Good Morning, Midnight [Paperback]

Jean Rhys (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 17, 1999

"No one who reads Good Morning, Midnight will ever forget it." - New York Times

Sasha Jensen has returned to Paris, the city of both her happiest moments and her most desperate. Her past lies in wait for her in cafes, bars, and dress shops, blurring all distinctions between nightmare and reality. When she is picked up by a young man, she begins to feel that she is still capable of desires and emotions. Few encounters in fiction have been so brilliantly conceived, and few have come to a more unforgettable end.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"No one who reads Good Morning, Midnight will ever forget it. -- New York Times

About the Author

Jean Rhys is the author of Wide Sargasso Sea and other novels.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1ST edition (December 17, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393303942
• ISBN-13: 978-0393303940
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #68,043 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "Last night was a catastrophe..." October 8, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Just about every night is a catastrophe for Sasha Jansen, the heroine of Jean Rhys's excellent novel. In less than two hundred pages, Rhys has effectively captured not only the bitter sentiments of the "lost generation" but also the huge scope of thoughts and experiences of a lonely brand of humans alienated by a cruel, hyprocritical society. The theme of the book comes straight from Sasha's mouth:

". . . And I'm very much afraid of the whole bloody human race. . . Who wouldn't be afraid of a pack of damned hyenas? . . . And when I say afraid -- that's just a word I use. What I really mean is that I hate them. I hate their voices, I hate their eyes, I hate the way they laugh . . . I hate the whole bloody business. It's cruel, it's idiotic, it's unspeakably horrible . . . Everything spoiled, all spoiled."

The frightening thing about this book is that Rhys successfully cuts through human illusions and comes out with a stark, brutal view of society as a "pack of hyenas." She suggests society is this way because people are insecure and must appease their egos through cruelty to others, but she does not entirely believe or accept this as a valid excuse for cruel behavior. This is a common theme in Rhys's books -- society committing spritual murder through cruelty -- and it is never shown better than here.

Sasha's bitter plight is quite realistic (it's obvious Rhys has had these experiences herself) and the social commentary biting, told through lean and somewhat dream-like stream-of-consciousness prose. The long dialogues and battles of wills between Sasha and the gigolo culminate in a tense, unforgettable ending -- an excellent book by one of the most underrated authors of the Twentieth Century.

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Delicately Violent January 11, 2001

By Eric Anderson

Format:Paperback

It is no wonder that after the publication of this novel people assumed Jean Rhys had committed suicide. It is a dark, introverted, soul-searching novel. It's brilliance lies in the compassion with which Sasha is treated. This is a woman who is unquestionably at the end of her tether. Life occurs almost unconsciously to her. She drinks non-stop and thinks of fashion before eating. But these aren't superficial choices. They are the few soft whispers of a woman about to go over the brink. Throughout the novel you are given brief glimpses of her past as a shop assistant and the troubles in her marriage. In themselves the troubles which result from them are not ample enough to drive a normal woman to such desperation. You feel that the reason for her state of mind is more the result of a profound neglect of her individual spirit by men. She is led on to believe in a progression of being, but is abandoned to clutch at the ghosts of her old haunts in Paris. This is a sharp contrast to the ideas that we have about artistic scene of Paris in this time period. It is a more sincerely concentrated personal experience than most accounts. It is interesting to think of the end in contrast to the jubilant yeses of Molly Bloom in Ulysses. Sasha's yes is one of doom and resignation to a world that has flown past her.

Despite its depressing character, this novel is a fascinating look at a tendency to sink into a psychological state often ignored. It is also a subtle portrayal of an identity built on a knife's edge. Luckily, Ms Rhys did survive this novel (however unhappily). It is a miracle that she did considering the violent lack of self worth of Sasha; to have imagined such a person must have been terrifying indeed.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent novel of the "Lost Generation" from a female view January 14, 1999

By [e-mail]

Format:Paperback

This is one of several of Jean Rhys' novels of postwar existence in Europe. It focuses on her time in Paris living an existential lifestyle after she returns from London. It along with her other novels Quartet, After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie, and Voyage in the Dark weave a intricate tale of the postmodern experience in all its bleak and nihilistic beauty. This along with her other novels are semi-autobiographical accounts of Ms. Rhys life in post world war I Europe. They are, in my opinion, some of the best novels that examine the 20th century human condition, with the exception of Henry Miller's works. This novel along with her others, surpass her later novel, Wide Sargasso Sea in all respects.