[One morning] in the early spring, I woke up with the remembrance of a girl I'd once known, Sophie. It was a very vivid half-dream, half-revelation, and all of a sudden I realized that hers was a story I had to tell. That very day, William Styron began writing the first chapter of Sophie's Choice. First published in 1979, this complex and ambitious novel opens with Stingo, a young southerner, journeying north in 1947 to become a writer. It leads us into his intellectual and emotional entanglement with his neighbors in a ...
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[One morning] in the early spring, I woke up with the remembrance of a girl I'd once known, Sophie. It was a very vivid half-dream, half-revelation, and all of a sudden I realized that hers was a story I had to tell. That very day, William Styron began writing the first chapter of Sophie's Choice. First published in 1979, this complex and ambitious novel opens with Stingo, a young southerner, journeying north in 1947 to become a writer. It leads us into his intellectual and emotional entanglement with his neighbors in a Brooklyn rooming house: Nathan, a tortured, brilliant Jew, and his lover, Sophie, a beautiful Polish woman whose wrist bears the grim tattoo of a concentration camp...and whose past is strewn with death that she alone survived. Sophie's Choice is a passionate, courageous book...a philosophical novel on the most important subject of the twentieth century, said novelist and critic John Gardner in The New York Times Book Review. One of the reasons Styron succeeds so well in Sophie's Choice is that, like Shakespeare (I think the comparison is not too grand), Styron knows how to cut away from the darkness of his material, so that when he turns to it again it strikes with increasing force....Sophie's Choice is a thriller of the highest order, all the more thrilling for the fact that the dark, gloomy secrets we are unearthing one by one--sorting through lies and terrible misunderstandings like a hand groping for a golden nugget in a rattlesnake's nest--may be authentic secrets of history and our own human nature. The Modern Library has played a significant role in American cultural life for the better part of a century. The series was founded in 1917 by the publishers Boni and Liveright and eight years later acquired by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. It provided the foundation for their next publishing venture, Random House. The Modern Library has been a staple of the American book trade, providing readers with affordable hard-bound editions of important works of liter-ature and thought. For the Modern Library's seventy-fifth anniversary, Random House redesigned the series, restoring as its emblem the running torchbearer created by Lucian Bernhard in 1925 and refurbishing jackets, bindings, and type, as well as inaugurating a new program of selecting titles. The Modern Library continues to provide the world's best books, at the best prices.
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Add this copy of Sophie's Choice to cart. $38.60, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Random House Audio.
Add this copy of Sophie's Choice to cart. $590.00, good condition, Sold by Pioneer Book rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Provo, UT, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Random House Audio Publishing Group.
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Some light scratches on disc 1, nothing deep. To the best of our knowledge, CDs are in good listening condition. If not, please let us know. Full refunds cheerfully given. Satisfaction guaranteed.
Sophie's Choice is an excellent work of literature. It shows life in reality. Friends are not always friendly and lovers are not always in love with each other forever. This book is an amazing depiction of how an overly romanticized idea of life can lead to utter disaster. I would reccomend this book to anyone.
sd6161
Sep 16, 2007
Tragic and Tender
In William Styron's Sophie's Choice, the refined story teller of great accomplisment creates a work in which reader's are associated into lives of great dispair. The era of the story is post WWII with vivid flashbacks to the European tragedies while under seige. Styron's character's are multi-layered so as to connect any reader in some form or fashion. A tender story surrounded by tragedy. Styron's writing has been noted to be akin to that of Faulkner's. I agree.
57tbird
Apr 26, 2007
I did not see the move and had not read the book, but knew the overall story. Finally decided to read it, and it was not worth the effort. The overall premise of the book is good, however, it drags everything out. I also thought the book focused more on the uninteresting life of the storyteller rather than on the tales Sophie was telling him. I really thought Sophie's character would be more developed. Disappointing read.
