It doesn’t often happen, but this book really hit an emotional chord with me; days after I put it down, it kept on haunting me. The story itself is about a mix of family situations, relationship problems, moments of hapiness and despair, but also death and psychosis, and at a certain point it even evolves into an outright horror story. That sounds a bit trite but Hustvedts characters are people of flesh and blood, with big and small yearnings, very own psychological mindsets, uncertainties and wrong assumptions, and with very divers reactions on tragic events. They go through endearing, tender moments, but also through absolutely horrible experiences. The emotional load sometimes is so raw and realistic that the reading gets on the verge of the bearable (at one point it reminded me of Elena Ferrante’s early novels). Now I have finished it. Excellent! Superb! Who should read it? Well, you sort of have to like cerebral books. Absolutely never dull, never boring. Always something that gets you thinking. Kirkus say that Hustvedt "writes spectacular sentences that embody the American experience in brilliantly specific physical imagery." I cannot expresss this better than they do.

The drama of the story is set against the New York art scene. There is a lot in this book about perception of art (a common theme in Hustvedt’s books, I think, although this is only the third one I have read). I’m struggling to articulate something about Bill’s art (he paints and sculpts and places the pictures and sculptures in boxes or behind doors) and Mark’s life. It’s almost like Mark lives out something his father might have created, but Mark shows us the hidden elements that come from him being human and not just a work of art. I need to think about this a bit more. I read a review in The Guardian that says: "She (Hustvedt) is interested in the gap between the shared story and the individual reading." And it is almost as if Bill’s art is the individual reading and Mark’s life is the shared story. I really do need to think on that, though, as it could be complete rubbish!This was an outstanding read for me. The novel started with its ending but gave only hints at the events that got it to that point. The intrigue of finding out the full story never left me, and I found I was fully engaged with the two couples and their children and various relationships and pairing that occur along the way. This is a book were the accretion of improbabilities also annoyed me, something else that probably should have stopped me reading. Really, I’m less annoyed with the book and the author, and more annoyed with myself for finished it, because I had no excuse for reading on. Benim için oldukça farklı bir okuma deneyimiydi. Bir yandan kitabı okurken bir yandan da Paul Auster ile Siri Hustvedt çiftinin hayatındaki olayların peşine düştüm.

Leo Hertzberg is a professor of art history living in New York with his wife Erica, and son Matthew. Experimental artist Bill Weschler, his wife, Lucille, and their son, Mark, move into the apartment upstairs. Bill and Lucille divorce, and Bill marries his muse, Violet. Each character is an artist, academic, or writer. It begins in 1975 and covers a period of approximately twenty-five years. It is a psychological character study of a small number of people – primarily Leo, Bill, Mark, and Violet – revolving around the New York art scene. It is a book to be experienced, as a plot summary will not do it justice. I have rarely read a novel of such intensity. And it touches on so much: the art world as well as art itself, relationships of many kinds, family, love, loss, psychology and the outsider, the world that is New York City, personas......much more that I'm forgetting (or avoiding for spoilers sake). But then is is titled "What I Loved" and it lives up to it's title. Then, in the third chapter, the book really takes off. Bill has a son called Mark who will, I think, be a character who I will not forget for a long time. His actions disrupt all those around him and he becomes a central puzzle of the book. Is he mad, bad or something else? Whatever he is, he is brilliantly brought to life by Hustvedt. As, in fact, are all the other characters, but I have a feeling it is Mark who will stay with me for the longest time. There is so much in this book - add adolescence, a superb description that reflects what we have all been through. There is so much to think about. One has to stop reading to "digest" it. One minute I am in total support and then it flips and I say, no, no way do I agree with this or perhaps do I? Through it all your thoughts run non-stop. Bendrai visa Trace Moroney knygelių serija ("Kai jaučiuosi piktas", "Kai jaučiuosi geras", "Kai jaučiu pavydą" ir t.t.) yra puiki ir labai gerai tinkanti mažų vaikų susipažinimui su emocijomis.The story, What I Loved, begins when Leo, an art historian professor in NYC sees a painting at a gallery and ends up purchasing it and making a point to meet its creator. From that beginning the reader meets the artist Bill and begins to know a little of his work. The plot is a recording of the history of the friendship between these two men, the art that surrounds them in the New York Art scene, the women they marry and the two boys, one each that are the product of these two couples. Like her husband Paul Auster, Hustvedt employs a use of repetitive themes or symbols throughout her work. Most notably the use of certain types of voyeurism, often linking objects of the dead to characters who are relative strangers to the deceased characters (most notable in various facits in her novels The Blindfold and The Enchantment of Lily Dahl) and the exploration of identity. She has also written essays on art history and theory (see "Essay collections") and painting and painters often appear in her fiction, most notably, perhaps, in her novel, What I Loved. Leo, our narrator, has a drawer in which he stores mementos. At one point, he puts something new in the drawer and records: "I had never put anything to remind me of Bill and Violet in the drawer before that, and I understood why. It was a place to record what I missed." Clearly, the drawer is a metaphor for the title of the book. Leo has a game he plays to help him process some of his grief or confusion. He moves the objects in the drawer around into different configurations. I was going to include a quote about this, but then I realised it gives away two key events in the story! Suffice to say, he uses different principles to arrange the objects and has to have a good reason for why he does something, for a connection that justifies one object being next to another. It helps him process what is happening to people around him and is a recurring motif in the book.

