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Pages for You #1
Pages for You
In a steam-filled diner in a college town, Flannery Jansen catches sight of something more beautiful than she's ever seen: a graduate student, reading. The seventeen-year-old, new to everything around her—college, the East Coast, bodies of literature, and the sexual flurries of student life—is shocked by her desire to follow this wherever it will take her. When Flannery finds herself enrolled in a class with the remote, brilliant older woman, she is intimidated at first, but gradually becomes Anne Arden's student—Baudelaire, lipstick colors, or how to travel with a lover—Flannery proves an eager pupil, until one day learns more about Anne than she ever wanted to know.
274 pages, Paperback
First published April 18, 2001
About the author
Sylvia Brownrigg
14 books209 followersSylvia Brownrigg is the author of six books of fiction, including the novels Pages for You and The Delivery Room. Her most recent novel, Pages for Her, was published in July 2017 by Counterpoint in the US and Picador in the UK.
Sylvia's work has been included on the NY Times Notable list and the LA Times Best Books of the Year. Her reviews have appeared in the NY Times, The Guardian, and the TLS, and she has taught at the American University in Paris. Her novel for children, Kepler’s Dream (published under the name Juliet Bell), has been turned into an independent feature film.
She lives in Berkeley, CA, with her family, and continues to spend time in London.
Sylvia's work has been included on the NY Times Notable list and the LA Times Best Books of the Year. Her reviews have appeared in the NY Times, The Guardian, and the TLS, and she has taught at the American University in Paris. Her novel for children, Kepler’s Dream (published under the name Juliet Bell), has been turned into an independent feature film.
She lives in Berkeley, CA, with her family, and continues to spend time in London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 494 reviews
September 14, 2017
Sometimes I really want to write poetry, but I can't because I don't know anything about poetry. And then I think, "Maybe I should just write it as prose. You know, just not break it up into little short lines." As I was reading Pages for You it occurred to me that Sylvia Brownrigg had done something similar with this novel. The chapters are quite short, usually only about a page and a half; each chapter clearly has its own theme, and they make liberal use of metaphor, description, and idiom, yet—as their short length would imply—with a certain amount of sparseness and economy.
Recently I read Brownrigg's first novel, The Metaphysical Touch, and while I liked it fine, I found it a bit gimmicky, overdone, and overly long. Pages for You is its opposite, a simple girl-meets-girl, girl-gets-girl, girl-loses girl (not a spoiler; it's on the first page) story that succeeds on the authenticity of its emotions. Do you want to hear about the thrill of pursuit and seduction? The self-discovery that accompanies it? The rush of infatuation? The pain of heartbreak? If this all sounds OK to you, you might enjoy this poetic ode to being young and in love.
Recently I read Brownrigg's first novel, The Metaphysical Touch, and while I liked it fine, I found it a bit gimmicky, overdone, and overly long. Pages for You is its opposite, a simple girl-meets-girl, girl-gets-girl, girl-loses girl (not a spoiler; it's on the first page) story that succeeds on the authenticity of its emotions. Do you want to hear about the thrill of pursuit and seduction? The self-discovery that accompanies it? The rush of infatuation? The pain of heartbreak? If this all sounds OK to you, you might enjoy this poetic ode to being young and in love.
March 11, 2012
Although the subject matter is like most romance novels, the writing fools you and leaves you feeling breathless. It's like you are Flannery, falling in love with Tuesday Anne. Absolutely beautiful.
October 30, 2017
Very good style of writing. The ending ruined it all. The end.
January 7, 2019
"It wasn't that she wanted the coffee, no. That wasn't it. Rather, she wanted to be the coffee: she envied the dark drink its chance to taste those lips." -- page 9
The first great book I've read this year (and we're only a week into it!), I'd like to thank my local library for recently obtaining a copy of Pages For You and prominently displaying it at their fiction shelves. I don't think I would have otherwise heard of this book and/or author Sylvia Brownrigg.
