the writing was excellent at times, but was taken aback somewhat when the author had personal as [...]

The lasting impact of the horrors of war, the healing possibilities of love, then human need to continue conflict, cross cultural barriers, jealousy and intrigue are all aspects of this sad and engrossing novel A rather sullen and mysterious maid is hired by an emerging flautist who falls in love with her They marry, have a child and her coldness and distance do not diminish Her husband sends her on an errand to an instrument repair expert and she falls in love Their backgrounds are different an [...]

Ce livre je l ai lu il y a deja longtemps J aurais souhaite pouvoir donne 3 etoiles er demir ce n est pas un livre obigatoire, mais a l epoque c etait le premier roman j ai ku qui Decrit la vie d une allemande pendant la guerre par rapport au miseres vecu par les deportes, ou les francais J ai trouve tres important de demontrer le misere allemand Le style de l ecriture est interessant, un peu different, je me suis demande plusieurs fois si c etait un livre en traduction ou bien ecrit par un angl [...]

En fin de compte, L empreinte de l ange est un roman particulier que je n aurais jamais lu si on ne me l avait pas pr t Il m aura pas mal perturb e, surtout au niveau de l intrigue et des l ments que j aurais appris sur notre histoire La fin m aura branl e par sa soudainet ainsi que son caract re tranchant, injuste Cela tant, j ai pu constater que Nancy Huston avait une plume de talent, sachant faire passer une multitude d l ments entre ses lignes, ses mots, et en ceci, c tait une tr s bonne d c [...]

Chris Bohjalian sp sorry Chris endorses this book, and yet I can t really understand why This book was such a solidFine It definitely picked up towards the end, and it had pacing in the sense that you can plow through it in a day but overall it just didn t have enough substance or interest to make me even want to write anything about it I did like the tragic ending because apparently I like tragedies, so if you want a little 1960s France tragedy, give this one a try tooambivalenttowrite

Non so Mi hanno prestato questo libro per farmelo leggere perch molto emozionante Il difetto pi grande di questo libro per l esatto contrario il racconto molto, troppo impersonale Come se una asettica telecamera spiasse le vite dei protagonisti, le registrasse, e le raccontasse cinquanta anni dopo Questo occhio esterno rende i personaggi assolutamente piatti e monodimensionali, e anche quando li vuole raccontare cattivi o malvagi, non riesce nello scopo di coinvolgere Peccato, perch la storia po [...]

Dire que je suis pass e c t est un euph misme et une contre v rit J ai plut t r ussi dans la douleur passer au traversCe roman tant vant est court et pourtant sa lecture m a t si difficile, si p nible J ai d test , d s les premi res lignes, le style de l auteur, le ton de la narration, les personnages Bref la seule qualit que je reconnaisse ce roman c est qu il ne laisse pas indiff rent.

This is a novel in which the story told is not as important as the way it is told I was fascinated with Huston s use of prose to sculpt her story and her characters No paragraph, no sentence was written without thought as to its shape in the whole Reading this novel was almost equivalent to watching a well choreographed dance It was a true pleasure to read.

This book gave me nightmares There is not one pleasant character and there is a sense of impending doom from page 1 I don t recommend it However, in spite of not enjoying it at all I thought it was well written, albeit in a very artificial style The writer makes comments to the reader which is annoying

I read this in the original French, and found the prose just to my liking It feels natural, elegant and measured but not self conscious, and the characters are expertly revealed gradually, and very compelling Having studied it in depth for University, I will be re reading it as a whole as a novel and I am very glad to have discovered it.

I read this book first in French in 1999 and then again in English in January 2012 as I had recommended it for my Book Club You can see what my Book Club thought of the book at bookclub9

Well, if you are looking for an uplifting, inspirational book, don t bother with this one The Mark of the Angel was a depressing read and just when I thought Saffie was finally seeing a glimmer of hope, it was at the expense of her husband and child A total waste of time

despite the pathetic resolution it is quite an interesting book when read in the right context maybe because of that the author stress as often as she can we are in the Paris of 1940 s or 50 s not bad at all but certainly not a jewel

What a sad story A well written novel that was a quick easy read I enjoyed the characters in spite of their prediliction towards complicated lives that resulted in sadness and at times despair.Even infant toddler Emil is tragic and wise beyond his years.

The characters in this novel were all tragic in some respects The narrator tells their story by looking down upon them from above and there are many portents of what will become of them There is much love and betrayal intertwined with the politics of France in 1950s.