I received an advanced reading copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group, and the author Claire Messud.
I enjoyed this story. At some points, it was slow and felt like a bit of a slog, but there were other chapters that were much more gripping and involving. I also did not predict the family twist at the end, which is always enjoyable!
A slow burner, very character-driven. 3 stars.

Spanning three generations of family across seventy years, This Strange Eventful History begins during the Second World War. Gaston Cassar is living in Greece with his family - his wife Lucienne, his son François and daughter Denise - working as a naval attaché to the French embassy. As France falls to the Germans, he makes the decision to send his wife and kids back to Algeria, his home, where they will be out of harm’s way.

The chapters revolve around different viewpoints, in a detached third-person perspective, and jump forward a decade at a time in quite sudden and jarring ways. We see François as a young boy in Algeria, feeling out of place coming from a family of pieds-noirs (people of French and European descent born in Algeria during French colonial rule) as the country shifts closer towards independence. Move forward a decade and he is studying in America after winning a scholarship. There are allusions to a difficult time in Paris, a possible mental breakdown whilst in college. That’s the thing with This Strange Eventful History, a lot of the action and events - from the personal to the political - take place in the interim years, the ones that aren’t highlighted in the novel. The Algerian war for independence is mentioned briefly when François’ youngest daughter, Chloe, now in her twenties, brings it up at the dinner table in front of her aunt Denise and grandfather Gaston resulting in strong reactions from both. As I mentioned before, François’ time in Paris can only be guessed at. There is also Denise’s attempted suicide which is only briefly referred to and perhaps most glaringly, Lucienne’s viewpoint is completely absent from the novel, as is her relationship with Gaston, aside from being held in constant awe and admiration as the perfect marriage (at least until the epilogue which sheds some light on their situation).

It was a surprise partway through to come across Chloe’s first-person account. Having read a little bit around the book after finishing (and I admit, whilst also in the midst of reading), it was interesting to learn that the journey of the Cassars followed a similar trajectory to Messud’s, with Chloe a close approximation of the author. I’m not sure how much or how closely the novel maps onto Messud’s own family history, and I’m not sure it matters, but I found it added an extra layer to my experience of reading it. Perhaps not so much in the way that I wanted to know what was true and what was fiction, as the different viewpoints and proximities to events highlighted the differences in experiencing and remembering. More in the way that Messud handles her characters with such care, without judgement; characters who may or may not be based on people she knew and loved. Through the passing of time we see the characters change in more ways than just aging. We may not know exactly how they navigated certain events, but we see the lasting impact and how relationships between siblings, parents, loved ones shift and adapt and ultimately endure.

There is so much more to this book that I haven’t been able to explore here (such as the literary references dotted throughout, including in the title) but it’s definitely one that comprises many layers that are worth the effort of unpick.

I absolutely loved this new novel by Messud about a relatively untreated part of contemporary colonial history. At its heart, the novel is a powerful family saga about sacrifice, hope and the impact of generational trauma. I found the books narrative and its characters riveting and relatable, and additional found myself learning a lot about the pied-noirs and the political upheaval before and after Algerian Independence.

I think this book is not really for me because this genre so rarely does anything for me, I'm not really one for an intergenerational family saga. But this one too felt a little plodding and pointless. There are moments of great import historically that are ignored, and I'm all in favour of a more intimate look at these moments, but being part of the colonisers in one of France's most brutal moments of colonial history and that being entirely ignored seems more purposeful than interesting. The writing itself was quite boring and the plot meandered.

This spans three generations of a Franco-Algerian family where the Cassar family lose, not just their home but their sense of self, their identity. It’s an indictment of colonialism. The question of What is Home runs right through it. They split and we follow them all. The son goes off to Paris and has a hard time. The sister has a pretty hard time too. A lot of history is covered over many pages. Starting in 1940 in Salonica where Gaston Cassar is working for the French embassy. He hears but snubs General de Gaulle appeal to any French still “free” to join the fight. He is separated from his wife and kids, having sent them to Algeria to wait out the war. They were miserable there. The story ends eventually seventy years later in the US as Cassar’s son is tended to in hospice by a Latinx nurse. It spans continents and generations. It’s a lot.

An engrossing, thought-provoking and atmospheric family history. The title really reflects the reality of the lives of this set of characters that the writer Massud treats in an empathetic yet objective manner. Big history is both in the background and in the very foreground that makes the grandparents, auntie, parents, narrator... move through their own lives. The structure moves chronologically and through chapters devoted to a particular member of the family point of view. The father with which the story/history starts is the backbone of the narration, and his own father, the cypher. The landscape in which this family moves is also of great interest (from late 19c French Argelia to 21c America with many other key places in between, the place of women, religion, identity, values... Massud's is not a family saga you have read before. I loved the style and how just one moment in time in each section would reveal so much. Definitely not boring!! and perhaps not strangely there are family secrets revealed, whilst making it very clear that somehow the reality is never fully seen or understood. Totally recommend it.

