Name: What I loved
Rating: 3.916666666666667 (24 reviews)
ISBN: 1845056396

Siri Hustvedt

What I loved

What I Loved

Having been recommended this book by several friends I was surprised and disappointed that at first I found it quite dry. I almost gave up (my 2026 ethos is life’s too short to persevere with boring books) but then I read a review with a plot twist spoiler I was mere pages away from! Anyway I loved the second two-thirds, almost felt like an entirely different vibe/genre/book. Lots of plot and action, discombobulating, sad, thrilling, and reinforced my deep fear of having children. Recommend!

Allegrachatterjee

Irene Alegre

Great writers are like true love: you don't know how to describe them, but you are suddenly aware of their magnitude when you have them right before you. After a few good but not brilliant novels, I was craving for a great voice. Yet I couldn't describe what I was going for, exactly. Then I start reading 'What I loved' and I knew, right away.

'What I loved' was a long, beautiful read. I loved each of its characters -including 'that one'-. Hustvedt knows how to make them become real. Grow old. Grow wise. Grow love for each other. Deal with the tragedies of their lives.

I didn't care that much for the thriller part though, but I liked feeling clueless regarding 'that one'. Everything felt real and surreal at the same time.

It left me wanting more. And so I will have.

REISSUED AS A SCEPTRE 30TH CLASSIC, with a new afterword by the author In 1975 art historian Leo Hertzberg discovers an extraordinary painting by an unknown artist in a New York gallery. He buys the work, tracks down its creator, Bill Weschler, and the two men embark on a life-long friendship. This is the story of their intense and troubled relationship, of the women in their lives and their work, of art and hysteria, love and seduction and their sons - born the same year but whose lives take very different paths.

Anisah Osman Britton

Esme Chiverton 

'Substantial, moving and beautifully written' - Independent on Sunday 'A love story with the grip and suspense of a thriller.' - Times Literary Supplement In 1975 art historian Leo Hertzberg discovers an extraordinary painting by an unknown artist in a New York gallery. He buys the work, tracks down its creator, Bill Weschler, and the two men embark on a life-long friendship. This is the story of their intense and trouble relationship, of the women in their lives and their work, of art and hysteria, love and seduction and their sons - born the same year but whose lives take very different paths.

What I loved

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