The Bloom of Life

Name: Anatole France

Year Won: 1921

Read: "The Bloom of Life"

Original Language: French

Reason: ""in recognition of his brilliant literary achievements, characterized as they are by a nobility of style, a profound human sympathy, grace, and a true Gallic temperament"

About: The Bloom of Life is yet another "let me tell you all about this important person" story. I found it dull as I am getting seriously tired of reading about yet another brilliant, artistic young man's life where he does brilliant and artistic things and makes oh so clever observations.

It also doesn't help that (and this may be the translation) that the prose is incredibly stilted. What could be described in 4 words generally takes 40 and is done in such a round about way that it's hard to read or appreciate. I quit this book 100 pages in.

What I Liked: There are some interesting descriptions of life and some of the characters are moderately interesting. (If only he could get to the point rather than describing endlessly what his character thought of them and what they were thinking...)

What I Disliked: Almost everything. There are too many books like this by Nobel laureates and they all kind of suck. I also am not a fan of the writing in the least. Omit needless words, buddy.

Should it have won a Nobel: No. But you already knew my opinions on that.

Next up: Poetry by Yates (yay, another I'd heard of prior to this!)