This book was... fine? There were some moments that really delighted me and the story did win you over after a while. The characters were more caricatures, still I enjoyed it. Paris in the 1970s/80s must have been a different world: cannot imagine someone as poor as our protagonist being able to pay rent in apartment in Rue Marbeuf in this day and age.

I normally shy away from writing reviews of books I didn't finish, but when I am seeking to DNF a book, I often look at 3 star reviews to gauge if I should continue - too many books in the world and all that jaz.

I made it to 33% of this novel. It's a quiet read like all of Brookner's novels, but something was plaguing me about this one.

It's just overwhelming depressing. I don't shy away from depressing reads, and some will say I seek them out, but I struggle when my protagonist takes on doormat status and continuously signs up for more. It makes my teeth hurt.

I thought that this novel would be about a woman in her 40s living life and reflecting on how literature became central to her existence, but instead I got coming of age vibes as I had to slog through her neglectful and borderline emotionally bankrupt parents behavior.

The scene where she obsessively ruminates on dinner for a desired male partner and the serious neglect of her own fundamental need to eat, in favor of reboiling the rice and moistening the chicken only to have him turn up an hour and half late, and she then STILL go without food in favor of attempting to impress him with all of the edible food left over after trying to keep the original meal from spoiling, I knew I couldn't go on.

I was actually a bit aggressively upset at her complacence in the ill treatment she received. Perhaps the argument can be made that her upbringing got her used to that kind of treatment, and while that's fair, I don't want to read about it.

I love Brookner and will continue reading her novels for sure. Hoping this was my last visit down sad alley with her work.

Una vida triste y poco más. Cuando la protagonista parece que empieza a tomar las riendas de su vida, zasca.
No es lectura veraniega, desde luego.

Lovely and funny and with a handful of brilliant observations. The overall tone, however, is quite sad.

3.5 stars. The Debut is certainly well-written, but a hard book to read. It is a pretty depressing story of Ruth Weiss, a Balzac scholar and teacher. The story begins with Ruth, at 40, then goes back through her sad life, with odd, self-centered parents, a distant grandmother, a neglectful housekeeper, critical friends, and unrequited love. Much of Ruth's childhood is shocking by today's standards. The Debut, an unseemly title, is Brookner's first novel, first published in 1981.

"So eager was she to join this upward movement toward the light that she hardly noticed that her home resembled the ones she was reading about: a superficial veil of amusement over a deep well of disappointment." (11)

". . . George knew that he no longer loved his wife. He felt - and this he had always felt, although he did not know the reason - extremely sorry for her. As a natural corollary, he felt extremely sorry for himself." (91)

"He had thought he was keeping up quite well with changing times, but suddenly they seemed to have changed against his will." (137)

"In the country of the old and sick there are environmental hazards. Cautious days. Early nights. A silent, aging life in which the anxiety of the invalid overrides the vitality of the untouched." (185)

Een boek waarin eigenlijk weinig gebeurt, maar waarvan geen enkele zin overbodig voelt.

Charming and bleak.

This is a novel about a woman who spends her early years imbibing literature, and then discovers that everything she had learned from it was wrong. She discovers that goodness doesn’t equal happiness, and that what looks like happiness generally isn’t.

It’s not exactly a cynical novel, but it’s very realistic, and none of the characters are spared. The central dynamic is between Ruth Weiss and her eccentric and basically narcissistic parents, George and Helen. George is pompous and passive, while Helen is a successful actress until age catches up with her. There are quite a few periphery characters, all vividly drawn, sometimes with just a few strokes.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys sharp, clear writing and incisive character studies.

3.5

The title of Brookner’s first novel, aka [b:A Start in Life|1523501|A Start in Life|Anita Brookner|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1305983347l/1523501._SY75_.jpg|81589], is a fitting one. It also refers to [b:Un début dans la vie|2554694|Un début dans la vie|Honoré de Balzac|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1335391131l/2554694._SY75_.jpg|2373209] by [a:Honoré de Balzac|228089|Honoré de Balzac|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1206567834p2/228089.jpg], whose works are the academic focus of the protagonist, Dr. Ruth Weiss. More important to the woman who believes “her life had been ruined by literature” is the main character of Balzac’s [b:Eugénie Grandet|59142|Eugénie Grandet|Honoré de Balzac|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388286601l/59142._SY75_.jpg|1399014], referenced throughout.

In the beginning I was strongly reminded of Brookner’s third novel, [b:Look at Me|84512|Look at Me|Anita Brookner|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1483585077l/84512._SY75_.jpg|621659], with the self-centered parents, who are more present in the plot of this story; and the married couple Ruth befriends, though here the couple are benign. While I found Look At Me more intense than The Debut, the latter is still pure Brookner with her trademark irony and (even if detached) cri du cœur.