Boring, 20 Oct 2008
This has to be one of the most boring books I've ever read. The characters are unbelievable, there are too many unnecessary details, and the ending is shamelessly predictable. Don't waste your time.

A deeply uncomfortable read, 08 Aug 2005
Although "Sophie's Choice" has been listed as a classic, I found this book to be a very uncomfortable and unsettling read. Through a series of lies and contructed truths, Sophie relates her wartime experiences in Poland leading up until the point where she is liberated from Auschwitz and her attempts to rebuild her life in New York. However, as Sophie is sexually objectified by the narrator's numerous fantasties and verbally and physically abused by her lover and "saviour" Nathan, I found the post war world created by Styron even more disturbing than the past. However, the blunt and honest way in which the post war psyche is explored through 3 very different characters is facinating.

disappointing, 07 Oct 2003
I was soundly disappointed by this book. The concept is great. The execution, though, is sorely lacking. The novel's first chapter or so is very promising, but Styron's novelistic technique just does not hold up to the gravity of his topic. Sophie's tale is narrated through Styron's younger alter-ego 'Stingo', having met Sophie in New York shortly after the end of World War 2. Sophie's harrowing confessions are interspersed, incongruously, with Stingo's adolescent sexual fantasies about the various girls who refuse to 'give it up', and the sections where Sophie is supposed to be speaking are rather clumsily placed and actually poorly crafted. Stingo's sexual fantasies, combined with the way ex-Auschwitz inmate Sophie is described in terms of her oozing Polish sexuality, along with the grotesque accounts of her sexual abuse, reduce the potency of what promises to be an earth-stopping work of fiction and actually makes it rather offensive on many levels. Styron also, confusingly, mixes fiction with fact: Rudolf Hess pops up as a character, and Styron includes quotes by theoreticians (such as Hannah Arendt) to bolster his case, if he has a case. Unfortunately, the impression gleaned is that of a man who has read the beginner's guide to the holocaust and now believes he has the answer to the meaning of life and man's inhumanity to man etc etc etc. Mr Styron has, however, been afflicted (apparently) with rather a limited intelligence, or at least one that has been badly compromised by his ego (from which the reader is never distanced). None of these aspects in themselves make for a bad work of fiction, and Styron could have got away with these flaws if he was, quite simply, a better writer. Ultimately, the only interesting thing about this book is Sophie's central dilemma, the gravity of which is insulted by Styron's grating ineptitude; and if you already know what Sophie's choice is, or if you have seen the film, don't bother reading this. And if you don't know, just watch the film. The film isn't that good either, but you'll waste less of your time on that than on this overlong, overblown piece of pseudo-literature.

You have to read this book!, 22 Apr 2001
This book is absolutely brilliant and let down only by the author's tendency to ramble. Once you've read it, though, everything falls into place and Styron leaves you with a feeling you won't be able to shake off for days!

extremely moving, powerful story that packs a punch., 09 Mar 2001
I throughly enjoyed the film and decided to read the book and it is even better, it is an extremely powerful story centering on three characters, Stingo the narrator, Sophie a Polish emigrant and Nathan, her Jewish lover. The story is set in Brooklyn, New York in 1947 and concerns the relationship between the three who are neighbours in the same boarding house. Initially all is well and they become the best of friends but all is not what it appears. It transpires that Sophie is a survivor of Auschwitz concentration camp although she is Polish. She is haunted by her past and by all the friends and family who did not survive the war. As the story continues it takes us back to pre-war Europe in flashback. It also explores her relationship with Nathan, a brilliant but unstable character with his own demons. Without giving too much away the story has a heartbreaking twist to it and a box of tissues might come in handy. For me, what gave it immediacy and such a haunting quality is that Sophie is apparently based on someone who the author actually knew and the reader is left asking how much of it is fiction?

Boring, 20 Oct 2008
This has to be one of the most boring books I've ever read. The characters are unbelievable, there are too many unnecessary details, and the ending is shamelessly predictable. Don't waste your time.

