This is short and sweet, just what I needed after a few heavy long books. I thought this was non-fiction before I started reading it, but then I wondered why it was in the Booker Prize for Fiction list. But it had this sad truth behind it, like this could be anyone's story. It's weird because there is quite clearly a story happening, but at the same time it appears to be random sentences and paragraphs with no flow. But it does flow. It works. It's so soft and tender but raw and harsh. It's not the easiest book to read but worth it; I couldn't put it down. It's sad but it is very beautiful.

We meet John on a battlefield in Northern France in 1917. We next meet him in 1920 North Yorkshire were he has returned after the war and reopened his photography business and start a life with his wive Helen. What unfolds is a story told through snap shots of the four generations moving forward.

The writing is poetic, descriptive and atmospheric. I found myself reading and reading the sentences. It is a novel I feel I need to read again to truly appreciates it beauty.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC for a honest review when the book was shortlisted for the Booker 2024.

A few issues with the pacing, although I am a fan of lyrical prose generally, something just didn't quite immerse me in. Emotionally, I think it'd be hard for anyone not to be entranced into some elements of it. A lot in this but was not the easiest read. First time with her work.

Held is fragmentary and evocative - not exactly plot-driven but is deeply gripping and packs a real punch. Perfect for those who seek out really stunning prose in fiction, as Anne Michaels is a powerful wordsmith.

In my first time encountering Anne Michaels' work, I had no expectations of what to expect, beyond reading the blurb and seeing the Booker nomination. I was blown away by the beautiful, fragmentary writing, and delicate attentiveness to emotion.

Deeply moving, asking questions of remembrance, memory, loss, longing, this little novel is container to a poetic stillness that just manages to breathe in spite of such sorrow.

Held is a fractured, meandering read covering a cast of interconnected characters over the 20th century – and I'm not sure what I thought of it? This is a book about love and death and connections and how they last beyond the ephemeral, and it was very well-written, as you'd expect from such a literary novel. Some parts were super immersive; there were a few gorgeous lines that really resonated with me and I particularly liked the story of Helena and John, which took up the bulk of the novel. But there were more moments where I lost patience, or found the writing a bit too abstract and repetitive, or simply got a little annoyed at the narrative's random jump when I was too embedded in another character's story. So: mixed feelings!

Held is a difficult book to review and I'm not sure that I'm clever enough to do so.

The prose is very atmospheric and poetic, but there's not really a plot and it's difficult to follow who, where and when you are. But it's wonderful at evoking emotions, sensations and feelings.

Four stars for me, but I might need to read it again.

I enjoyed this book and like how it was told in a fragmentary style. There was a big theme of nostalgia to it which was good and I enjoyed how all the threads of the book weaved together. It wasn’t the.most exciting book but I still thought it was written well and it was a book which makes you slow down and think rather than a fast paced one.

There is writing of genius in this book, but also, I'm sorry to say, a lot of trying too hard to be 'literary'. The early episodes were really compelling but I just couldn't be bothered with the later ones which seemed deliberately divergent from the threads that the reader really wants to find out about. I know there is a fashion for obliquely-linked short stories but sometimes the writers of novels like these are determined avoid anything as down-market as a plot. It would have taken so little to give this book a powerful narrative thread, and this could have transformed it into a masterpiece. A sadly wasted opportunity.

I
An interesting and challenging read . It was a struggle to get into but it was worth sticking with.

I was drawn to this novel upon learning that it was longlisted for the Booker. Since I read it, it has now been shortlisted, proof that I’m not only reader struck by this relatively brief yet poetic book.

The narrative is made up of segments whose setting and subject vary from a soldier injured in a battlefield in WW1, to contemporary Finland. The opening chapter, possibly the most poignant of the book shows the soldier, clearly suffering from PTSD induced by horrific wartime experiences, trying to adapt to normal life as a portrait photographer. Incredibly, ghosts start to appear on his photographs – a sign of hope in the aftermath of the butchery of the war. But not all is what it seems. Figurative ghosts feature in the other segments, as the characters are haunted by their past and by their feelings and desires. Michaels teases out links between her protagonists, hinting at the sometimes unlikely events and connections which mark the history of each and every family.

While the structure of the book is quite innovative, and it merits attentive reading, Held is also, at its heart, a “traditional” novel in the best sense of the word, reflecting the stories and emotions of ordinary human beings to whom readers can relate.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2024/09/held-by-anne-michaels.html

Achingly sad.
Her prose is magnificent and the stories entrancing. Each is linked to the others in a fragile chain of lives, and loves. The sadness and intensity of emotion is sometimes overwhelming.
It was not a comfortable read although beautiful, and I found myself torn between sadness and to balance this by trying to find each link. A stronger thread would have turned this into a magnificent novel rather than one that was as fragile as the individuals in the stories.

