Mar 30

Mar 30 This Strange Eventful History

About the book

Author: Claire Messud
Publisher: W. W. Norton

More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.

Buy and support indie bookstores (+ I earn a small commission):
Bookshop.org (print or ebook) | Libro.fm (audio)

My Review

This Strange Eventful History was longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. Parts of it were more engaging for me than others, but overall, I enjoyed it.

The novel is a sweeping family story spanning many years, and places, focusing on a fictionalized version of the author’s family history. We get to meet a few key characters across three generations, returning to them over the course of the author’s father’s life from childhood to old age. As the family is French-Algerian, Messud explores the unique juxtaposition of failed colonialism and resulting generational displacement. That was a theme I don’t think I’ve ever read in a book before, and it offered a lot to think about (and talk about during book club).

Of course, the elephant in the room is the revelation (almost a twist?) at the very end. No spoilers, but I will say that it changed the dynamic of the whole book, and I’m still ruminating on what she was trying to achieve with that and whether I think she was successful. Either way, though, I was glad to have a book club to discuss it with!

I mostly read this one on audio, and I think that’s the way to go. If I’d read it on the page, I think I would have been frustrated by the pacing. But the audio performance was excellent and I was able to keep up the momentum that way.