A deeply uncomfortable read, 08 Aug 2005
Although "Sophie's Choice" has been listed as a classic, I found this book to be a very uncomfortable and unsettling read. Through a series of lies and contructed truths, Sophie relates her wartime experiences in Poland leading up until the point where she is liberated from Auschwitz and her attempts to rebuild her life in New York. However, as Sophie is sexually objectified by the narrator's numerous fantasties and verbally and physically abused by her lover and "saviour" Nathan, I found the post war world created by Styron even more disturbing than the past. However, the blunt and honest way in which the post war psyche is explored through 3 very different characters is facinating.

disappointing, 07 Oct 2003
I was soundly disappointed by this book. The concept is great. The execution, though, is sorely lacking. The novel's first chapter or so is very promising, but Styron's novelistic technique just does not hold up to the gravity of his topic. Sophie's tale is narrated through Styron's younger alter-ego 'Stingo', having met Sophie in New York shortly after the end of World War 2. Sophie's harrowing confessions are interspersed, incongruously, with Stingo's adolescent sexual fantasies about the various girls who refuse to 'give it up', and the sections where Sophie is supposed to be speaking are rather clumsily placed and actually poorly crafted. Stingo's sexual fantasies, combined with the way ex-Auschwitz inmate Sophie is described in terms of her oozing Polish sexuality, along with the grotesque accounts of her sexual abuse, reduce the potency of what promises to be an earth-stopping work of fiction and actually makes it rather offensive on many levels. Styron also, confusingly, mixes fiction with fact: Rudolf Hess pops up as a character, and Styron includes quotes by theoreticians (such as Hannah Arendt) to bolster his case, if he has a case. Unfortunately, the impression gleaned is that of a man who has read the beginner's guide to the holocaust and now believes he has the answer to the meaning of life and man's inhumanity to man etc etc etc. Mr Styron has, however, been afflicted (apparently) with rather a limited intelligence, or at least one that has been badly compromised by his ego (from which the reader is never distanced). None of these aspects in themselves make for a bad work of fiction, and Styron could have got away with these flaws if he was, quite simply, a better writer. Ultimately, the only interesting thing about this book is Sophie's central dilemma, the gravity of which is insulted by Styron's grating ineptitude; and if you already know what Sophie's choice is, or if you have seen the film, don't bother reading this. And if you don't know, just watch the film. The film isn't that good either, but you'll waste less of your time on that than on this overlong, overblown piece of pseudo-literature.

You have to read this book!, 22 Apr 2001
This book is absolutely brilliant and let down only by the author's tendency to ramble. Once you've read it, though, everything falls into place and Styron leaves you with a feeling you won't be able to shake off for days!

extremely moving, powerful story that packs a punch., 09 Mar 2001
I throughly enjoyed the film and decided to read the book and it is even better, it is an extremely powerful story centering on three characters, Stingo the narrator, Sophie a Polish emigrant and Nathan, her Jewish lover. The story is set in Brooklyn, New York in 1947 and concerns the relationship between the three who are neighbours in the same boarding house. Initially all is well and they become the best of friends but all is not what it appears. It transpires that Sophie is a survivor of Auschwitz concentration camp although she is Polish. She is haunted by her past and by all the friends and family who did not survive the war. As the story continues it takes us back to pre-war Europe in flashback. It also explores her relationship with Nathan, a brilliant but unstable character with his own demons. Without giving too much away the story has a heartbreaking twist to it and a box of tissues might come in handy. For me, what gave it immediacy and such a haunting quality is that Sophie is apparently based on someone who the author actually knew and the reader is left asking how much of it is fiction?

Magnificent, 06 May 2004
In August 1831, in a remote region of south-eastern Virginia, took place the only effective and sustained revolt in the history of American Negro slavery. That year, a black man, Nat Turner, awaits death in a prison cell. He is a slave, a preacher and the leader of the revolt. Mr Styron based his novel on the single significant contemporary document concerning this insurrection, namely a brief pamphlet of twenty pages called "The Confessions of Nat Turner", published in Richmond in 1831. The confession Turner made to his jailers under the duress of his God is a narrative describing a good man's transformation into an avenging angel even as it encompasses all the betrayals, cruelties and humiliations that made up slavery - and that is still present in the collective psyches of both races.
This magnificent book brilliantly depicts the American past in a dazzling narrative.

A passionate and serious novel, 11 Mar 2003
This book did something that few books do - it made me cry. I think my tears were the result of an immersion in the scene and characters of the novel (both of which are deeply and intensely drawn) and a general sense of frustration about the world that it should have such painful things in its history.

The hero of the novel, and the narrator of the story, is the leader of a slave revolt in Virginia in 1831, Nat Turner. It is based on real historical events and Styron claimed to be trying to re-create 'a man and his era' . The novel accompanies Turner through each painful, ill-fated move leading up to his capture and a sad end.

I think this book is remarkable for its thick, richly drawn character development. It's passionate, grand, awful, very serious, all these words seem to fit. It's definitely not a light read, but I have gone on to read other William Styron books, and this still seems the strongest and my favourite.

Many people will take a familiar moral message about the iniquities of slavery away from the reading of this book, but Styron also called it a 'meditation on history'. The true story of Nat Turner from his own point of view is not one we will ever hear. We do have a short pamphlet entitled 'The Confessions of Nat Turner', claiming to be his words (a piece of propaganda probably created by the court which tried him) and we have Styron's masterly novel. Two stories, and the truth probably in neither.

