Claire Marvel

By John Burnham Schwartz and Schwartz Burnham

Book Overview

A young man and woman meet, love each other, and are consumed. It's a story as old as romance itself, but in this enthralling novel John Burnham Schwartz tells it with heart-stopping new immediacy. In the middle of a rainstorm Julian Rose, a self-effacing Harvard graduate student, takes refuge beneath a girl's yellow umbrella. The girl, the woman, is Claire Marvel, lovely, mercurial, mired in family tragedy. She is the last person someone like Julian should fall in love with. But he does. What ensues is a great and difficult passion strewn with obstacles-not least those arising from Claire and Julian's disparate characters. And as these young people find and lose each other, then seek each other anew, Schwartz places romantic love within an entire continuum of attachments that require the full reserves of our openness and courage.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375719156
• ISBN13: 9780375719158
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Claire Marvel--An Obsession

I admit to some trepidation in picking up a book that is marketed as a love story. But I have to confess, that after I'd read 30 pages of Claire Marvel, I could not stop reading it. Despite having to juggle family and other obligations, I finished it in one weekend, although I savored the images and feelings for weeks afterwards. I was even tempted to read it again, immediately, something I never do. In short, I was obsessed with Claire Marvel. And I'm not the only one. My husband and most of my friends who have read it have become obsessed by Claire as well. This book really makes the reader feel love--in all of its glory, ambiguity and agony--in a way that no other book I have read before does. Put this book at the top of your list, but be warned that it may become an obsession.

A Marvel

This is a stunning novel. The writing is resonant with wisdom and graced with poetry. Beautiful storytelling from first to last. You will weep. But this is not a sentimental tale. It has all the restraints of fine literature and the emotional suspense of great novels. Buy it. Read it. I give it five very enthusiastic stars.

A classic in the making

This is an exquisite novel. Schwartz (Reservation Road) is one of the finest young writers of literary fiction today, and this is his most accomplished work to date. The second half of the novel includes some of the most beautiful and elegant writing I've read in years. The characters, the places (Cambridge, France, New York), the poetry of the language, and the richness of experience will linger in your mind long after you've finished reading. I cannot recommend this book more enthusiastically.

I loved this book

This is a beautifully written and emotionally courageous story of a man and the way in which he circles endlessly towards and away from the woman of his life, Claire Marvel. The tension between these two characters has such weight, and builds with such suspense, that that I stayed up until almost two in the morning to find out how the book would end. A terrific read.