All about me books for preschool are ripe for connection-making. When children are able to use the stories they listen to as a means for self exploration and discovery, proverbial lightbulbs go off, and they will want to read and savor those books again and again! These all about me books help kids grow and communicateLeo Hertzberg, o narrador, é um intelectual judeu, professor de história da arte na Universidade de Columbia, escritor e ensaísta, que se apaixona por um quadro, uma pintura de uma mulher, que decide comprar, pintado pelo desconhecido artista Bill Wechsler – nascendo entre os dois uma “irrevogável amizade”. Two books - both having 5 stars - can be so very different. Isn't that what makes literature so marvelous?! I had a hard time at first deciding if this novel was largely a character study or plot driven but so much happens and there is such depth in these relationships that I just stopped analyzing and became fully invested in how Hustvedt tell this story, she really does a most interesting tale justice.

The story takes place in the art and university worlds of New York City, but it is not necessary,in my opinion, to be a part of them to become engaged in Leo's life and story. His story of finding a work of art he likes, the artist who becomes his true friend; two families whose lives intermingle over decades. The other thing that I liked about this book is Hustvedt’s ability to imprint strong images in her reader’s mind. It will take me sometime to shake off many scenes like Matthew’s death particularly when Leo thought: ”he is Matthew and he is not Matthew” or that scene when Violet was cradling the dead Bill not calling a police yet since she wanted to lay side by side with him. Or Violet wearing Bill’s work clothes or Mark wearing woman’s clothes. I was also able to picture in my mind a couple of paintings that were fully described in the story as if I saw those pictures with my own set of eyes! La segunda parte se inicia con un trágico hecho, y es muy de agradecer la inteligencia y delicadeza que la autora muestra al tratarlo, tan fácil de empujar al escritor menos hábil o respetuoso con el lector por el precipicio de un sentimentalismo de lagrimita fácil. También es digno de admiración su talento para construir el crescendo de tensión y suspense que es la parte final de la novela, un inquietante thriller que te agarra y no te suelta hasta casi el final. The second half of What I Loved might have made an enjoyably-erudite ‘thinking man’s’ thriller set in the art world of the ‘80s and ‘90s, but the meandering first half – about affluent Manhattanites and their dull, pretentious lives – makes the book, as a whole, perhaps admirable, but hard to like.

Todo cuanto amé', de Siri Hustvedt, es una de las novelas más inteligentes que he leído últimamente. ¿Cómo calificar un libro de inteligente, por su erudición, por su estructura narrativa, por las ideas y pensamientos que desarrolla, por la trama...? Sin duda, 'Todo cuanto amé' cumple todos estos requisitos y algunos más. What I loved. Take note of the past tense. It evokes painful memories of the past. Things that we used to cherish and treasure that are no longer there. It evokes the feeling of losing something or someone either physically like a dead father or emotionally like an ex-lover. Come to think of it, there seems to me a big blur between physical and emotional losses. A dead father may not be physically present but emotionally, he still resides in our hearts. An ex-lover may still be there physically but is regretfully absent even in the small recesses of our hearts. I don't really know what to say about What I Loved to effectively express how I felt about it. Although what happens is interesting, it's the quality of the writing that really makes it what it is. Hustvedt brilliantly relates a whole spectrum of emotions and makes you feel and suffer along with her characters. The atmosphere is fantastic, with a thread of suspense running throughout the novel, which intensifies in the last few chapters as the plot builds to a dramatic climax. The Teddy Giles character became so menacing to me that I felt genuinely frightened and couldn't get to sleep after the final revelations. This is just one example of how much this book gets inside your head - I still can't stop thinking about it. It's also tremendously inspiring, and apart from The Secret History, I don't think I've ever come across anything that's made me want to get out a notebook and furiously WRITE quite as much as this did. It's beautifully, sumptuously written and vastly intelligent. The painting Leo bought hangs in his apartment and is a touchstone for his telling of the story. He also keeps objects, artifacts and photos in his desk drawer - something I would describe as an alter. This drawer is another touchstone that helps advance the story, giving him an opportunity to tell the history of their Jewish families as well as the story of their lives. And what a story of life this is, in all it's complexity. The stories on our list below help kids learn to talk about their emotions, their families, their needs and desires. They help kids discuss where their names came from, their unique attributes, and what they may want to be when they grow up. They even help kids understand all the ways in which they are smart.