Apparently set just before the Internet / cell-phone / LGBTQ acceptance era of the mid- to late 90's, Pages follows college freshman Flannery Jansen - a tall, blonde, slightly tomboyish small-town West Coast transplant - as she enters her first semester as an 'undeclared' student at a university in New England. Early on she stops for breakfast at a local diner and is thunderstruck by another patron during a brief 'meet cute' interaction. This is Anne Arden, a worldly-looking /-seeming twenty-eight year-old teaching assistant from the same university's literature department. (Anne is described as having cat-like green eyes, auburn hair, and a sly voice.) Flannery is immediately awed by Anne.
During the autumn their paths cross repeatedly but platonically in and around campus until the Thanksgiving holiday break. Flannery composes a deeply romantic but mature and well-written poem for Anne (titled "Pages For You") to express her true feelings, and slips it to her as Anne departs for New York City by train. A day later, as Flannery is settling into a stretch of boredom, she receives a phone call from Anne - "I think you'd better come to New York." Cue the lightning strike!
Sparks fly and fireworks explode as the relationship begins with the usual but joyous lust / love. (One chapter starts with "The year's coldest days were the hottest she had ever lived." Good Lord!) Very sensual and irresistible without being graphic, tawdry, or overly explicit, Pages For You was addictive reading as Brownrigg details the blossoming affair between Flannery and Anne during the school year. Written in short, spirited chapters, I was completely and immediately wrapped up in the story of these two women. That these characters also intelligently discuss and reference books, poetry, and writing - their shared common interests - in their conversations made said story all the better.
But ultimately and unfortunately there is not a generic or standard story-book happy ending to the relationship. Some realistic problems, annoyances, and issues start to creep in and cause trouble, and I think (though some reviewers have disagreed) the book was stronger for going in this direction.
This is not the type of book I usually read (but then neither was Patricia Highsmith's The Price of Salt and I loved that one, too) but I found that it simultaneously grabbed me by the heart while also hitting me in the gut and engaging my mind. There are not many fiction book that do that to me.
The first great book I've read this year (and we're only a week into it!), I'd like to thank my local library for recently obtaining a copy of Pages For You and prominently displaying it at their fiction shelves. I don't think I would have otherwise heard of this book and/or author Sylvia Brownrigg.
Apparently set just before the Internet / cell-phone / LGBTQ acceptance era of the mid- to late 90's, Pages follows college freshman Flannery Jansen - a tall, blonde, slightly tomboyish small-town West Coast transplant - as she enters her first semester as an 'undeclared' student at a university in New England. Early on she stops for breakfast at a local diner and is thunderstruck by another patron during a brief 'meet cute' interaction. This is Anne Arden, a worldly-looking /-seeming twenty-eight year-old teaching assistant from the same university's literature department. (Anne is described as having cat-like green eyes, auburn hair, and a sly voice.) Flannery is immediately awed by Anne.
During the autumn their paths cross repeatedly but platonically in and around campus until the Thanksgiving holiday break. Flannery composes a deeply romantic but mature and well-written poem for Anne (titled "Pages For You") to express her true feelings, and slips it to her as Anne departs for New York City by train. A day later, as Flannery is settling into a stretch of boredom, she receives a phone call from Anne - "I think you'd better come to New York." Cue the lightning strike!
Sparks fly and fireworks explode as the relationship begins with the usual but joyous lust / love. (One chapter starts with "The year's coldest days were the hottest she had ever lived." Good Lord!) Very sensual and irresistible without being graphic, tawdry, or overly explicit, Pages For You was addictive reading as Brownrigg details the blossoming affair between Flannery and Anne during the school year. Written in short, spirited chapters, I was completely and immediately wrapped up in the story of these two women. That these characters also intelligently discuss and reference books, poetry, and writing - their shared common interests - in their conversations made said story all the better.
But ultimately and unfortunately there is not a generic or standard story-book happy ending to the relationship. Some realistic problems, annoyances, and issues start to creep in and cause trouble, and I think (though some reviewers have disagreed) the book was stronger for going in this direction.
This is not the type of book I usually read (but then neither was Patricia Highsmith's The Price of Salt and I loved that one, too) but I found that it simultaneously grabbed me by the heart while also hitting me in the gut and engaging my mind. There are not many fiction book that do that to me.
