The Girl at the Lion D'or

Rating:
Summary: excellent prose, but plot lacking
Review: Although this book managed to hold my interest, I think it was solely because I was on a trip and it was the only book I had with me. While Faulks' descriptions of locales are evocative and intricately written, he seems to fail in his attempts to bring the characters to life. Both Anne and Hartmann seem rather one-dimensional, and Anne's attraction to Hartmann is never satisfactorily explained, except in an obtuse way when she divulges her "secret." The other characters seem simply to be neither particularly interesting nor an integral part of the story. Frankly, I was disappointed, and am hoping for better from Birdsong, which was the book I was searching for and was unable to find when I settled for this one.

Rating:
Summary: "I've kept too many secrets in my life."
Review: From her arrival at her new job at the Hotel du Lion d'Or young and beautiful Anne remains reclusive and mysterious to those around her. When questioned about her past or her family she provides vague answers and possesses a gift of changing the subject. According to hints scattered throughout the narrative it is apparent that Anne has a secret to hide. While waitressing Anne becomes acquainted with a small group of local men, including Charles Hartmann who is stuck in an emotionally devoid marriage and plagued by his past of fighting during the Great War. As their friendship deepens and blossoms into a love affair Anne feels that her own past has to be revealed and dealt with before their relationship can continue.

THE GIRL AT THE LION D'OR is another example of Sebastian Faulks's principle setting of France greatly disturbed by the affects of war. As the result of being set during the 1930's this novel includes the political backdrop of the threat of another German invasion on the heels of the staggering human loss of the Great War the reader receives a clear vision of just how vulnerable France was during this era and the affects on its inhabitants.

Unfortunately I found the love affair between Anne and Charles to be rather mundane and uninspiring; the only incentive that kept me reading was to find out what was Anne's mystery. To be completely honest, without this ploy I would have abandoned reading far before the ending as there just wasn't much to keep me interested. I generally felt let down.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Read!
Review: I am glad that I read the book before I read the customer reviews. If I hadn't, I probably wouldn't have read the book. I loved it. Sebastian writes beautifully and his descriptions of France and the emotions of the two main characters were compelling. I didn't read "Birdsong" when it first hit the bookstores, but I am certianly glad I read this book. Although I felt like I had escaped to France in the 1930's I also identified with the tortured couple. I was completely taken.

Rating:
Summary: A story of love and loss
Review: Sebastian Faulks writes a moving story that takes place in the 1930s about a young woman with a secret so terrible that she has had to change her identity. She has come from Paris to a small seaside village of Janvilliers, to work at the Hotel du Lion d'Or. Upon arriving she meets and falls in love with a married man, Charles Hartmann, and the story follows their affair to its eventual break-up at the end of the book. The story is well written, beautiful and romantic and the characters and settings are very detailed. My only criticism of this book is that Faulks leaves many loose ends...characters and plot lines that are part of the story, disappear, never be seen or heard from again, leaving several story lines hanging. For those looking for passion and romance, love and loss, this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: Well-written, but too bleak and emotionally stunted...
Review: Set after WWI in a small town in France, this somewhat bleak and heart-wrenching novel covers a number of months in the life of a beautiful Parisian girl who has changed her name to protect herself from the potential damage a family secret could cause her. Anna Louvet arrives in Janvilliers to work as the waitress at the small Hotel du Lion d'Or, perhaps to escape her loneliness and hoping to find happiness (love?). At the Hotel her supervisor is a fat, bitter matron, the chef a drunk, an errand boy a peeping tom, and the owner of the hotel a small fearful man - perhaps shelled-shocked after the war. Desperately lonely, she falls in love with one of the hotel bar's patrons, a married man named Hartmann and the novel is primarily about their brief affair (the book ends in a strange episode in Paris just after Hartmann rejects (breaks up with) Anna. Faulks is an exquisite writer and his prose is beautiful - the story however, is simply too bleak. I found the characters wrapped a little too tightly, with too many emotional hang-ups (do people still used this word?) for my taste. I found the description of Anna's 'family secret' rather fascinating and I was almost more moved by that then by the conjugal issues that Hartmann had or the personal issues that Anna seemed to be suffering. This is perhaps due to the author's attempts to place us into the hearts and minds of the French in the 1930s - and as an American in the 2000s - perhaps I should be judging my own (in)ability to better understand these characters. It is a beautiful quiet little novel - and extremely well written - but simply too frustrating emotionally for my liking.

