Customer Reviews

Good Morning, Midnight

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This book is one of my favorite books of all time. I've read all of Jean Rhys's books and this and Voyage of the Dark are the two I really fell in love with. The language was clear and beautiful. The story was bittersweet (okay, more bitter than sweet)without getting heavy and dramatic like Wide Sargasso Sea. I didn't like Wide Sargasso Sea that much. This is the books Rhys should be famous for.

I once read that Jean Rhys was reaching for her mascara when she died. So I'm not surprised, or even shocked, that Sasha, the main character of GMM, is almost pathologically vain. After consuming only croissants every day for several weeks, she buys a hat with the little money she has. But the whole point of the book is that Sasha has a public persona that mostly does not jibe with her private, interior musings. She struggles to maintain her facade and her integrity. As most of us do. I remained sympathetic. Don't expect much plot. The majesty of GMM--besides the impeccable language--is that we are inside Sasha's thoughts, her stream-of-consciousness as she goes about her everyday existence in Paris. It's ALL Sasha. Coping with loss, or near-loss, of youth, beauty, money. She is a woman of subtle contradictions. A cautionary note: I found the ending devastating and dramatic. Many readers, especially women, will be infuriated and/or saddened by Sasha's actions at the end. I think this book is an excellent choice for a women's book club, since the end will spark a lively discussion. (By the way, I LOVED WIDE SARGASSO SEA by this same author.)

I agree with the NY Times review that you can't forget this book once you read it. It haunts you. No other book haunts me. That's why this is my favorite book. You will never forget how Rhys describes Paris, London, Amsterdam. You will never forget Sasha as she searches for SOMETHING to help her survive, something that will keep her from crying in public, something that will bring her clarity and maybe redemption. You will go through it with her as you read this book. You will feel every word because you know how she feels. We have all felt those tears welling up behind our eyes and we have all fought to keep them from falling. But sometimes they fall. We fall. This book will help you pick yourself up.

I read the present work and then followed up by reading Rhys's big hit, the novel Wide Sargasso Sea.

As a general reader I still preferred this present novel to Sargasso Sea. Here she lets her imagination run wild as she describes the partially alcohol soaked life of a young woman living in post WWI era Paris. The feel and structure of the book is original and the prose and structure has a bit of the feel of Joyce's classic A portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. It was written by Rhys in her younger days, decades before her big hit.

As noted by others, it describes the pessimistic thoughts of a woman living near the bottom of society. She lives in a state of depression and loneliness, alone in her own in a world. She has not lost her looks and she is able to attract the odd man into the story. This adds to the complexity of the plot.

Rhys follows the present novel a few decades later with her big hit novel, Wide Sargasso Sea. It was a commercial and literary hit. It is based on the less original idea of extending some elements of the story of Jane Eyre. That limits or forces her story to converge with the plot elements of Jane Eyre. The present work is just Rhys on her own with no limits. Personally, I like the present story for that reason. It is fresh and original.

This is a great but short read, which I found fascinating and entertaining. The Penguin version has a good introduction to the life and work of Jean Rhys which is very useful to read after reading the novel.

"Good Morning, Midnight" tells the story of Sasha Jensen in post-war Paris. The author gets inside Sasha's head and exposes to the reader her low sense of self-worth and her misaligned priorities. We get glimpses into Sasha's past to give clues as to what has brought her to this state of depression. Sasha cares too much about what others around her think of her; she is always concious of how she must appear to waiters in cafes, people on the street and workers at the hotel where she is staying. She is always putting thoughts in their head of how they must percieve her. Sasha also does not have her financial priorities straight since she buys a fancy new hat and plans on buying other new items for her wardrobe and in the meantime is neglecting to eat.

I found "Good Morning, Midnight" a fascinating insight into a woman in a "low" psychological state. This book is not recommended if you are looking for an uplifting, feel-good story. "Good Monring, Midnight" would probably lead to great discussion for book groups.

I think the reader has to be in the right frame of mind to appreciate this novel. It's short, it's not complicated . . . but it can be tough sledding, because it feels like reading the journal of an acute depressive -- and that doesn't automatically make for a pleasurable reading experience.

One can't help admiring the craft of this book, and the pointedness of the narrator's observations ("that expression you get in your eyes when . . . you are starting to know what things are like underneath what people say they are"). But this is the furthest thing from a summer beach novel, and I'd recommend it mainly to readers who have a good solid sense of themselves and can maintain a proper distance from the narrative. 'Cause it's a real downer.

I needed to read this book for one of my classes so I took it with me everywhere; it stayed in good condition until now.