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The Chateau

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About this listen

It is 1948 and a young American couple arrive in France for a holiday. It is their chance to immerse themselves in the culture and language, and they arrive full of anticipation and enthusiasm. But the countryside and people are war-battered and their reception at the Chateau Beaumesnil, where they begin their stay, is not all the open-hearted Americans could wish for. Every encounter leaves them with more questions. Why are they not welcomed as citizens of the nation that liberated Europe? What are the secrets in the family?

©1961 William Maxwell (P)2011 Audible, Inc. Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Heartfelt War

Critic reviews

"I can think of few novels… that have such romantic authority as The Chateau, fewer still so adult in vitality, so alight with humour." (Elizabeth Bowen)
"No one else… can capture as Maxwell does a sense of life in the balance, of a moment appreciated…. The beauty of some sentences is like a stab of light." ( Chicago Tribune)
All stars
Most relevant
A gem of a novel from a superb writer and beautifully read - love the French accent.

Delightful book

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Having read a couple of his honest, personal and intriguing stories, I kept reading, waiting for the story to develop but it never did. Dull chronicle of a young couple's holiday in post war France

Not Maxwell's best

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A beautifully and sensitively written book. Perfect for lovers of France and the French. The state of the country in the immediate post WW2 period is interestingly drawn and you empathise with the problems of the two young Americans.
Unusually there is a part two which answers many of our questions seven years later
The only complaint is the pronunciation of many English words by the reader

Moving

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Its a good story beautifully written. I found the French accent excruciating though and therefore made it offputting

The French accent is horrendous!

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If this book wasn’t for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?

I find it difficult to believe that anybody with even the minimum interest it decent or literate writing could find this, badly edited, and horrendously read work of interest. Populated as it is by wooden characters existing in a landscape which reads like a third rate travel guide it is without exception the worst book I have downloaded since joining Audible.

What was most disappointing about William Maxwell’s story?

No one thing was "MOST DISAPPOINTING" it was more than a disappointment from the end of the first chapter so badly written and read was this work.

How could the performance have been better?

Find somebody who can read and has a knowledge of the French Language, accents and correct pronunciation.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

My reaction should be self evident from the review I have already written.

Banality posing as Literature

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