I feel kind of ambivalent about this book…it didn’t draw me in but at the same time there was enough there that I came back to it. It’s a family saga that begins during WWII, and is about a French family in Algeria and their later lives in different parts of the world. The family’s story is told in chapters set every decade or so following different characters and that’s probably where it failed for me, these short interludes where it’s inside the head of one character who seems to be grumbling about something or other. It’s mostly melancholic and I get it’s about displacement and belonging but I found it hard to feel for the occupier or the mining executive. The relationship issues and other minutiae are focussed on rather than the broad sweep of history which I’m sure is the intention, everybody’s life is a ‘strange eventful history’ of disappointments and periods of happiness. Many of the characters are unlikeable (for me both Francois and Barbara are awful and they feature in many of the chapters) but I was intrigued by Denise and young Chloe (older Chloe chapters are told in first person so I assume based on the author) so parts of it were interesting and emotional.

Claire Messud’s ambitious and compelling novel covers the lives of three generations of a Franco-Algerian family. Here are some of the events that are not described in it: the Algerian war of independence, as a result of which the Cassar family lose their home and national identity; the two years the family’s most promising scion spends as a student in Paris, during which he endures something (racist bullying? Mental collapse?) that blights his adult life; his sister’s broken-hearted suicide attempt; an alcoholic’s hard-won recovery; the courtship of a couple who have been held up throughout the novel as exemplars of married love and yet whose relationship – as we discover only in the final pages – was shockingly transgressive. Any of these developments could have provided more than enough material for the plot of a lesser novel. Here they take place off stage.

Booker longlisted book by Claire Messud drawing on her family heritage This Strange Eventful History is both ambitious and intimate. Gaston and Lucienne Cassar are Pied Noir French Algerians who are displaced through war, Society and politics. The family move from the Middle East to Europe, to North and South America, Gaston and Lucienne are sustained by their love of each other but their children Denise and Francois struggle to find a place to call home and a relationship as encompassing as that of their parents. Their unhappiness, alienation and dissatisfaction affects those around them.
Absorbing and profound. I recommend this book. Thanks to the publishers for a review copy.

This Strange Eventful History
By Claire Messud

I have recently read Alice Zeniter's "The Art of Losing", winner of the Dublin Literary Award, which is a real life inspired, three generation saga of an Algerian-French Harki family. I actually think it will be my best book of the year. So it was with delight that I discovered that this book by Claire Messud is also a three generation saga, again of a French-Algerian family, this time though, they are from the culture known as Pieds Noirs, the colonisers as opposed to the collaborateurs.

I only picked this book up because it was longlisted for this year's Booker Prize. So that was a really great segue.

I love that it is steeped in such history. I was fascinated with the expanse of this family's travels, their adaptability, their resilience. I found the love story between Gaston and Lucienne simply beautiful. I recognised the generational traits from the Silents to the Boomers to the Gen Xers, how they influenced each other, failed to understand each other, but held tightly the ideals of family and how no matter where in the world you live, or how far scattered from each other you are, to those who have no home, family is home.

This story is a richly designed tapestry full of tension but fully cohesive. An added bonus was the story opening in Salonica,(Thessaloniki), which is exactly where I was upon reading it, always a lovely connection. As I read of Gaston eyeing the White Tower while sipping his coffee and reading, there was I eyeing the same Tower, also reading.

A great choice if you love family history, world history or armchair travel.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #LittleBrownBooks for providing an advanced copy for review purposes.

Whilst I enjoyed the themes of the book and the quality of the writing, I found this a difficult read at times. The prose felt directionless in places and was often confusing to read. It took me a long time to get into the book and for the characters and story to help carry the writing along.
I'd read The Woman Upstairs and thi is an entirely different beast. The writing style is poetic and skilled but not always entirely coherent to read.

Messud's writing is beautiful, full of wisdom and heart, and most notably when she is writing about two core themes in this book: family and identity. Particularly when the book explores Algerian identity, colonialism and hostility, I think she is excellent.

However, for me the book felt at times overly long and directionless, even though I know there was a lot of beauty in it.

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.

In "This Strange and Eventful History," Claire Messud delves into the complexities of identity and dislocation through the Cassar family, whose story is inspired by Messud’s own roots. Spanning several decades and multiple countries, the novel chronicles the family's experiences as they navigate the tumultuous aftermath of World War II and the Algerian War of Independence.

