detailed and fascinating, it is very well done

I enjoyed this excellent biography very much and will listen again. well written and narrated.

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Surprised

I was not expecting to find Sayre to be so interesting of a personality. Read it if you love scandalous people.

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Excellent audiobook

Beautifully read and packed with interesting detail about the life, thoughts and works of JPS. It's great that the author and the narrator have created this wonderful audiobook! Thanks!

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5 people found this helpful

A biography that shows Sartre’s humanity and personality.

This biography seems to meet all the minimum necessary requirements of such a work. It’s a reasonably brisk tour of his life and it’s highs and lows. The former you will at least of heard of if you know much about him at all. The latter are almost certainly his self-inflicted failings of his health, particularly in his last few years. We Brits don’t really look at intellectuals in the same way as the French do. Sartre would have likely been largely ignored, had he been British. The French celebrated him or hated him, but recognised him for the giant that he was, and it seems difficult to imagine that the World will ever see his like again as we have all become consumers instead of citizens and people.
Even as he was slowly dying, his popularity amongst women, and other philosophers and politicians did not wane. His roles from the inter-War years and through the Second World War and beyond placed him in a singular position for the French. His writings, philosophical, literary, political and social, kept him in the public eye, despite his often provocative actions. I don’t think that anyone felt that he lacked a feeling for others or that he lacked an ability to understand anything that he set his mind to.
I’m not sure how Gary Cox feels about Sartre, however. I’m not sure that he sympathised with any of his views, per se, but he can admire his commitments, his tenacity, his sheer intellectual range and capacity. How Cox came up with the title of this biography and what he was referring to in using a term like ‘excess’, is not clear to me. It seems intended to drum up some seamy side to Sartre’s life which wasn’t really there, as though readers might need to think that he was corrupt or self-serving to open its pages.
If you’re keen to know more about Jean-Paul Sartre for any reason, this will give you a reasonable idea of the man and his works without getting too deeply into the nitty gritty of his complex philosophy. If you want to comprehend his philosophy better, I’d suggest this isn’t the book that you’d read. I’ve had a little knowledge of the great man for many years, and now it’s a bit broader, with an emphasis on his humanity and personality.

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1 person found this helpful

genius?

JPS was and is an interesting philosopher but also a grubby individual with a decided lack of empathy and morals. This biography skates over the negatives but nevertheless ISA worthwhile read

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Accessible Sartre doesn't have to be an oxymoron

What did you like most about Existentialism and Excess?

I love the way Gary Cox writes; it helps me to hold on to and even understand some very complex ideas, at least for a while.
"Existentialism and Excess: The life and times of Jean Paul Sartre" is a chronological romp through Sartre's life and provides background, depth and context to Sartre's wrtings and philosophies.
Matt Addiss's reading is superb, he gets the timing spot on and his voice is rich, varied and easy on the ears.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The young Sartre is by far my favouritie I got a sense of integrity, joy and liberation

Which character – as performed by Matt Addis – was your favourite?

Not really applicable

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

It has one already!

Any additional comments?

I have also got this book in print, it makes it so much easier for writing in the margins

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4 people found this helpful

A Good Insight for the Novice

I briefly touched upon Satre during my degree and always wanted to find out more about him, his life and his work. This is a very informative and engaging read.

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3 people found this helpful

Excellent

Well written, well read, well researched. A must read for anyone who wants to delve into the background of the life and works of Satre.

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Concise, to the point, but more what than why

This probably would have been better at twice the length, with much more analysis - something the author is certainly capable of (I have a copy of his Sartre Dictionary). As it stands, it cracks on at such a pace you're left with an impression of the shape of Sartre's life and the chronology of his works (and relationships), but remarkably little of his opinions and ideas.

Is this an unfair criticism in what is, after all, a biography? Perhaps, but this is a biography of one of the greatest intellectuals of the 20th century - so surely a greater focus on his inner life and his key ideas is warranted? The chronological approach means much of this is lost by the end - his most productive period decades in the past, and it's significance (beyond his celebrity) kinda left unclear.

Also strangely missing is much on de Beauvoir, who features far less than I was expecting. Why was someone as gifted and intelligent so in love with this strange, ugly, selfish, unfaithful man? What influence did she have on him, and vice versa? From this book, it's impossible to say. It looks like I need a biography of her next.

Well read, though.

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