December 28, 2009
The writing is pretentious and tries too hard to impress - I'm putting that out there from the start. But I also finished it over two evenings of reading, so there was a compelling pull to the underlying story as well. It probably says more about me than the book that I would have preferred a point of view from the 28 year old rather than the 17 year old.
It's divided into three sections - essentially 1) the build-up to the romance 2) the romance and 3) the decline of the romance. There were certainly areas of wonderful clarity and familiarity and I enjoyed the tension and awkwardness in the first part a great deal, but on principle I have a problem with narrative structure that's too transparent, in which the anatomy of the finale is known from the beginning. In this book, the reader knows from the first page that the relationship fails, so by the time I get to the third part of the story, there's no suspense, only a depressing denoument that has no twists and very little internal tension. Nothing happens; it just falls apart. If something had happened that forced a reinterpretation of the first page, I might have had a different reaction. At heart though, this novel is a portrait of the rise and fall of a relationship - simple - and that's a premise that both limits and frames the events within. If the quality of the writing and the insights had been better, this might have been exactly the type of lyrical prose I'd fall head over heels for. Just not this time. It didn't quite pull it off for me, and the characters didn't stick in my head either.
The book definitely brought to mind the advantages of other genres though - if a relationship fails, it's not the end of the whole story (as it was here) - there's always plenty of other supporting or overriding plot to keep things going. Food for thought.
It's divided into three sections - essentially 1) the build-up to the romance 2) the romance and 3) the decline of the romance. There were certainly areas of wonderful clarity and familiarity and I enjoyed the tension and awkwardness in the first part a great deal, but on principle I have a problem with narrative structure that's too transparent, in which the anatomy of the finale is known from the beginning. In this book, the reader knows from the first page that the relationship fails, so by the time I get to the third part of the story, there's no suspense, only a depressing denoument that has no twists and very little internal tension. Nothing happens; it just falls apart. If something had happened that forced a reinterpretation of the first page, I might have had a different reaction. At heart though, this novel is a portrait of the rise and fall of a relationship - simple - and that's a premise that both limits and frames the events within. If the quality of the writing and the insights had been better, this might have been exactly the type of lyrical prose I'd fall head over heels for. Just not this time. It didn't quite pull it off for me, and the characters didn't stick in my head either.
The book definitely brought to mind the advantages of other genres though - if a relationship fails, it's not the end of the whole story (as it was here) - there's always plenty of other supporting or overriding plot to keep things going. Food for thought.
September 30, 2011
Oh, where do I even start? This book is utterly amazing. Dare I even say that it's a masterpiece? I just love Brownrigg's style of writing, meticulous use of language and how she brings the sensuality of her words alive in this book. It's simply so refreshing to read. The plot, characters and pace were perfect (maybe partly because I can relate to Flannery and her feelings). I want to talk about them passionately, in more detail but I know that if I do, I won't stop, especially if I start with Anne Arden.
I especially enjoyed the book's sense of humour. Also, I went through such a range of emotions while reading this book. Mostly I couldn't stop smiling while I read it and I honestly couldn't put it down! My heart ached deeply for the characters in the poignant parts of the book. I even remember cupping my hand over my mouth, gasping at a certain point and crying out, as if it would somehow prevent inevitable poignancy from occurring. There aren't many books that have moved me in the way that "Pages for You" has. I feel like my words aren't even adequate to explaining how amazing I think this book is. It's inexplicable.
Brownrigg is definitely a very talented writer. Or maybe that's an understatement. I just feel so frustrated that I can't adequately voice how this book and her writing make me feel! I'm so glad and grateful for the existence of "Pages for You". It's a truly beautiful, unforgettable and unique book that I will always cherish. Thank you, Sylvia Brownrigg, thank you.
January 20, 2018
I never felt fully immersed or deeply moved by this book, and I think I can pinpoint exactly why: the third-person narration kept me at a distance the whole time. How I wish I could have been deeper inside 17-year-old Flannery's head as she experienced first love with the poised and sophisticated Anne. Third-person narration just seemed like such a strange choice for this topic, and the intensity it was going for.
