I bloody loved things - I bloody loved sitting on my front step in the spring sun drinking tea and listening to this. I had all sorts of ideas above how I would write some fancy post modern meta review with multiple endings.
But I can't.
This book is ruddy brilliant! not flawless - some of the sexual politics have dated - but such a satisfying experience.
It's like the last word on historical fiction, and bubble burst .
Except it isn't Bexual tons of historical fiction has been written since.
Obviously

About half the book is 'the novel'. The rest is the author's musings on the differences between 1967 and 1867 attitudes and historical settings. The writing style is light and fairly friendly, tripping along easily.
It's okay, and I'm glad I got around to reading it, but it won't be getting a repeat performance.

Read this year's ago and can't remember too much about it, 3 stars it is.

6/5, 11/10. One of the best fiction books I have ever read.
It is good both as a Victorian novel about love, despair, and society, and as a postmodernist piece.
Before starting this book, I had only read one Fowels' book - the most famous one - "The Collector". Though I had been impressed by it, "The French Lieutenant's Woman" is a book of other kind. There are countless problems and ideas expressed in it, from Marxism to feminism, and everything is arranged by a beautiful, skillful writing.
A true masterpiece I will rank among my top-10 favourite books from now on.

There is a smugness about this book that left me cold. The story was held back by the author interjecting and to show how clever he is. It started as an interesting twist but ended up just being annoying.

Finally! I'm done!

My star-rating is based on my cawpile rating. If I was to base it on enjoyment, it would be 1 star. If I was to base it on quality - probably 4-5 stars. I'm super conflicted, but I really hated reading it and only went past 20 pages because it's on the syllabus.

To Roy

The story line is fine, (I would be interested to see it delivered by Meryle Streep in the movie), but the narration in this book is what sets it apart.

I so enjoyed this quick and strange work of fiction by Fowles. It's labeled as a classic, taking place in the Victorian 1860s but it felt very modern and intelligent. This book makes me want to jump into some of his other works.

Me ha fascinado esta novela y, sobre todo, los personajes que cobran vida en ella. La historia que nos narra podría condensarse en apenas 10 líneas. Pero la profundidad de los sentimientos y de las vidas que refleja son universales. Me ha encantado.