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. Wonderfully intriguing characters. Hustvedt's description of Bill's artwork is so wonderful that it seems as magical as the real thing. I wish they existed. I wish I too could see and touch them. And the character analysis is marvelous. Here is a direct quote of a conversation occurring between father(Leo) and his young son(Matt):

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.Two books - both having 5 stars - can be so very different. Isn't that what makes literature so marvelous?! 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 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! 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! Through Hustvedt's brilliant writing, we experience both the big and the small moments of these people's lives and histories through those memories that don't let go. 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 communicate There is much here about art and the growth and thoughts expressed in art, about being a parent and how central that is to a couple’s life, grief in its many forms and just the problems of living day to day. We see all of it through the eyes of Leo and how he interrupts what happens to him and those around him.Update June, 2019 This month's BBC World Book Club (one of my favorite bookish podcasts!) featured Siri Hustvedt talking about, reading from and answering questions about What I Loved. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cs... This makes me want to reread this with fresh eyes after hearing her talk. 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.

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. Unfortunately, she chooses to probe her characters as if they were sliced up and put beneath a telescope. There’s little warmth in her characterization; she seems so intent on capturing her characters’ neuroses in fine detail that she forgets to make them compelling or likeable. The artwork that the protagonist directly engages with might be memorable and affecting, but the long descriptions of artwork that only tangentially relate to the plot become boring and repetitive. Reading a description of paintings you can’t see is a bit like hearing someone describe their favourite song – an ultimately empty experience. 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. Leo 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”. 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.

Diaries & Calendars

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 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. But he talks funny too, Dad." Matt stopped talking and I waited. I could see that he was thinking hard. My son thought with his face in those days. His eyes narrowed. He screwed up his nose and tightened his mouth. After several seconds he said,"He talks like me when I am pretending." Matt deepened his voice, "Like this - I'm Spiderman." 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. 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.

Don’t get me wrong, the quality of Hustvedt’s prose is astonishing. What I Loved is filled with wholly-believable details. The sections of the novel that revolve around artwork and artists are clearly well-researched, and Hustvedt extracts beautiful and affecting symbols from the art that surrounds her characters. Hustvedt comes across as someone highly interested in the human condition.

Customer reviews

It is hard when you read a lot not to have one book remind you of another. This book reminded me of another I loved, Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner. Like that book this one explores the life and times of two couples. 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. 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).