- Paperback: 255 pages
- Publisher: Turtle Point Press; New edition edition (Mar 1 1995)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1885983018
- ISBN-13: 978-1885983015
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14 x 1.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 340 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #236,057 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Book Description
classic novel of voyeurism, tr Robert Baldick
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Solipsism.,
By
This review is from: Hell (Paperback)
Although sometimes considered as an erotic work, this is in fact a philosophical novel about solipsism.This theme is treated brilliantly: a man looks through a hole in a wall in a hotel room into another room, where he observes scenes about life and death, like sex or a dying person who insults a priest. He always asks himself: is this real or are these scenes only in my thoughts? Does the world outside me exist? His answer is negative: I am alone. It brings him on the brink of schizophrenia. Even science cannot help him. But ultimately he chooses to continue to live, because there is still a sparkle of hope. To find out why, you should read this novel. An ambitious, not always well understood, but brilliant work about an essential philosophical problem.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Forget the Rabbit Hole,
By
This review is from: Hell (Paperback)
First of all, what this book is not: this book is not voyeurism, if that's what you're looking for, look elsewhere. So what is this book? This book is an examination of human nature. But it's not a dry, pedantic examination, it's a look at human nature in all of its beauty and all of its unseemliness. The lust, the love, the suffering, the solitude is all in that room into which Henri Barbusse has allowed us to look. Barbusse shows us that we live in a world of pretension, a world in which we all strive to create a superficial image, a plastic persona, in order to impress our fellow human beings, a world of ego and lies.The protagonist of this novel finds a hole in the wall above a blocked off doorway in his hotel room, a hole which allows him to observe the occupants of the other room without their knowledge. What he sees - birth, death, young love, forbidden love, adultery - shows him what human nature is without the affectations of society. What he sees is Humanity stripped bare. He'll never see society the same way again and neither will you after reading this book. Forget about going down the rabbit hole, just take a peak through Barbusse's hole in the wall.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews) 41 of 42 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Solipsism.,
By Luc REYNAERT - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Hell (Paperback)
Although sometimes considered as an erotic work, this is in fact a philosophical novel about solipsism.This theme is treated brilliantly: a man looks through a hole in a wall in a hotel room into another room, where he observes scenes about life and death, like sex or a dying person who insults a priest. He always asks himself: is this real or are these scenes only in my thoughts? Does the world outside me exist? His answer is negative: I am alone. It brings him on the brink of schizophrenia. Even science cannot help him. But ultimately he chooses to continue to live, because there is still a sparkle of hope. To find out why, you should read this novel. An ambitious, not always well understood, but brilliant work about an essential philosophical problem. 50 of 56 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of a kind,
By J from NY - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Hell (Paperback)
It is hard to overestimate the power of this book. A young man (it is regrettable that we never get to put a name to the narrator) cuts a small hole in the wall of his room and watches life, quite literally, 'pass him by'. He bears witness to everything: false love, carnal desire, death (there is an unforgettable scene in which a volatile old man refuses to confess to a priest on his deathbed) all the while making biting observations which strip away, layer by layer, the lies we tell ourselves to keep living. As one reads one almost feels guilty, thinking to oneself "yes, I claimed to love and didn't really love in this situation, I behaved in this way, etc...." It is that true to life despite being a work of solipsism. This is a must.
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
My judgment on Hell,
By Sudo Mayhap - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Hell (Paperback)
The dialogue is a bit trite. For example, you have 13 year old lovers each speaking like... well, like despairing 19th century romantics alone in the privacy of their bathrooms. Clearly Barbusse was no master of dialogue. There are some inconsistencies and absurdities (in the ridiculous, not "good", sense) in the plot. However, this is well compensated for by the vivid description of the smallest details; instead of such a thing boring the reader, you find yourself anticipating when Barbusse will next describe the evening light on a cabinet, the formation of furniture, the casual setting of a cafe, etc. This book truly reads like a magnificent painting. Despite the 3 star rating (for reasons above), I highly recommend it.
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