Rating:
Summary: A tender and very moving story of love.
Review: This book varies hugely from the action in both Birdsong and Charlotte Gray but is still to date the best novel that Faulks has penned. He has the amazing ability to create characters that seem so real they could almost be your neighbours. In Anne there is a true victim but her robust attitude to all the trouble the world throws at her is inspiring. I have read.. and re read this book and each time I discover a new and very varied angle or character. This novel has not the profile or impact of Birdsong but it contains an elequence that is so often lacking in modern novels today. Faulks is not afraid to put characters at the centre of his novel and for this he should be aplauded. Read this book and fall in love with France, I feel like I am actually watching an art house European film when I read it.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written and thought provoking.
Review: This story opens with a prologue about three newspaper stories. Two of the stories deal with the demise of two political figures. The third story, very brief, almost lost on the page, deals with an unknown female intruder in the grounds of the prime minister's residence. The newspaper makes the French of the day believe the girl is unimportant, but if Faulks' readers are alert, they will see him peel back the layers to show us how important her insignificance is to France. We are introduced to Anne Louvet, a twenty-something girl with a secrect. She has answered an ad to be a waitress at the Hotel du Lion d'or, and when she meets the various characters of the novel, we are equisitely and subtlely introduced to the themes that caused the fall of France. Each character represents something that is amiss in pre-World War II France. In Anne, we come to know the beauty and vulnerability of France; In Hartmann, her married lover, Jewish and wealthy, we see the noblese who makes excuses for deflowering her. In the beginning, he convinces himself that he provides for her because he feels sorry for her, but that is the only way he, as a member of the gentry, can justify to himself that his actions are of a higher calling rather than that of a typical, wayward husband. But Hartmann is not alone. Each of the members of the upper classes, in this novel, are ruthless, wolves-in-sheep's clothing, who can manipulate the weak and convince themselves that they were the victim. At work here, also, is the precursor to the Jewish Final Solution in France. Pay close attention to the characters who interact with Hartmann. The other characters of this novel represent various classes and ways of looking at the world. See if you can identify their role in the shaping of France prior to World War II. Read this novel for it's beautiful, lyrical style, but don't cheat yourself by thinking that is all it is. Faulks is a master of the written word who understands the class system in Europe; it is a subtle yet powerful character in and of itself.

Rating:
Summary: a calm, quiet read
Review: This was the third Faulks book for me to read. It beautifully describes rural France. It is slow moving yet interesting since I know what is to later become of Hartman from reading Charlotte Grey. The theme is much like Madame Bovary and Anna Karennina in which a trusting girl is led astray by a bored man's fancy. This seems to be a common European theme. I had so much empathy for Anne, which proves that Faulks is great with characterization. -very psychological yet not too deep

Rating:
Summary: a calm, quiet read
Review: This was the third Faulks book for me to read. It beautifully describes rural France. It is slow moving yet interesting since I know what is to later become of Hartman from reading Charlotte Grey. The theme is much like Madame Bovary and Anna Karennina in which a trusting girl is led astray by a bored man's fancy. This seems to be a common European theme. I had so much empathy for Anne, which proves that Faulks is great with characterization. -very psychological yet not too deep

Rating:
Summary: The second in a trilogy
Review: While this book is not as good as Faulks Birdsong or Charlotte Grey. It does round out the trilogy nicely and provide insight to how Birdsong and Charlotte Grey are connected.