Lili

By Abigail DeWitt

Book Overview

A fascinating examination of one woman's intimate life against the epic backdrop of twentieth-century Europe.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810151006
• ISBN13: 9780810151000
• Release Date: June 2000
• Publisher: Triquarterly Books
• Length: 307 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

LILI

Abigail DeWitt's ability to weave sensuality and emotional intelligence into her characters is startling. Here is a perfect example of the richness of the female voice expressing the importance of a human being's interior life. Ms. DeWitt cuts to the bone with unique grace and narrative skill!

A Fearsome Thing . . . to fall into the hands of God

Abigail De Witt's first novel, Lili, is blindingly brilliant and beautiful. With deft strokes, she paints a panaramic view of Lili's internal world, plumbing the depths of the shadow side of the personality. With a sure sense of craftsmanship, De Witt takes the reader to the edge of the abyss, all the while showing the very thin line between the Divine and madness. Lili lives her life honestly and intensely. Deeply religious as a child, she loses her child-like faith with the death of her older brother, Andre. Some would say she had a failed marriage. I say she lived a strange, but love-filled, mostly asexual marriage. Piere is wholely believable in his acetisism and madness. Her devotion to her retarded son, also a strange, almost abstracted devotion, is poignant and touching. The passionate but short-lived sexual involvement with her friend Paule, a Jewish poet is, nevertheless, a lifelong love affair. Finally, while seeming to lose her faith, she in deeply spiritual throughout the length of the book. Her brutal devotion to truth is a type of spirituality in itself. One could even say that 'to question is the answer'. A novel totally engaging and captivating throughout! A must read.

the sort of book you're always looking for

LILI is one of those rare and special novels that takes the reader in completely unexpected directions. The strange spiritual journey of LILI--through love, war, motherhood, and religion--is captivating from start to finish. The novel's focus on this very particular and complex heroine has universal reverberations. The writing is original and extremely well-crafted, full of marvelously wrought symbolism and emotional drama. I'm thinking of reading it again.