Claire Messed has consistently provided me with stunningly great writing, and "This Strange Eventful History," is no different. Messud is one of those writers that is not one or the other, she is both. Both a master storyteller, and a skilled writer, and that is where the sweet spot is. I thought TSEH was a little bit of a slow starter, but once things got rolling and Messed got her hooks into you, she doesn't let you go until the very end.

This is a multi-generational family saga, so for those people that love the family saga they will love this one as well because it's done masterfully. This spans so many years and so many people, these types of books are often in danger of being a bit convoluted, but that was not the case at all with this one. I got so incredibly invested in the lives of these characters, they were so lovable & complex.

I did hear that this was slightly autobiographical, and that does make me take another look at the characters with a more critical eye and see the things that might be considered embellishments, or romanticization of certain traits and experiences.

Overall I adored this book in a similar fashion as I did my absolute favorite of her works, "The Woman Upstairs." Messud writes about human emotions with such frankness & honesty, it really hits you in the gut, her characters and characterizations really cut deep and are very relatable. She speaks of human emotion that is universal, that all of us are familiar with in our own ways.

Thank you to Net Galley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud!

Sadly another novel with so much promise whose story was absolutely let down by the writing. The writing is so clunky, verbose, and just completely obscures any kind of storytelling ease or clarity. Sadly a miss for me.

I love a multigenerational story and this one did not disappoint. It's long and a bit of a slow burn but totally worth the read. The writing is gorgeous and the ending completely surprised me. Based on her family's history, this is clearly a personal story for Messud and the complex and richly drawn characters are a testament to her love for her ancestors. This book made me think and I won't soon forget it.

Thanks to WW Norton for the copy to review.

Claire Messud’s "This Strange Eventful History" promises an evocative journey through the life of a WWII-era Algerian family, steeped in the author’s own heritage. Spanning from the chaos of war to contemporary struggles, it follows Francois and Denise as they navigate a world defined by dislocation—Francois seeking a sense of belonging while his sister turns to alcohol in her search for solace.

While the themes of uprootedness resonate powerfully, I found the narrative lacking the imaginative spark I crave in fiction. It often felt more like a detailed family chronicle than a dynamic tale, with little suspense to propel the reader forward. Messud certainly sheds light on the complexities of identity and displacement, yet I yearned for richer character development and a more engaging plot. Still, the book offers valuable insights into Algeria, France, and the repercussions of war, making it an important, if not wholly satisfying, read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC which I received in exchange for my honest review.

This Strange Eventful history was an excellent read. I love Messud's writing. I really appreciated the family dynamics and shifting timelines.

Messud's novel, covering almost a history and based on her family history, features undeniably elegant prose but was not really what I was expecting. I am not sure it worked as a novel; at least; it did not hold this reader's interest; I had a hard time getting immersed or invested in it. I might have found myself more interested if this were told as a personal memoir.

Messud is one of my all-time favorite writers, and Strange Eventful History did not disappoint. It's easily my favorite title of hers since The Emporer's Children - deeply layered and complex, rich characters and transportive descriptions.

This novel is a multi-generational story of the Cessar family, an Algerian French clan loosely based of Messud’s own family history which begins during WWII and spans to 2010. The family’s roots begin with the love story of Gaston and Lucienne, their mythological love sustains them but make the next generations’ relationships more difficult. The novel is told from multiple perspectives but mainly the granddaughter Chloe’s who attempts to discover why her parents are so unhappy in their marriage while her grandparents were so in love; and her discovery is actually quite shocking.

I have read many of Messud’s books throughout the years and have loved every one that I have read so I was very excited that she had another one coming out. This was not one of my favorites of hers while I was reading it, however the surprise ending and learning of the history behind the story afterwards gave me a new appreciation for it. The concept that the idealized marriage of the foundational relationship of a family having a secret made me look back on the novel in a completely different light. I guess I would say this is one of those novels that I appreciated more after than during; that’s not to say I didn’t find the story interesting at times, it just was a bit slower than I generally like.

I'd never read Claire Messud before. Where have I been?

This Strange Eventful History is a generation- and continent-spanning novel about the Cassar family – French settlers in Algeria. It echoes the history of Messud's own family.

Gaston, an officer in the French Navy, faces difficult decisions when France falls to Nazi Germany. He sends his wife, Lucienne, and their children Francois and Denise to stay with relatives in Algiers. Gaston, Francois and Denise narrate alternating chapters. The other narrators, in later years, are Barb, Francois' wife, and their daughter Chloe.

The simplest explanation of this novel is that it follows this family through key events, including World War II, Algeria's war for independence from France, feminism and economic changes. But that sells it short. It's also about love, friendship, aging and death, and all the ways we can be alienated from our country, ourselves, our families.

Often I like to say, if you liked such-and-such book, you'd like this one. But I struggle to find a comparison here. Highly recommended. I'll leave it at that.

*I received an early review copy from NetGalley.

