A Dream Life by Claire Messud

Good evening lovely book readers,

I hope you had a good day and are settling into this New Year 2024!

"Alice felt a blooming warmth in her chest and across her cheeks, a sensation of pleasure that she could not easily have expressed, but if she had tried, she would have said its origins were aristocratic: the pleasure came of giving pleasure, as if it were an endlessly bountiful commodity, to so many who seemed, because of it, to be grateful, to look up to her, even to envy."

page 50 of A Dream Life by Claire Messud

A jewel of a novel by New York Times -bestselling author Claire Messud

When the Armstrong family moves from New York at the dawn of the 1970s, Australia feels, to Alice Armstrong, like the end of the earth. Residing in a grand manor on the glittering Sydney Harbour, her family finds their life has turned upside down. As she navigates this strange new world, Alice must weave an existence from its shimmering mirage.

Lies and self-deception are at the heart of this keenly observed story. This is a sharp, biting, and playful tale with a cast of unscrupulous characters adrift in a dream life of their own making. Written with the characteristic delicacy of touch, humour, and emotional insight that make Claire Messud one of our greatest writers.

“A novelist of unnerving talent.” —The New York Times Book Review

“[Messud is] among our greatest contemporary writers.” —The New Yorker

“A perfect frolic of a book, puffed on breezes of beauty and it waltzes you through a little fear, a little darkness, and tips you out, refreshed and laughing, into the sun.” — Helen Garner

3 stars.

Why?

First of all, I bought this book in early 2023 and DNF'ed it after 23 pages (the books total of pages is 121) which is a shame. I could just not continue.

So New Year, New Book means also new resolutions and trying to finish my physical and electronic TBR's. So I gave it another chance, and surprisingly I enjoyed it. Not like I would enjoy most of my romance books but more like a fiction book that I would enjoy at the beach or on Friday night with a Martini, if that makes sense. (although to mention, please be careful around alcohol, it might be amazing at first and give you all the right feelings, but it is not good to abuse of such a substance).

So the story follows an American family that moves to Australia into a splendid mansion, however that family never had that sort of aristocratic life and is learning how it feels like. As most of us, we would believe that is is all chic and roses and just the perfect life, however they soon learn that with such a life, there is some kind of price to pay. As whenever, you are in aristocracy you need to maintain certain standing and need to play by the rules, which for this family is kind of hard and they soon learn that it is not who they are and they prefer to let go of that kind of life.

I did enjoy this book once I re-read it, and would recommend it to anyone who does have a knack for that "dreamy life" (as the title itself mentions, hehe) or people who want a short read that would not even take an hour of their day.

Love, Manon