I didn't find myself savoring it, nor aching to read more. I knew going into it from reading others' reviews that it was going to have "pretentious" prose, but I'm typically the kind of person who enjoys that, so that wasn't necessarily the issue. (Though I wasn't entirely won over by the prose, which was borderline mawkish at times.)
Criticism aside, this was a perfectly fine book. It propelled me along at a fast pace, it was totally readable. There was just something missing for me to transform it from a 3-star book into something deeply moving and unforgettable. I wanted to be wrecked by this but it just didn't happen.
I didn't find myself savoring it, nor aching to read more. I knew going into it from reading others' reviews that it was going to have "pretentious" prose, but I'm typically the kind of person who enjoys that, so that wasn't necessarily the issue. (Though I wasn't entirely won over by the prose, which was borderline mawkish at times.)
Criticism aside, this was a perfectly fine book. It propelled me along at a fast pace, it was totally readable. There was just something missing for me to transform it from a 3-star book into something deeply moving and unforgettable. I wanted to be wrecked by this but it just didn't happen.
October 12, 2020
I'm gonna be honest, I came to this book looking for a second Call Me By Your Name, only this would be even better because it's women: an intoxicating, passionate, same-sex story between two people (with an age difference thrown into the mix, which is cause for a side-eye from me if I'm being honest). I didn't completely love CMBYN for several reasons, but it was a mesmerizing romance/ infatuation story and I wanted to read something similar.
Imagine my surprise and obvious disappointment when what I got instead was a clinical, immature, imbalanced and cringe-worthy "romance" with a stupid ending, to boot. I never, ever, ever felt ANY kind of chemistry or connection between Flannery and Anne. The relationship would obviously never be balanced between them anyway, but I wanted to feel the crush, the infatuation on Flannery's part, the despair of wanting to be in Anne's world and never fitting in, SOMETHING instead of cringe-worthy "I'm having SEX! I'm a WOMAN now! I have a LOVER! What am I going to call my LOVER, "darling" or "honey" or what?" And then pages and pages about just how cultured and better than everyone else Anne is.
Almost every review I've seen praises the writing in particular, and I honestly don't get it. I didn't like the writing an any point, I never wanted to highlight a passage, share it with anyone, or even just stop and say "....Whoa" at any point. I didn't feel anything about it, and in a story about love and passion, I should have had. The only slightly better-written scenes were ones of anger and bitterness, and that's NOT where the great writing should have been in a story about a love affair.
The characters were cardboard cutouts and never had any development or character traits besides "Flannery is soooo cute in her innocence, and Anne is so cultured and mysterious". I'm honestly not sure how many of the author's choices were actually on-purpose genius ones or simple incompetence, because on one hand, I think the entire story is supposed to be Flannery writing about it years after, so everything is her own POV and how she saw things (meaning: immaturely and firmly one-sided), but that still doesn't make the clinical writing and complete lack of passion and connection enjoyable to read about.
I personally didn't care about the (stupid) ending, because by that point I didn't care about the book at all. It was just another reason to dislike it.
Imagine my surprise and obvious disappointment when what I got instead was a clinical, immature, imbalanced and cringe-worthy "romance" with a stupid ending, to boot. I never, ever, ever felt ANY kind of chemistry or connection between Flannery and Anne. The relationship would obviously never be balanced between them anyway, but I wanted to feel the crush, the infatuation on Flannery's part, the despair of wanting to be in Anne's world and never fitting in, SOMETHING instead of cringe-worthy "I'm having SEX! I'm a WOMAN now! I have a LOVER! What am I going to call my LOVER, "darling" or "honey" or what?" And then pages and pages about just how cultured and better than everyone else Anne is.
Almost every review I've seen praises the writing in particular, and I honestly don't get it. I didn't like the writing an any point, I never wanted to highlight a passage, share it with anyone, or even just stop and say "....Whoa" at any point. I didn't feel anything about it, and in a story about love and passion, I should have had. The only slightly better-written scenes were ones of anger and bitterness, and that's NOT where the great writing should have been in a story about a love affair.
