Rating: 
Summary: A Modern Classic
Review: ....Conditions of Faith was written and published in 2000, but itsprose is that of a classic novel of the Victorian age. The writingstyle is flawless and flows along quite effortlessly. After so manyhackneyed plots and bad writing styles that continually rotate theBest Sellers racks in department and grocery stores across thecountry, it is refreshing to read such an original, intelligent, andwell-written story as Conditions of Faith. The plot is veryinteresting and was invented when Miller, a well-loved Australianauthor and winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize and Australia'smost prestigious literary prize, The Miles Franklin Award, received ajournal his mother left him when she died, which contained only a fewsparse entries. Another carefully crafted aspect of this novel is thevivid descriptions of both Paris and Tunisia, which make the readerfeel as if she or he were really seeing these places and want toexperience life in France and Africa for him or herself. Conditionsof Faith is Miller's fifth book, but only the first to be publishedin the United States. Hopefully more of his work will be publishedhere, because this is a novel that should be treasured by all writersand readers as an example of true literary achievement and skill.
Rating:
Summary: A Modern Classic
Review: ....Conditions of Faith was written and published in 2000, but itsprose is that of a classic novel of the Victorian age. The writingstyle is flawless and flows along quite effortlessly. After so manyhackneyed plots and bad writing styles that continually rotate theBest Sellers racks in department and grocery stores across thecountry, it is refreshing to read such an original, intelligent, andwell-written story as Conditions of Faith. The plot is veryinteresting and was invented when Miller, a well-loved Australianauthor and winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize and Australia'smost prestigious literary prize, The Miles Franklin Award, received ajournal his mother left him when she died, which contained only a fewsparse entries. Another carefully crafted aspect of this novel is thevivid descriptions of both Paris and Tunisia, which make the readerfeel as if she or he were really seeing these places and want toexperience life in France and Africa for him or herself. Conditionsof Faith is Miller's fifth book, but only the first to be publishedin the United States. Hopefully more of his work will be publishedhere, because this is a novel that should be treasured by all writersand readers as an example of true literary achievement and skill.
Rating: 
Summary: Very tempting but rather shallow
Review: Alex Miller provides us with a novel that is easy to follow and hard to put down. Though it is enjoyable and touching, it lacks a depth of the parallel and lacks layers. The story is exactly what you read, there are no double meanings, no possible alternatives to the predicable unresolved situations.
The novel is set in the 1920's, yet the social attitudes in the book represent that of the modern era. As does the main character, Emily, who in separating herself from her family in order to follow her dreams, and to defy her husbands wishes presents us with a story we can relate to because we most probably are experienceing or observing situations and problems around us in the year 2003 similar to what emily is experiencing. Yet the story is quite unbelievable given the time in which the novel is set and the cultures that surround it. Such as Emily not attending church with the Elder family whilst in Charters; this just would not have been acceptable in 1920 Paris, but is quite acceptable now for people to be non-religious.
We come to know and like each of the characters, yet they too lack a depth of reality. They appear two dimentional and we see only of them what Emily sees them to be. We see Georges as almost a mechanical, unemotional figure who cares only for his bridge. We become infuriated with him being so content with his life, he ignores Emily's lack of contentment and cold behaviours, and is content suffering these as long as he can keep her, and this contentment of his makes Emily feel more trapped into a life she doesnt want to live and feels she cannot; and we then become infuriated by Georges contentment we think: why is this man such a fool? We see only his content and his dream. There is not much else to his character. Though we see he loves Emily, we dont get an insight or depth into this love and Georges emotions and feelings. We dont even get a deep insight into Georges and Emily's relationship, it lacks a realistic connection between the 2 characters and their marriage almost does not operate but is just apart of the context. They make love, but this lacks just as much emotion and detail as the sweet things emily says to georges to reassure him she is happy; which of course is not true.
All in all this is a long but light story in which we can clearly derive the value of being true to ourselves and following our dreams. We can relate to the main character being a woman searching for herself in the world and searching for her roles in life. The situation the charcter finds herself in is realistic, even if the setting of the novel and its characters lack reality; because it inevitably is about choices and how choices can rule our lives, what consequences we have to suffer as a result of our choices and how we can survive with these sufferings and be faithful to ourselves. And we realsie that it is important that people in our lives have faith in us for us to be able to acheive.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible, awful, dull, agonizing read!
Review: Emily Stanton had the world at her feet - which is quite extraordinary for a young woman living in 1920's Australia. She has the opportunity to study at Cambridge, but turns this enlightened option down to marry Georges; a Scottsman who is competing in the Sydney bridge competition. Emily is enticed by George's life in Paris and is also eager to overcome the pain of indecisions which have been troubling her since finishing school. So, she marries him and moves to Paris.
But Emily's life takes a sudden dip when they arrive back in Paris; she finds her husband totally engrossed in his work and she feels completely isolated. She becomes close with one of George's friends, Antoine but is still uneasy about her new life. Emily finds herself travelling around the world to Tunsia where she may just find her purpose....
