My Book Review: The Lover by Marguerite Duras

My Review and Thoughts:

This book truly is a book that can change one’s idea of what great writing is about.

I have never experienced the amazing one of a kind control that Durras has. She takes, a sentence and brings it to life in an emotional roller coaster of changes within moods and emotional appeal. A word to her, comes to life in vibrant colors of personal senses.

Durras created a living emotionally desired truth, that lingered from page to mind and then into the heart, but most of all the soul. Durras creates inside The Lover something so bold, so exploratory, that the senses of the one reading, can't help but feel wasted, thoroughly excited, and exhausted.

Her writing in The Lover gave such power to words. Her words bled. Her senses became your senses. You were the shutters watching. You were the fedora transfixed upon the head of the school girl. You became her lover. You became the emotional bleeding. You became the desire of colors.

It’s a story about a young girl. A young white girl in Chinese territory. She has a family that is poor and most of all dysfunctional. She soon meets an older Chinese gentleman, rich, lustful. Soon a love affair of desire, unforgettable exploration of the human body. A 15-year-old lost in the arms of the adult world. Consumed by lust, body formation and temptation of seeking explored sexual emotions.

Durras takes an odd reality in telling her story. She jumps from moments in the past, present and the future in telling the ultimate story as it concludes. It’s a mind-numbing journey of passionate embrace of somewhat love, and lust. The reader can’t help turning the page and wondering what happens next, or what style of writing Durras will use. Moments of deep description. Moments of simple story. Moments of laying out the characters in all their details. From a mother, clearly with psychological problems. An older brother of hate, anger, greed, lust, power, criminal nature. A younger brother, calm, collected and somewhat emotionally lost. Your young white girl, the focus of the story. A child lost in an adult world.

Would I Return to it Again: Already have? Read it twice before writing this review. It’s amazing story that is passionate, dark and emotionally charged.

Would I Recommended: In a heartbeat. One of my favorite books. I think any lover of great story telling will truly take to this book.

Pages: 117

Year Published: 1984

My Rating: 5 out of 5

Four Words: Brilliant. Emotional. Seductive. Intense.