If you wanted to find out more about the 'real life' stories of slaves in the pre-Civil War US, I would also heartily recommend The Narrative of Frederick Douglas or Harriet Jacob's Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl. I found these quite fascinating and powerful in a different way.

A unique book which takes you into the soul of a slave., 22 Mar 1997
This work, steeped in accurate historical settings and moving religious allegories, takes the reader into the very core of a southern slave.

Slavery breeds violence, violence breeds slavery., 10 Jan 1997
Written in 1968, Styron's "Confessions" delves deep into the psychology behind Nat Turner's 1831 slave revolt. Almost unbearable in its graphic violence and Biblically-dimensioned heartbreak, the novel (for it *is* fictional) has Turner telling the whole story in painfully honest detail. Styron neither defends Turner nor paints him as crazy; he is less interested in pointing out right or wrong than in trying to understand the broad ironies of the system of slavery and its effects on the people who ran it and were subject to it. Styron's Nat Turner is a man who is both educated and destroyed by his masters; he is both uplifted and misled by the Bible. His hatred is not fueled by the hatred of whites, but by the pity of whites. And when he kills, he is only able to commit one physical murder, though he takes responsibility for 60. The book is often painful to read, especially for one who might think that race relations today have little to do with 19th-century slavery. But in its wealth of detail and its ability to enter into the mind of a complex and criminal mind, it is unique, and should be required reading for every self-termed patriotic American.

Boring, 20 Oct 2008
This has to be one of the most boring books I've ever read. The characters are unbelievable, there are too many unnecessary details, and the ending is shamelessly predictable. Don't waste your time.

A deeply uncomfortable read, 08 Aug 2005
Although "Sophie's Choice" has been listed as a classic, I found this book to be a very uncomfortable and unsettling read. Through a series of lies and contructed truths, Sophie relates her wartime experiences in Poland leading up until the point where she is liberated from Auschwitz and her attempts to rebuild her life in New York. However, as Sophie is sexually objectified by the narrator's numerous fantasties and verbally and physically abused by her lover and "saviour" Nathan, I found the post war world created by Styron even more disturbing than the past. However, the blunt and honest way in which the post war psyche is explored through 3 very different characters is facinating.

disappointing, 07 Oct 2003
I was soundly disappointed by this book. The concept is great. The execution, though, is sorely lacking. The novel's first chapter or so is very promising, but Styron's novelistic technique just does not hold up to the gravity of his topic. Sophie's tale is narrated through Styron's younger alter-ego 'Stingo', having met Sophie in New York shortly after the end of World War 2. Sophie's harrowing confessions are interspersed, incongruously, with Stingo's adolescent sexual fantasies about the various girls who refuse to 'give it up', and the sections where Sophie is supposed to be speaking are rather clumsily placed and actually poorly crafted. Stingo's sexual fantasies, combined with the way ex-Auschwitz inmate Sophie is described in terms of her oozing Polish sexuality, along with the grotesque accounts of her sexual abuse, reduce the potency of what promises to be an earth-stopping work of fiction and actually makes it rather offensive on many levels. Styron also, confusingly, mixes fiction with fact: Rudolf Hess pops up as a character, and Styron includes quotes by theoreticians (such as Hannah Arendt) to bolster his case, if he has a case. Unfortunately, the impression gleaned is that of a man who has read the beginner's guide to the holocaust and now believes he has the answer to the meaning of life and man's inhumanity to man etc etc etc. Mr Styron has, however, been afflicted (apparently) with rather a limited intelligence, or at least one that has been badly compromised by his ego (from which the reader is never distanced). None of these aspects in themselves make for a bad work of fiction, and Styron could have got away with these flaws if he was, quite simply, a better writer. Ultimately, the only interesting thing about this book is Sophie's central dilemma, the gravity of which is insulted by Styron's grating ineptitude; and if you already know what Sophie's choice is, or if you have seen the film, don't bother reading this. And if you don't know, just watch the film. The film isn't that good either, but you'll waste less of your time on that than on this overlong, overblown piece of pseudo-literature.

