The Lover
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group · Print & ebook · September 8, 1998
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- Who it’s for
- Spare, luminous prose brings emotional intensity to a relationship shaped by colonial-era Indochina.
- Themes
- Tumultuous affair, French colonial Indochina, Life on the margins
- Genres
- 20th-Century Historical Romance, The Classics, Literary Fiction
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Start with this bookAbout this book
A modern classic and international bestseller with more than one million copies in print, The Lover has been celebrated by critics and readers across the globe since its first publication in 1984. Set in the prewar Indochina of Marguerite Duras's childhood, this is the haunting tale of a tumultuous affair between an adolescent French girl and her Chinese lover.
Continue reading
In spare yet luminous prose, Duras evokes life on the margins of Saigon in the waning days of France's colonial empire, and its representation in the passionate relationship between two unforgettable outcasts. This edition of The Lover includes a new introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen that looks back at Duras's iconic work, winner of France’s Prix Goncourt, as it approaches its fortieth anniversary in print.
Luminous and Unsettling
Spare, luminous prose brings emotional intensity to a relationship shaped by colonial-era Indochina.
Come here for
- A layered literary reading with a vivid sense of historical context
- An intimate story of outsiders and a tumultuous affair
Expect
- Haunting prose that keeps its focus close
- An edition with a new introduction by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Where it sits
| The Classics | 42% |
|---|---|
| Literary Fiction | 38% |
| 20th-Century Historical Romance | 30% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Historical Fiction
- Literary Fiction
- Historical Romance
- Authors
- Marguerite Duras
- Publisher
- Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
- Published
- September 8, 1998
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Tumultuous affair · French colonial Indochina · Life on the margins
- Reading lane
- Historical Fiction