The overlapping between the novel's fictional content and non-fictional content (which was not entirely revealed until the postscript) greatly held my interest as I am deeply fascinated by how "writ[ing] what you know" takes shape for each author.

in history from St. Olaf College and a Ph.D. in English from Columbia University; her thesis on Charles Dickens was entitled Figures of Dust: A Reading of Our Mutual Friend.Hustvedt was born in Northfield, Minnesota. I guess that some people say that she’s published only because she is Paul Auster’s wife, as it has happened with other writers before. Published Loved the first 150 pages of this, maybe because it's half in Minnesota (during our grandparent's/great-grandparent's time). We're fragmented beings who cement ourselves together, but there are always cracks. I'm not sure if this book is the best introduction to the author for me.

I was impressed by Hustvedt's ability to narrate as a man. However, it was a slow read and I did find myself wanting more from the ending. The revelations are dull and even uninteresting. The words of Hustvedt's analyst narrator keep echoing in my brain after reading this powerful and unusual novel. I appreciate the psychological insights, which include an appreciation of the effects of traumatic experience on the teenaged Sophie, the 5 year old Eggy, and the long-ago 2 year old Lisa who is now an old and peculiar woman. The only thing giving this book more than one star, is Miranda and the prose. Great book! Les vents paisibles, les clames douloureux et les fortes tempêtes des émotions oubliées nous reviennent lorsque nous retournons là où elles sont nées. This book has further cemented Siri Hustvedt's place as one of my favourite writers, and this book is one of her best. Publié en 2008 dans sa version originale et dans sa traduction française, ce roman raconte l'histoire d'une famille américaine d'origine norvégienne.

Living with the cracks is part of being, well, reasonably healthy”“That is the strangeness of language: it crosses the boundaries of the body, is at once inside and outside, and it sometimes happens that we don't notice the threshold has been crossed.” NOPE. Its themes bombard us with psychoanalytic theory, avant-garde films and Kierkegaard.This is a tall, white, intelligent, pleasant, and faintly dull novel.This is a tall, white, intelligent, pleasant, and faintly dull novel.This is more a 3.5 for me, but this is my fourth Hustvedt in a row and two of them were particularly brilliant.This is more a 3.5 for me, but this is my fourth Hustvedt in a row and two of them were particularly brilliant.I found this book complex and engrossing, with a number of richly developed characters: the narrator, Erik, his sister Inga, her daughter Sonia, Erik's tenant Miranda and her daughter Eggy. Il y a ce que l'on voit de quelqu'un, et il y a tout ce qui le constitue, son passé, ses origines, son expérience de la vie et les tragédies qui y ont pris place, tout ces séismes qui constituent l'être intérieur. It’s a moving and sensuous scene, a moment lived in the moment wi At one point in Siki Hustveldt’s The Sorrows Of American, the narrator dives into his father’s grave. Le temps appartient au langage, à la syntaxe, à la conjugaison. Erik And the "sorrows" of Erik... That was the boring and confusing. There was just something that left me feel empty.How do these books get such laudatory reviews? The primary storyline, however, concerned the psychoanalyst's family and a tracing of a story from his recently deceased father. NOPE. Wow, what a pretentious doucheface of a narrator. To what extent does information “My sister called it “the year of secrets”, but when I look back on it now, I’ve come to understand that it was a time not of what was there, but of what wasn’t”. Not so much! This book has further cemented Siri Hustvedt's place as one of my favourite writers, and this book is one of her best.

by Leméac / Actes Sud

I didn't just feel connected with it at all and that is why the whole reading experience was a struggle. Élégie pour un Américain (titre original : The Sorrows of an American) est le quatrième roman de Siri Hustvedt. Siri Hustvedt is skilled creating psychological atmosphere that makes you feel unsettled and thrilled but all in all, I disliked the language, the pacing of the book and didn't really feel anything towards any of the characters. Also, the story of his father was supposed to be one of the main stories in the book, the horrible secret he had. Wow, what a pretentious doucheface of a narrator. Combien y a-t-il de leçons sur la psychanalyse selon Freud ? It contains no spectacular story and although it is a bit less captivating than the novel that I previously read from Hustvedt I did enjoy this book and all the myriad stories and mysteries within but as the end neared, I found myself liking it less and less. While the use of the author's father's journals was a lovely way for the author to collaborate with her father, and while the journals themselves were interesting, no truly compelling plot was really developed. At one point in Siki Hustveldt’s The Sorrows Of American, the narrator dives into his father’s grave. May 5th 2008 Erik immerses himself in the text of his father's diary as he develops an infErik Davidsen returns to his Minnesota hometown to sort through his recently deceased father Lars's papers.

Meanwhile, Inga, herself recently widowed, is reeling from potentially damaging secrets being revealed about the personal life of her dead husband, a well-known novelist and screenplay writer. The two also contend with other looming ghosts.