Now Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2024
From the trenches of WW I into the future, Anne Michaels gives us a montage of connected story lines centering on characters dealing with memory and grief - and if you're like me, you'll now say: "Wait, what? World war, history, and memory? Like the masterpiece that is Austerlitz? Like this other experimental gem the Booker nominated, The Long Take??" And the answer is: Yes, but if these were written by Paulo Coelho. And I hate Paulo Coelho.

The multiple characters we meet in the text are connected, some closer, some only vaguely, and we jump not only through time, but also change place, from England, to France, to what's today Belarus (Brest-Litovsk) to the Gulf of Finland. The conviction that the power of love and human connection can maybe not conquer everything, but stand strong in the face brutality, is an important narrative thread. And it all comes together in the most cutesy way imaginable: Calendar sayings, sentences screaming "hello, I'm deep" mixed with the most obvious metaphors. We also get various diary entries and dreams, all in the same tone, and love stories that heavily rely on the descriptions of optic details and touch, the latter actually very well done.

But no, I don't want to read about a soldier coming home from war and then working as a photographer, and then suddenly the subjects' dead loved ones appear in the images, and then some somber lines, and that's it for that vignette. That's lazy, and it's boring: The dead are never really dead, blah blah, blah. And there is so much more in that vein. Make something more of it, Anne! Give us a surprising angle, a new insight, a crisp, less self-involved sentence! Also, the way trauma is represented in the characters is very poor. Every episode of "Babylon Berlin" tells you more about the specific psychological trauma caused on the battlefields than this. And then, Ernest Rutherford shows sup. *Sigh* And "history is a continual convergence of stories" - you don't say.

This ain't it for me. Thanks for The Long Take though, Booker: What a fantastic novel about the repercussions of war, also written by a poet - and as prose poetry for that matter! - that I would never have encountered without the Prize. So please read this, or read some Rainer Maria Rilke, whose quote "Every angel is terrifying" from the Duino Elegies features in the book - has Michaels also read Walter Benjamin's ideas about the "angel of history"?

Shortlisted for the Booker prize 2024.

It is so hard to review this book because I am not sure what to say about it. It’s not like I understood much, anyway. Ok, only half joking.

Held might be quite tiny, but it is not an easy read. It requires quite a bit of concentration due to its structure. Also, patience. It took me a while to fully appreciate the writing and feel the atmosphere. I almost gave up at some point, thinking this is not for me.

I might say that the novel is a collection of vignettes about the members of a family (and some well-known people such as Marie Curie). The novel starts in 1917, on a battlefield, where John lies after a blast. The beginning is full of musing such as : ”We know life is finite. Why should we believe death lasts forever” or “We can only think about the unknown in terms of the known”. The latter idea is also found in Thinking, Fast and Slow, a non-fiction book I recommend. I think the author started as a poet and it shows. So, we jump back and forth in time and we get to know some of what happened to John and his kin. All, enveloped in a poetic, semi-translucent haze.
It seems to be a novel about death, loss, hope and …afterlife? Confusing at times but worth reading.

I'm torn. This is beautiful, but maybe a little too spare for my tastes. I felt an odd sense of deja vu reading the section about the photographer. It's fine to use a non-original idea (pretty difficult not to!) but there needs to be more time given to it, if so. A more specific take offered. I did enjoy this, I just found it a little wanting compared with my expectations, after Fugitive Pieces. But the writing, of course, is gorgeous.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This is a really beautiful book. It came to my attention due to its Booker longlisting, I was delighted to get the opportunity to read this ahead of its publication date.

Held is a book about love, loss, change and connections. The prose is exquisite thoughout as the book unfolds in its unusual fragmentary style.

Initially ( the first 40 pages or so) I found this book quite challenging so I gave up on trying to work out where the book was going and just gave in to the beautiful writing. I didn’t alway understand parts of this book and it’s absolutely a book that deserves and requires a reread, I think the connections will sharpen for me in doing so. Yet despite this it was a really pleasant reading experience, almost dreamlike in parts.

One of the most unusual books I’ve read this year.

Held
By Anne Michaels

I can acknowledge that this Booker longlist nominated translation is poetic and dreamy but I find it difficult to interpret and rather unmoored. I'm not a huge fan of this style of writing and just did not enjoy my reading of this. It's getting a lot of really good reviews so it is likely just a matter of taste.

Thanks to #netgalley and the publisher for access to a review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book tells of love stories and deaths that span generations, it's full of connections that I feel I've not fully worked out. The prose is poetic and some of it is easily read and understood, whilst other parts requires much more brain power! I think it's a book that needs to be read a few times to get the most out of it, and some parts of it absolutely absorbed me, whilst I felt a little lost in others.

I really tried to like this book as the writing is undoubtedly beautiful but I found it so hard to connect with the characters and their situations, it all felt jarring and disconnected. I really appreciated the opportunity to read it though and thank the publisher for providing me with an ARC to review.

A stunning book which has remained with me long after I turned the final page. Humanity laid bare in beautiful prose. A must read.