Name: Olivia
ISBN: 9781446467008

Doroth Strachey

When Olivia turns sixteen she is sent to a Parisian finishing school to broaden her education. Soon after her arrival, she finds herself falling under the spell of her beautiful and charismatic teacher. But Madamoiselle Julie’s life is not as straightforward as Olivia imagines and the school year is destined to end abruptly in tragedy.

Olivia

Dorothy Strachey

Dorothy Bussy

Captures the awakening passions of an adolescent girl sent away for a year to a small finishing school outside Paris, where she develops an infatuation for her headmistress.

« life, life, life, this is life, full to overflowing with every ecstasy and every agony. it is mine, mine to hug, to exhaust, to drain. »

i had watched the movie before finding out that there was a book so i had to read it after enjoying the movie so much. 

the prose was captivating, there's something about strachey's writing that just grabs you and makes you feel like you were there. i enjoyed the style so so much. 

as i said in my movie review, this feels so groundbreaking for when it was written/released. my only gripe with it is mademoiselle julie. as is said towards the end of the book, the girls are victims and i'm not a big fan of how quickly this is brushed aside? olivia... i'm so sorry.

florine

« life, life, life, this is life, full to overflowing with every ecstasy and every agony. it is mine, mine to hug, to exhaust, to drain. »

i had watched the movie before finding out that there was a book so i had to read it after enjoying the movie so much. 

the prose was captivating, there's something about strachey's writing that just grabs you and makes you feel like you were there. i enjoyed the style so so much. 

as i said in my movie review, this feels so groundbreaking for when it was written/released. my only gripe with it is mademoiselle julie. as is said towards the end of the book, the girls are victims and i'm not a big fan of how quickly this is brushed aside? olivia... i'm so sorry.

"Dorothy Strachey's classic Olivia captures the awakening passions of an English adolescent sent away for a year to a small finishing school outside Paris. The innocent but watchful Olivia develops an infatuation for her headmistress, Mlle. Julie, and through this screen of love observes the tense romance between Mlle. Julie and the other head of the school, Mlle. Cara, in its final months"--

bella <3

sexual awakenings, obsessive love, and problematic relationships, what more could you want

Maria Elkoro-Iribe

olivia did not say voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir once

Irene Alegre

This book didn't do much for me. It's about this school where everyone is a lesbian and girls fall in love with either one or the other headmaster for no good reason. Their love professions fall into the realm of servitude, where all girls become servants rather than pupils, blindly following the steps of the two headmasters. 

But the fact that it was utterly unrealistic was not the problem; the problem is was that I didn't care. I didn't care for Olivia, whose ONLY focus in life is her teacher, or for any of the secondary characters. I didn't understand how or why she'd fallen for this woman other than she was super beautiful, nor why the woman seemed to somehow reprocitate those feelings. 

Also, I don't see how this is considered a lesbian novel; to me, it reads more as the adoration some pupils feel for their teachers, which I have felt myself and would never describe as love. There is no mention of sexual behaviour or desires, not even subtly, or of that relationship being sinful/wrong/questionable, which is unrealistic for the time it's set in.

I don't know, I don't get it. The writing is beautiful, though, and tension increases into a climax which is not bad. But then it deflates way too quickly in the last 5-10 pages, which gives this story an underwhelming ending.

Considered one of the most subtle and beautifully written lesbian novels of the century, this 1949 classic returns to print in a Cleis Press edition. Dorothy Strachey's classic" Olivia" captures the awakening passions of an English adolescent sent away for a year to a small finishing school outside Paris. The innocent but watchful Olivia develops an infatuation for her headmistress, Mlle. Julie, and through this screen of love observes the tense romance between Mlle. Julie and the other head of the school, Mlle. Cara, in its final months. Although not strictly autobiographical, " Olivia" draws on the author's experiences at finishing schools run by the charismatic Mlle. Marie Souvestre, whose influence lived on through former students like Natalie Barney and Eleanor Roosevelt." Olivia" was dedicated to the memory of Strachey's friend Virginia Woolf and published to acclaim in 1949. Colette wrote the screenplay for the 1951 film adaptation of the novel. In 1999, " Olivia" was included on the Publishing Triangle's widely publicized list of the 100 Best Gay and Lesbian Novels of the 20th Century.

Olivia

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