This is an excruciating book to read. The book's downfall can be marked when Emily and Georges go to meet his mother in Chartres; while exploring the cathedral there, Emily meets a priest... and in the whopping 15 minutes since they lay eyes on one another, she is breaking her wedding vowels and having her very first affair. The reason behind this sudden surge of lust is not explained in the writing, and while the encounter has huge repercussion's for Emily, the reader is left feeling that the heat of passion was merely a catalyst for the rest of the book; an unexplained catalyst which is very spontaneous, unbeliveable and quite frankly, stupid.
Honestly, dont read this book. Just, dont. There is hardly any internal monologue and the endless descriptions of everything but the characters thoughts and feelings leave them as one-dimensional, soulless and uninteresting. This lack of attention makes the reader very frustrated; especially when the character's have long-winded speeches which dont sound at all natural, more like lectures, and pop up out of nowehere, amidst pages and pages of boring and irritating descriptions of the settings.
The character of Emily is built up but falls extremely short in reality; while at school she apparently topped the class in History (atleast that's what Miller repeats over and over and over again. Its really quite hilarious after a while because anyone reading this novel can see Emily is an absolute dim-wit.
I really had to trudge through this novel, and try not to lose grip by hurling the book across the room and stomping on it. How this was shortlisted for any prize anywhere in the world is beyond me... its utterly horrid.
Rating: 
Summary: A different novel
Review: I liked this book because it was different in setting, plot, and characters. The writing is excellent. I did find some parts of the story hard to believe and the main character, Emily, is a study in contrasts that are a bit too extreme. But I enjoyed the setting - the 1920's in Australia, Paris, Chartres, and Tunisia. The descriptions were well-written without becoming tiresome. The ending was disappointing to me. It was predictable, but unbelievable.
Rating:
Summary: A different novel
Review: I liked this book because it was different in setting, plot, and characters. The writing is excellent. I did find some parts of the story hard to believe and the main character, Emily, is a study in contrasts that are a bit too extreme. But I enjoyed the setting - the 1920's in Australia, Paris, Chartres, and Tunisia. The descriptions were well-written without becoming tiresome. The ending was disappointing to me. It was predictable, but unbelievable.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing and a little disturbing
Review: I really wanted to like this book, but the more I've reflected on it the more I was disturbed by it - in a bad way. At a superficial level, the writing is clear and sophisticated and the story tries to be a real portrait of modern thought developing in the early 20th century. But I wonder how much of that is just taking today's socially liberal thinking and misapplying it to that period of time. I also found the author's parallels between the main character (Emily) and Perpetua to be disappointing. From the middle of the book I started hoping the book would not end as predictably as it did. I also found the Emily/Perpetua storyline to be a slam on motherhood. Miller tries to couch this in respect, and explain how "everyone's different and finds their passions in different things" but I felt there was not enough effort expended by Emily (and ESPECIALLY by her friend Olive) to justify her actions. As a mother myself I felt sorry for the characters, when Miller seems to be trying to glorify their choices. So this is a thought provoking book, which is good, but I feel that the characters and the storyline did not adequately support the message Miller tries to convey. That, combined with the utterly predictable plot, makes me give it only 2 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing and a little disturbing
Review: I really wanted to like this book, but the more I've reflected on it the more I was disturbed by it - in a bad way. At a superficial level, the writing is clear and sophisticated and the story tries to be a real portrait of modern thought developing in the early 20th century. But I wonder how much of that is just taking today's socially liberal thinking and misapplying it to that period of time. I also found the author's parallels between the main character (Emily) and Perpetua to be disappointing. From the middle of the book I started hoping the book would not end as predictably as it did. I also found the Emily/Perpetua storyline to be a slam on motherhood. Miller tries to couch this in respect, and explain how "everyone's different and finds their passions in different things" but I felt there was not enough effort expended by Emily (and ESPECIALLY by her friend Olive) to justify her actions. As a mother myself I felt sorry for the characters, when Miller seems to be trying to glorify their choices. So this is a thought provoking book, which is good, but I feel that the characters and the storyline did not adequately support the message Miller tries to convey. That, combined with the utterly predictable plot, makes me give it only 2 stars.
Rating:
Summary: What Beautiful Prose
Review: I truly enjoyed this novel. It was an adventure to Paris, Chartres and Tunisia in the 1920's. Alex Miller paints beautiful landscapes. If you're longing to "get away", then this is the book for you. This was my first time reading a book by Alex Miller. It certainly will not be my last.
Rating:
Summary: What Beautiful Prose
Review: I truly enjoyed this novel. It was an adventure to Paris, Chartres and Tunisia in the 1920's. Alex Miller paints beautiful landscapes. If you're longing to "get away", then this is the book for you. This was my first time reading a book by Alex Miller. It certainly will not be my last.
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