Customer Reviews

Pages for You: A Novel

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

... I expected more. Almost no one is calling this book a "romance," perhaps to keep it from being discounted as a mere genre effort, but it is basically a romance, and not a particularly inspired one at that.

As a novel of young infatuation and love, of sexual and intellectual awakening, it succeeds. Brownrigg's characterization of Flannery plays with sincerity--but there was nothing particularly profound. I felt I had read this story before and I took away nothing new.

As a coming out novel with an exploration of sexual identity it plays quite poorly compared to those much maligned "romance" novels. Frankly, the lesbian romance writers are delivering these complicated themes with power and passion that Brownrigg doesn't come close to. Even the quoted section on this page reminded me of a similar scene by a lesbian romance writer where a young woman watches a much older woman she yearns after ironing clothes. Every time I see an iron I remember the writer's evocation of the older woman's hands smoothing and caressing the fabric. Brownrigg's description of the way Anne's lips are touching the coffee gives me nothing nearly that evocative and I doubt I'll remember it months from now, let alone years.

This novel isn't strong enough to stand up to its hype and therefore disappointed me. It's an enjoyable read, but not a highly diverting one, sometimes thought-provoking, but when I was done I promptly forgot most of it. When a novel really works for me I'll think about it for days, recall scenes vividly, and wish it had never ended. Pages for You didn't do that for me. It left me lukewarm at best.

The striking cover drew me in - yes judge it by the cover -- and the prose kept me there. No, more than the prose, the insight to the shape and nuance of love. I felt present in this story so that the words dropped away and I was with these two lovers: laughing, playing, loving, learning, fearing. As a male reader, the theme is universal (and hotly revelatory, I must say, too). Two women, yes, but more like a younger and a wiser, though sometimes the wiser and the older. Brownrigg finds these moments and holds them, like catching light and letting us see the impulse before releasing it. The format is PAGE by PAGE -- a whole emotional imprint within the discipline of a page. "Pages for You" is delicious and compelling. I stretched out in bed and read it through. Wrung out a bit, but the story and vivid images are in my dreams. Dare I say it?: a masterpiece, a book unlike any I've read. Brownrigg in her other books writes bravely and imaginatively, with a confident and witty voice. I think this book will thrive. PFY will certainly keep many readers warm...

In beautiful, short and evocative chapters, Brownrigg tells the story of Flannery, a first-year college student, who falls in love with Anne, a teaching assistant a decade her senior. The passion between these two women is honestly and powerfully drawn by the author. I was a little concerned about the age difference between the two as well as the fact that Anne could be abusing her power with an undergraduate. Once I got over these hurdles (and we shouldn't ignore them...what if Anne were a Walter?), I fell under the spell of their love and Flannery's not-so-surprising heartbreak. This is a well-crafted, haunting book that will conjur up vivid memories of one's first encounter with passionate love.

With the first paragraph, I was addicted.

Pages for You is an intelligent, beautifully articulated exploration sexual awakening in an academic setting. The text can neither be categorized as "lesbian fiction" nor a "coming of age story". It defies genres and resists pigeon-holing.

Over 264 we follow Flannery through her first encounters with college life, Derrida, intense longing, sex, and eventually a newfound sense of self as the result of loss. Brownrigg's flair for thick description never comes at the expense of the story and the reader is treated to what amounts to a first-hand experience of Flannery's awakenings.

For anyone that has ever found him/herself in awe of another or felt erotic stirrings coupled with intellectual hunger, Pages for You is a must read.

I enjoyed reading this book. It is a good book if you want to take a lazy day and get lost in your own little world. We know that the two main characters in this book are female lovers, but never is there a point where the run around screaming "we're lesbians and proud!" It is a well written book. It isn't written to help create tolerance, it is just a love story between two women who just happen to be women. I highly recommened this book to anyone (but it helps a lot more if you are open minded).

This is not a trite or shallow book. Yes, it is the story of a simple romance, but most real romances are simple, probably even yours. The beauty of this book is the way the author reveals the romance petal by petal by petal. It is breathtakingly specific, and in the description of the story's context (a 17 year-old's first year at a college that must be Yale) it is unflinchingly accurate. I believe it will have staying power as a significant piece of literature. As to gender issues: anyone who isn't homophobic should enjoy it because the focus is on experiences that are universal. I particularly recommend it to young men.

There are books like Stella Duffy's "Calendar Girl" that have abrupt, tragic endings, and then there are books like Sylvia Brownrigg's "Pages For You".

The book is not a happy one, and neither is the story. We, as the readers, know it's going end badly. "Happily ever after" is the thing of childhood fairy tales and falsehoods, this book has the harsh tragedies of life, but also the sweet romances one can only dream of.

Perhaps the book was more powerful for me- after all, I read most of it a state of exhaustion, and to escape another depressing book (ironically enough). But in any case, Ms. Brownrigg knows how to get her readers interested- and how to bait them. I for one almost forgot that the book did not have a happy ending, and did not want to remember in any case.

Also, not only can Ms. Brownrigg toy with emotions... but she can write. Metaphors and imagery are abundent in this novel, and they only serve to add to it.

Of course, no book is perfect... But this one is worth it.

I was amazed at the lyricism inthis book. It shook me to my core, and had me copying out passages to read and re-read.

Flannery is a college freshman, new to the East Coast, to college, to the intense attraction she feels to an older woman. When she encounters the woman (Anne) in one of her classes, Flannery spins out of control, and ultimately cannot escape the power of the mutual attraction when Anne and Flannery meet a few weeks later. The two embark on a beautiful affair filled with poetic bliss and patient devourings. As the months pass, Flannery notices a space within Anne that she cannot touch, and finding out what fills that space dissolves the glamour of their love. And yet what they gave each other lingers. Brownrigg's delicious tale is fully akin to such lesbian classics as Violette Leduc's "Thérèse and Isabelle" and Dorothy Bussy's "Olivia" (I could certainly name others). It is without a doubt a glorious exultation of love that will leave the reader luxuriously heavy with love.

Simple, beautiful, perfect. Everything I've always wanted lesbian fiction to be.