While Messud's writing is eloquent and evocative, the structure of the narrative presents some challenges. The story leaps through time—often skipping a decade or more—leaving readers to piece together character development and relationships that feel underexplored. Despite moments of intrigue, particularly in the second half, I found it difficult to connect with most characters beyond Denise, whose struggles resonated more deeply.

The title promises a narrative rich with "strange and eventful" occurrences, yet much of the story centers on the mundane aspects of life, which can feel disjointed. The themes of displacement and the longing for belonging are certainly potent, yet they are overshadowed by a lack of depth in character exploration and plot. Overall, while the book offers poignant reflections on familial ties and identity, it ultimately leaves the reader wanting more in terms of emotional engagement.

This is a wonderful book by one of my favourite authors. I loved The Emperors Children and was delighted to see Messud's latest novel long-listed for the 2024 Booker Prize. This Strange Eventful History tells the story of the French-Algerian Cassar family, sweeping across 20th century Europe, Canada, Australia, Cuba, Africa and the USA.

Gaston and Lucienne, a devoted couple, are separated by World War 2, Gaston is a naval attache for the French Navy in Salonica, and must send his wife and two children Francois and Denise, back home to the relative safety of Algeria. Algeria was a French colony at the time and is the beloved family home of the Cassars. This novel follows the lives of the couple who have a very deep love for each other, which places impossible expectations on both their children in terms of their own future relationships. Francois is a quiet, academic boy who ends up going to college in the USA on a scholarship. Denise is an introverted home-bird who struggles with loneliness and her own sexuality.

This is an epic, multi-generational novel of some 448 pages which covers a range of issues, such as religion, culture, family secrets against the backdrop of a rapidly changing world. A well deserved Booker nominee and a must-read for those who enjoy historical family sagas 4 stars.

'This Strange Eventful History' is a multi-generational family saga spanning six continents and seven decades, inspired by Claire Messud's own family history.

The novel begins in 1940 in Salonica, where the French-Algerian naval attaché Gaston Cassar and his family are stationed; following the Nazio invasion of France, Gaston sends his wife Lucienne and children François and Denise back to Algeria, while he is sent to Beirut. We continue to drop in on the Cassars roughly once a decade as members of the family travel to France, Canada, the US, Argentina and Australia, and see how their experiences reverberate through successive generations. Messud writes from a range of perspectives in third person (except for François's daughter Chloe, presumably modelled on Messud herself, who writes in first) which allows us to understand the challenges faced by different characters and how they are shaped by the geopolitical events unfolding around them.

I found this a well-written and engaging novel which taught me quite a lot that I didn't know about Algerian history. I felt it was a little on the long side and it didn't fully hold my interest for all of the second half, although the ending is both moving and surprising. Overall, though this is a powerful work of historical fiction and a worthy addition to the Booker Prize longlist. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review.

An enjoyable sprawling family saga, which follows an Algerian/French family across almost 100 years. The themes are loss of homeland, loss of direction and disappointment, coupled with the grief of being stateless and finding one no longer fits anywhere, one is rudderless. This book is well-written, carefully plotted and convincing - there must be elements of autobiography in it. It has flaws, in that none of the characters is particularly likeable, but each one is believable.

I enjoyed this family saga - an auto-fiction work by Claire Messud, whose writing I had previously enjoyed - but I wanted a bit more when I closed the book. It was interesting to follow a family that has an interesting story, that travelled a lot, moved (willingly or not) to many places, but at times I would have wanted more focus on one or two characters, rather than a whole orchestra of them. I found François interesting as a character and would have liked to know even more - and he was definitely more detailed than Denise, who was a bit of an after thought, but then why insert Barbara and her parents, to go through her life events but not her inner thoughts and world? That's what I regretted, overall: that some characters are given more compelling inner lives than others, and that the others take space but don't give us much: So-and-so went there, she played golf, then she moved somewhere else, befriended this one who will never be mentioned again.
The parents' big reveal - Lucienne and Gaston -, hinted at about 2/3 of the book and revealed fully at the end, was interesting and I also felt this could have been hinted at earlier, and the consequences of their choice displayed to the reader. This felt a bit like a missed opportunity.
I liked it overall though, and its themes of identity, loss, anxiety, but I kept hoping for a bit more.

This had great potential as a family epic, but somehow it all felt a bit distant to me. I wonder if that was the author's intent, to try to gain a distance from what is very much based on her own family.

It also felt a bit odd that so many ‘world events’ were glossed over and I think if you didn’t know the history of France and Algeria some elements wouldn’t mean much.

But, wow, that twist at the end!

I tried to read this book but found myself unable to engage which is a pity as I know that the author is well thought of

This is an engrossing historical and family saga. It takes a while to get fully immersed in, but it was worth the effort. Just taking away one star for the length, although the subject deserved the time and number of pages given. It is a thoughtful read which stays with you after the last page.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publishers for the ARC