Paperback, 333 pages
French language
Published April 8, 2011 by Boréal.
Un immense bureau d’acajou sert d’écritoire à une romancière américaine pendant un quart de siècle. Elle l’a reçu en héritage d’un jeune poète chilien, disparu entre les mains de la police secrète de Pinochet. Un jour, une jeune femme prétendant être la fille du poète se présente à sa porte et réclame le bureau, privant la vie de la romancière de son centre de gravité. De l’autre côté de l’océan, un homme qui accompagne sa femme vers la mort découvre, au milieu des papiers de celle-ci, une boucle de cheveux qui lui révèle un terrible secret. À Jérusalem, un antiquaire reconstitue peu à peu la bibliothèque de son père, dont le mobilier avait été dispersé par la nazis, à Budapest, en 1944.
Le bureau, qui se trouve au point de fuite de toutes ces histoires, avec ses multiples tiroirs, exerce son pouvoir sur tous ceux qui entrent en sa possession …
Un immense bureau d’acajou sert d’écritoire à une romancière américaine pendant un quart de siècle. Elle l’a reçu en héritage d’un jeune poète chilien, disparu entre les mains de la police secrète de Pinochet. Un jour, une jeune femme prétendant être la fille du poète se présente à sa porte et réclame le bureau, privant la vie de la romancière de son centre de gravité. De l’autre côté de l’océan, un homme qui accompagne sa femme vers la mort découvre, au milieu des papiers de celle-ci, une boucle de cheveux qui lui révèle un terrible secret. À Jérusalem, un antiquaire reconstitue peu à peu la bibliothèque de son père, dont le mobilier avait été dispersé par la nazis, à Budapest, en 1944.
Le bureau, qui se trouve au point de fuite de toutes ces histoires, avec ses multiples tiroirs, exerce son pouvoir sur tous ceux qui entrent en sa possession ou qui le lèguent à quelqu’un d’autre. Au fur et à mesure que les narrateurs de La Grande Maison nous dévoilent leur destin, le bureau finit par représenter tout ce qui leur a été enlevé, tout ce qui les lie à ce qu’ils ont perdu.
La Grande Maison est hanté par la question de ce que nous laissons en héritage à nos enfants. Comment reprennent-ils le témoin de nos rêves et de nos deuils? Quelle réponse pouvons-nous opposer à la disparition, à la destruction, à la transformation de tout? (back cover)
Another well-written Nicole Krauss book, I think I like her prose better than her plot here. She weaves together several stories around a shared desk, but I am just starting to like this type of organization (bordering on short stories with the faint hope of pulling it all together in the end) and think David Mitchell does it best.
This book is very similar to Krauss' first book, "The History of Love"; perspectives from young and old, both sexes, the Jewish world in the center and love, old and young, interspersed throughout decades.
This one's like Jeffrey Eugenides' "Middlesex", but not as focused, and definitely not as good, despite it being fair.
Her tellings from an old man's perspective are crystal-clear. The muddiness is applied when she tells of the now, of the why's and lets me down in term of keeping the story fresh and the reader keen. At times I just wanted to press "next" and go forth to The Exciting.
And there were a few exciting, fresh moments, but not that many. Maybe it's me being jaded, having just read Palahniuk's "Rant", but I don't suspect it. Time will tell.
All in all: entertaining, a few choice paragraphs and insights, but for the most part a …
This book is very similar to Krauss' first book, "The History of Love"; perspectives from young and old, both sexes, the Jewish world in the center and love, old and young, interspersed throughout decades.
This one's like Jeffrey Eugenides' "Middlesex", but not as focused, and definitely not as good, despite it being fair.
Her tellings from an old man's perspective are crystal-clear. The muddiness is applied when she tells of the now, of the why's and lets me down in term of keeping the story fresh and the reader keen. At times I just wanted to press "next" and go forth to The Exciting.
And there were a few exciting, fresh moments, but not that many. Maybe it's me being jaded, having just read Palahniuk's "Rant", but I don't suspect it. Time will tell.
All in all: entertaining, a few choice paragraphs and insights, but for the most part a flower that has somewhat wilted. All it needed was fertile ground, dang it.
This book is very similar to Krauss' first book, "The History of Love"; perspectives from young and old, both sexes, the Jewish world in the center and love, old and young, interspersed throughout decades.
This one's like Jeffrey Eugenides' "Middlesex", but not as focused, and definitely not as good, despite it being fair.
Her tellings from an old man's perspective are crystal-clear. The muddiness is applied when she tells of the now, of the why's and lets me down in term of keeping the story fresh and the reader keen. At times I just wanted to press "next" and go forth to The Exciting.
And there were a few exciting, fresh moments, but not that many. Maybe it's me being jaded, having just read Palahniuk's "Rant", but I don't suspect it. Time will tell.
All in all: entertaining, a few choice paragraphs and insights, but for the most part a …
This book is very similar to Krauss' first book, "The History of Love"; perspectives from young and old, both sexes, the Jewish world in the center and love, old and young, interspersed throughout decades.
This one's like Jeffrey Eugenides' "Middlesex", but not as focused, and definitely not as good, despite it being fair.
Her tellings from an old man's perspective are crystal-clear. The muddiness is applied when she tells of the now, of the why's and lets me down in term of keeping the story fresh and the reader keen. At times I just wanted to press "next" and go forth to The Exciting.
And there were a few exciting, fresh moments, but not that many. Maybe it's me being jaded, having just read Palahniuk's "Rant", but I don't suspect it. Time will tell.
All in all: entertaining, a few choice paragraphs and insights, but for the most part a flower that has somewhat wilted. All it needed was fertile ground, dang it.
This book is very similar to Krauss' first book, "The History of Love"; perspectives from young and old, both sexes, the Jewish world in the center and love, old and young, interspersed throughout decades.
This one's like Jeffrey Eugenides' "Middlesex", but not as focused, and definitely not as good, despite it being fair.
Her tellings from an old man's perspective are crystal-clear. The muddiness is applied when she tells of the now, of the why's and lets me down in term of keeping the story fresh and the reader keen. At times I just wanted to press "next" and go forth to The Exciting.
And there were a few exciting, fresh moments, but not that many. Maybe it's me being jaded, having just read Palahniuk's "Rant", but I don't suspect it. Time will tell.
All in all: entertaining, a few choice paragraphs and insights, but for the most part a …
This book is very similar to Krauss' first book, "The History of Love"; perspectives from young and old, both sexes, the Jewish world in the center and love, old and young, interspersed throughout decades.
This one's like Jeffrey Eugenides' "Middlesex", but not as focused, and definitely not as good, despite it being fair.
Her tellings from an old man's perspective are crystal-clear. The muddiness is applied when she tells of the now, of the why's and lets me down in term of keeping the story fresh and the reader keen. At times I just wanted to press "next" and go forth to The Exciting.
And there were a few exciting, fresh moments, but not that many. Maybe it's me being jaded, having just read Palahniuk's "Rant", but I don't suspect it. Time will tell.
All in all: entertaining, a few choice paragraphs and insights, but for the most part a flower that has somewhat wilted. All it needed was fertile ground, dang it.
Hugely disappointing. This book got a metric tonne of great press, including a nomination for the National Book Award, so I was expecting something worthy of such acclaim. The book deals with themes of memory and loss, much like Krauss's first novel, [b:Man Walks Into a Room|44380|Man Walks Into a Room|Nicole Krauss|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170260388s/44380.jpg|43730], but in a much less enjoyable fashion. While Man Walks Into a Room had a riveting story, Great House is less a novel and more a collection of slightly interrelated stories.