You have to read this book!, 22 Apr 2001
This book is absolutely brilliant and let down only by the author's tendency to ramble. Once you've read it, though, everything falls into place and Styron leaves you with a feeling you won't be able to shake off for days!

extremely moving, powerful story that packs a punch., 09 Mar 2001
I throughly enjoyed the film and decided to read the book and it is even better, it is an extremely powerful story centering on three characters, Stingo the narrator, Sophie a Polish emigrant and Nathan, her Jewish lover. The story is set in Brooklyn, New York in 1947 and concerns the relationship between the three who are neighbours in the same boarding house. Initially all is well and they become the best of friends but all is not what it appears. It transpires that Sophie is a survivor of Auschwitz concentration camp although she is Polish. She is haunted by her past and by all the friends and family who did not survive the war. As the story continues it takes us back to pre-war Europe in flashback. It also explores her relationship with Nathan, a brilliant but unstable character with his own demons. Without giving too much away the story has a heartbreaking twist to it and a box of tissues might come in handy. For me, what gave it immediacy and such a haunting quality is that Sophie is apparently based on someone who the author actually knew and the reader is left asking how much of it is fiction?

Magnificent, 06 May 2004
In August 1831, in a remote region of south-eastern Virginia, took place the only effective and sustained revolt in the history of American Negro slavery. That year, a black man, Nat Turner, awaits death in a prison cell. He is a slave, a preacher and the leader of the revolt. Mr Styron based his novel on the single significant contemporary document concerning this insurrection, namely a brief pamphlet of twenty pages called "The Confessions of Nat Turner", published in Richmond in 1831. The confession Turner made to his jailers under the duress of his God is a narrative describing a good man's transformation into an avenging angel even as it encompasses all the betrayals, cruelties and humiliations that made up slavery - and that is still present in the collective psyches of both races.
This magnificent book brilliantly depicts the American past in a dazzling narrative.

A passionate and serious novel, 11 Mar 2003
This book did something that few books do - it made me cry. I think my tears were the result of an immersion in the scene and characters of the novel (both of which are deeply and intensely drawn) and a general sense of frustration about the world that it should have such painful things in its history.

The hero of the novel, and the narrator of the story, is the leader of a slave revolt in Virginia in 1831, Nat Turner. It is based on real historical events and Styron claimed to be trying to re-create 'a man and his era' . The novel accompanies Turner through each painful, ill-fated move leading up to his capture and a sad end.

I think this book is remarkable for its thick, richly drawn character development. It's passionate, grand, awful, very serious, all these words seem to fit. It's definitely not a light read, but I have gone on to read other William Styron books, and this still seems the strongest and my favourite.

Many people will take a familiar moral message about the iniquities of slavery away from the reading of this book, but Styron also called it a 'meditation on history'. The true story of Nat Turner from his own point of view is not one we will ever hear. We do have a short pamphlet entitled 'The Confessions of Nat Turner', claiming to be his words (a piece of propaganda probably created by the court which tried him) and we have Styron's masterly novel. Two stories, and the truth probably in neither.

If you wanted to find out more about the 'real life' stories of slaves in the pre-Civil War US, I would also heartily recommend The Narrative of Frederick Douglas or Harriet Jacob's Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl. I found these quite fascinating and powerful in a different way.

A unique book which takes you into the soul of a slave., 22 Mar 1997
This work, steeped in accurate historical settings and moving religious allegories, takes the reader into the very core of a southern slave.

Slavery breeds violence, violence breeds slavery., 10 Jan 1997
Written in 1968, Styron's "Confessions" delves deep into the psychology behind Nat Turner's 1831 slave revolt. Almost unbearable in its graphic violence and Biblically-dimensioned heartbreak, the novel (for it *is* fictional) has Turner telling the whole story in painfully honest detail. Styron neither defends Turner nor paints him as crazy; he is less interested in pointing out right or wrong than in trying to understand the broad ironies of the system of slavery and its effects on the people who ran it and were subject to it. Styron's Nat Turner is a man who is both educated and destroyed by his masters; he is both uplifted and misled by the Bible. His hatred is not fueled by the hatred of whites, but by the pity of whites. And when he kills, he is only able to commit one physical murder, though he takes responsibility for 60. The book is often painful to read, especially for one who might think that race relations today have little to do with 19th-century slavery. But in its wealth of detail and its ability to enter into the mind of a complex and criminal mind, it is unique, and should be required reading for every self-termed patriotic American.

Superb Novel on the futility of War, 15 Aug 2003
William Styron is a superb writer, he has a highly creative style but combines this with being easy to read. This short novel considers one very hard day in the life of two marine reservists. It indicates what can happen when intelligent, independent people are placed under the control of a sadistic institution with no recourse to quitting or complaining. The heroes of the story are two marines who served in the second world war, spent half a dozen years getting good jobs & lives for themselves, and were then called up for the Korean war. Their frustrations are spelled out over the backdrop of a 35 mile forced route march under an unforgiving sun. Altogether an unputdownable piece of writing by one of America's best novelists