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This Strange Eventful History

Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2024

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This Strange Eventful History

By: Claire Messud
Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
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About this listen

 LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024

'[A] wise and insightful novel about identity and family' The Times, Book of the Day

'An epic family odyssey... Ambitious and compelling' Guardian, Book of the Day

'A rich, sprawling saga... This Strange Eventful History may be Messud's finest book' Sunday Telegraph

June 1940. As Paris falls to the Germans, Gaston Cassar - honorable servant of France, devoted husband and father, currently posted as naval attache in Salonica - bids farewell to his beloved wife, aunt and children, placing his faith in God that they will be reunited after the war. But escaping the violence of that cataclysm is not the same as emerging unscathed. The family will never again be whole.

A work of breathtaking historical sweep and vivid psychological intimacy, This Strange Eventful History charts the Cassars' unfolding story as its members move between Salonica and Algeria, the US, Cuba, Canada, Argentina, Australia and France - their itinerary shaped as much by a search for an elusive wholeness, as by the imperatives of politics, faith, family, industry and desire.©2024 Claire Messud Family Life Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Marriage Latin American War

Critic reviews

This epic family saga, which stretches from Algeria in 1927 to Connecticut in 2010 . . . [is a] wise and insightful novel about identity and family, and how love can stifle as well as comfort
An epic family odyssey . . . Ambitious and compelling . . . What gives this novel its exceptional vitality is that Messud never allows collective issues to take precedence over individual lives . . . Not only do they live - thanks to the novel's bold reach and multiple viewpoints, they change . . . Slowly, and only ever partially, we are allowed to glimpse the traumas and tensions and the intensely private joys that have shaped these people's existences . . . This is a big novel spanning continents and generations, but it also has the essential small virtues of precision and imaginative sympathy
A rich, sprawling saga . . . This Strange Eventful History may be Messud's finest book
This continent-hopping, multigenerational saga certainly lives up to its title . . . Evocative and richly characterised
A novel of how families are scattered across borders by the uncontrollable forces of history . . . a fascinating and wise work. It is about a family, but it is also about the inexorable sands of time which slip through our fingers from one minute to the next
In her fiction Ms Messud has excelled at exploring human connections in all their complexity... This Strange Eventful History examines family ties on a grand scale... Though the book is ambitious in its scope, it is also intimate, probing characters' secrets and lies, tarnished dreams and missed opportunities... this is a masterful novel about people who are "buffeted by history" - but also shaped by it
Magnificent and multi-layered, hearty and heartbreaking . . . a generation-spanning, continent-hopping family saga
Wonderfully enjoyable, intelligent, perceptive, moving . . . written with such affection and understanding, such an awareness of the passing of time and of the unavoidably bruising nature of experience which is nevertheless redeemed by love, loyalty, and kindness . . . It is indeed rare to come upon a novel which offers such a cornucopia of pleasure, such a sense of the physical world and the reality of experience
Claire Messud has transformed three generations of her family's story into a tour de force inThis Strange Eventful History . . . all around them are the upheavals of the 20th century, but though Messud is working on a grand canvas, her skill is in miniature. History is dazzling in its fine-tuned character studies . . . all beautifully realized. This is a pointillist novel, profound in its portrayal of strains, bonds, and heartbreak
'Expect to be awed by profound empathy coupled with razor-sharp prose
Almost unbearably moving, wise and full of the most gorgeous prose (Alex Preston)
A story that is fragmentary yet fluid, her own but also ours
All stars
Most relevant
I loved this story which became more and more engrossing as the chapters evolved. Yes the narrator has a sickly tone of voice, but her switch to a French accent was excellent and probably why she was chosen to narrate, I don’t want to give any spoilers but the last section is simply divine and Messud’s portrayal of the aging Barbara is a masterstroke. She also weaves deftly in dnd out of time periods. I will buy the book now and reread

A beautiful family saga

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I found this story to be very gentle subtle and seductive, that gradually drew me in to the twists and turns of the family's experiences.

At some point, I cannot say when I was involved in the story, experiencing the different feelings of the events.

The book left me in a deeply reflective space, thinking of my own life and lifespan, seeing it as a part of life as a whole.

I found that the narrator's voice reflected the gentle tone of the book.

A Sweeping Family Saga

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I had read a negative review of the narrator which put me off initially but I’m so glad I ignored it. I’d also read poor reviews of the book. Again I’m glad I ignored them. I loved both, there is so much to enjoy and it’s immersive and emotional. I advise doing book and audible in tandem to really appreciate it. Hope it’s short listed for the Booker but probably too accessible

Families love life and death

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I haven’t listened past the first chapter so can’t comment on the story. The reading, however, is truly awful. Each protagonist is given a laughable French accent while speaking in English. It’s like an episode of ‘Allo, Allo’ in the Eighties….

Awful reading

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