A Favorite of the Gods Summary and Reviews

A Favorite of the Gods
by Sybille Bedford

A Favorite of the Gods
List Price: $16.00
Our Price: $0.24
You Save: $15.76 (98%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.23 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: Sybille Bedford
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2001-09-18
ISBN: 1582431582
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Counterpoint

Book Reviews of A Favorite of the Gods

Book Review: Revisiting a favorite theme
Summary: 4 Stars

Most of Bedford's work--I've read a lot of it--circles around a favorite theme--that time between the wars in Europe, when there was almost complete freedom of movement, and many people seemed to live very well on very little money, relying on the generosity of wealthy friends. "A Compass Error" and "Jigsaw" are her best and most autobiographical, but I find the further she strays from her own life story the murkier things get. In this novel, Constanza is the daughter of an American heiress and an Italian prince, who finds her life upended when her mother self-destructs after discovering the Prince's long-standing affair. Constanza moves to London and grows up to become very beautiful, intelligent, a little wild, and quite self-absorbed. She seems oddly without anchor--she marries a man she doesn't love, has a child without seeming to notice, and is then devastated when her husband divorces her because she never loved him. Constanza gets another chance with a different man, but throws it away. For me it was as if I observed this from a distance--I never really understood Constanza's motives. Her mother Anna also confused me--I never quite had a handle on how wealthy she really was or wasn't, despite a great deal of discussion on the subject of money. And I never really figured out what Anna's "problem" was. Bedford is a beautiful writer and I love the picture of the world between the wars that she paints, and for that I give this book a 4, but her characters were disturbingly vague, and the book left me oddly disatisfied.

Literature & Fiction Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in The (Recent) Past is a Foreign Country
Foreign Affairs ImageForeign Affairs
by Alison Lurie
Quill (HarperCollins); Published: 1995-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops: $12.50
The Black Book ImageThe Black Book
by Lawrence Durrell
Faber and Faber; Published: 1973-04-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $63.88
Morte D'Urban (New York Review Books Classics) ImageMorte D'Urban (New York Review Books Classics)
by J.F. Powers
NYRB Classics; Published: 2000-05-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.45
Price in other shops: $14.95
Second Skin ImageSecond Skin
by John Hawkes
New Directions Publishing Corporation; Published: 1964-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops: $10.95
Malcolm ImageMalcolm
by James Purdy
Serpent's Tail; Published: 1994-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.94
Price in other shops: $12.99
Herself Surprised (New York Review Books Classics) ImageHerself Surprised (New York Review Books Classics)
by Joyce Cary
NYRB Classics; Published: 1999-10-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.14
Price in other shops: $13.95
A House for Mr. Biswas (Everyman's Library (Cloth)) (Everyman's Library (Cloth)) ImageA House for Mr. Biswas (Everyman's Library (Cloth)) (Everyman's Library (Cloth))
by V. S. Naipaul
Everyman's Library; Published: 1995-11-14; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.00
Price in other shops: $20.00
The Girls of Slender Means ImageThe Girls of Slender Means
by Muriel Spark
New Directions Publishing Corporation; Published: 1998-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.50
Price in other shops: $11.95
A Favorite of the Gods ImageA Favorite of the Gods
by Sybille Bedford
Counterpoint; Published: 2001-09-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.25
Price in other shops: $16.00
The Good Soldier (Everyman's Library (Cloth)) ImageThe Good Soldier (Everyman's Library (Cloth))
by Ford Madox Ford
Everyman's Library; Published: 1991-10-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.70
Price in other shops: $25.00
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories ImageOur Story Begins: New and Selected Stories
by Tobias Wolff
Knopf; Published: 2008-03-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.95
Price in other shops: $26.95
War and Peace ImageWar and Peace
by Leo Tolstoy
Knopf; Published: 2007-10-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $22.02
Price in other shops: $37.00
Netherland: A Novel ImageNetherland: A Novel
by Joseph O'Neill
Pantheon; Published: 2008-05-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.75
Price in other shops: $23.95
Pleasures and Landscapes ImagePleasures and Landscapes
by Sybille Bedford
Counterpoint; Published: 2003-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.31
Price in other shops: $16.00
Aldous Huxley: A Biography ImageAldous Huxley: A Biography
by Sybille Bedford
Ivan R. Dee, Publisher; Published: 2002-08-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.88
Price in other shops: $24.95
Quicksands: A Memoir ImageQuicksands: A Memoir
by Sybille Bedford
Counterpoint; Published: 2005-04-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.91
Price in other shops: $24.95
A Visit to Don Otavio: A Traveller's Tale from Mexico ImageA Visit to Don Otavio: A Traveller's Tale from Mexico
by Sybille Bedford
Counterpoint; Published: 2003-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.41
Price in other shops: $16.00
A Legacy: A Novel ImageA Legacy: A Novel
by Sybille Bedford
Published: 2001-05-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.55
Price in other shops: $15.00
Jigsaw: An Unsentimental Education ImageJigsaw: An Unsentimental Education
by Sybille Bedford
Published: 2001-05-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.01
Price in other shops: $15.00
A Compass Error: A Novel ImageA Compass Error: A Novel
by Sybille Bedford
Counterpoint; Published: 2001-09-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.23
Price in other shops: $16.00