I've loved all the Claire Messud books that I've read. This one was a little more diffuse than I generally like -- readers will want to know it's not as heavy on a central plot, but rather moves between characters and time periods. They're all interesting and the settings are varied and unusual. I enjoyed reading all of them though I maybe felt a little more disconnected from the overall story than with her other books.

Claire Messud's writing is dense and rich and deep--I am so glad her work crossed my path a number of years ago when a New York Times review of The Emperor's Children came out. She continues to amaze me.

I have loved everything of Claire Messud, and this was no exception. A fascinating history I did not know, delivered in a gorgeously written and very personal story.

How was this my first Claire Messud? This was stunning. The 500 page went down so smoothly. I thought this might be confusing when I saw this was multigenerational, but the way Messud tells the story it was so easy to follow and hard to look away from. This is not your average WWII novel. It is so much more. The ending will leave readers feeling very fulfilled or very angry and that is my absolute favorite kind of book.

While Messud's epic loses its way somewhat in the final third, that's all generally for the right reason. She is creating a multigenerational epic here but not one where the different tendrils need to knit back neatly together into a grand theme. This is a powerful story about how the loss of place (in this case, the wrenching away of the family's <i>pied-noir</i> roots) can leave people unmoored for generations after generations. Messud somehow manages the trick of not romanticizing the past while still not pretending some times and places are simply more resonant than others. A lovely kind of sad.

This book follows members of the Cassar family from the early days of WWII to the early 2000s. We get little glimpses inside various members’ minds as the book jumps forward in time. It is difficult to say what the plot is, because the book is really just dipping into various character’s points of view. The author seems to avoid anything that might be interesting—the experience of living through WWII in Algeria, Algerian independence for pieds noirs. Instead, we get a snippet afterwards, but nothing happens in these snippets.

This was wonderfully written book! The characters were frustratingly human. I love books that go through the many decades and really follow each character's life and this book did this very well. It was a great read!

This Strange Eventful History is Claire Messud's best work to date, which is really saying something. A powerful multi-generational novel in the order of One Hundred Years of Solitude or Barkskins, This Strange Eventful History tells the story of the Cassars, driven apart by geopolitical strife, and struggling to maintain their sense of identity. Generations and branches of the family tree are spread out across the world and throughout time they stretch and grow in a myriad of ways, resenting their family ties and expectations while also becoming something new with each new homeland they take on.

This is a big story and it included a lot of detail, a lot of domestic minutiae that some may feel pulls the story down. I felt like all of the specifics of daily life really colored in how much time and space changed the members of the family, in the way that only time and space can do. It was an ambitious novel, largely inspired by Messud's family history, and it was one that will stay with me for a long time.

This is a family saga following several generations of a family, beginning with an Algerian couple deeply in love (Gaston and Lucienne). We follow them as they deal with the vicissitudes of World War II–including separation from each other and their beloved homeland–and then follow their children and grandchild, tracing their personal histories in Europe and America.

This is a slow, beautifully written novel told with intimate detail. Whether we are feeling Gaston’s deeply tender, aching, bodily love for Lucienne, following two children under a hot sun in an unfamiliar city, experiencing the postwar United States through the eyes of an expatriate son, or watching the family patriarch live out his last days in a hospice, we are enfolded in the characters’ living, breathing personal experiences.

THIS STRANGE EVENTFUL HISTORY is not a novel of plot and events–though historical events dramatically shape this family’s history–but of daily experience within the long arc of history. For those who appreciate novels built out of freshly-rendered, layered detail, this is a worthwhile read.

Many years ago, I read Claire Messud’s book “The Woman Upstairs.” I don’t remember much about it except that it was wonderful. I was happy to receive a copy of Ms Messud’s new novel “This Strange Eventful History” from W.W. Norton and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Spoiler alert: Messud is a terrific storyteller and her writing ability is incredible.

This is an expansive family saga as well as a lesson about the history of Algeria. The story of the Cassar family is told over seven generations, and covering several geographic areas. In 1945, right after World War II, there was a massacre that was a turning point in the relationship between Algeria and France (which had invaded Algeria in 1830. The massacre marked the beginning of the war for Algerian Independence, which concluded in 1962. After Independence, the Cassar family is without a homeland, They were separated during the chaos of the War, and the family history is covered in a beautifully written style.

Gaston and his wife Lucienne have what might look like a perfect love/marriage, but it is stifling to their children Denise and Francois. Francois has his own complicated relationship with a woman named Barbara who is so totally different from his family, they can barely communicate. Their daughter Chloe thinks that telling the long-silenced family stories will make the family heal. Along the way, as the family struggles with many things, we see them move from Algeria to what is now Macedonia, then France, Australia, Switzerland, Toronto, and the U.S.

The events are inspired by (possible a retelling of?) Messud’s own family stories. It’s a treat to read – I love books that entertain me while teaching me about things I never knew. (In this way it reminds me of J. Lahiri’s Low Country). Five stars!