The characters were cardboard cutouts and never had any development or character traits besides "Flannery is soooo cute in her innocence, and Anne is so cultured and mysterious". I'm honestly not sure how many of the author's choices were actually on-purpose genius ones or simple incompetence, because on one hand, I think the entire story is supposed to be Flannery writing about it years after, so everything is her own POV and how she saw things (meaning: immaturely and firmly one-sided), but that still doesn't make the clinical writing and complete lack of passion and connection enjoyable to read about.
I personally didn't care about the (stupid) ending, because by that point I didn't care about the book at all. It was just another reason to dislike it.
November 6, 2019
Flannery, a 17 year old college student, falls in love with Anne a lecturer at her university. Split into three sections this novel shows the longing, the affair, and the affair's decline. Sometimes overwritten, I was interested in these two characters, but it was just too much of the same: literature, lust, love. It became a very claustrophobic read, and not in a way that made me think that was clever - just a little irritating.
March 9, 2020
This is a devastatingly beautiful literary work, comparable in quality with Fiona Shaw's Tell It To the Bees. Emotionally, experiencing it is like gazing upon a magnificent painting. Brace yourself for this one, folks, but it's worth it. For fans of Abby Craden, this is a must-listen. She is at her finest here and it is apparent why she is considered one of the best narrators in the business. My heart is still feeling this - I don't think I'll shake it anytime soon.
January 24, 2008
A taste of love with a swift kick in the ass of reality.
July 29, 2017
My new favourite life-ruiner.
June 18, 2018
DNF @ 53%
I hadn’t heard of this book prior to the publication of its sequel, Pages for Her, and was surprised to find out that more than 15 years passed between the two novels. Since I was curious to read the recently released one, having loved Call Me by Your Name, with which they have similar plot points, I thought I’d start at the beginning. And, sadly, end there!
Pretentiously written with a rather retro vibe, as if from the 70s, where even the most lovely, tender moments are overblown by embellished prose or clichéd descriptions, Pages for You is the sort of book I might have enjoyed if I were actually Flannery’s age. The two main characters felt really flat and the dialogue had me cringing every time Anne opened her mouth, with her rude pedantry. Halfway through, there’s little to no plot outside their relationship, and what we get is incredibly predictable, as if the writer is following a script, checking out points on a list.
While the theory snob in me should be enjoying all the references to Susan Sontag and Benjamin’s Reflections, I think they only mask the lack of any substance. I was expecting something more from what is considered a ladies-loving-ladies classic. I know it is published in the early 2000s, but it still reads like melodramatic teen fiction.
I hadn’t heard of this book prior to the publication of its sequel, Pages for Her, and was surprised to find out that more than 15 years passed between the two novels. Since I was curious to read the recently released one, having loved Call Me by Your Name, with which they have similar plot points, I thought I’d start at the beginning. And, sadly, end there!
Pretentiously written with a rather retro vibe, as if from the 70s, where even the most lovely, tender moments are overblown by embellished prose or clichéd descriptions, Pages for You is the sort of book I might have enjoyed if I were actually Flannery’s age. The two main characters felt really flat and the dialogue had me cringing every time Anne opened her mouth, with her rude pedantry. Halfway through, there’s little to no plot outside their relationship, and what we get is incredibly predictable, as if the writer is following a script, checking out points on a list.
While the theory snob in me should be enjoying all the references to Susan Sontag and Benjamin’s Reflections, I think they only mask the lack of any substance. I was expecting something more from what is considered a ladies-loving-ladies classic. I know it is published in the early 2000s, but it still reads like melodramatic teen fiction.
July 31, 2017
It was perfect and now my heart is heavy.
March 13, 2013
I’ve heard buzz about this book all over the place, good reviews at that, and feedback that it would “ruin my life.”
It did. In the most glorious way.
I seldom read romance novels but this one really exceeded my expectations. Brownrigg narrated it in such a poetic manner and in such a rich prose. Narrated from the point of view of a young Flannery, showing us a different side of relationships and allows us to reminisce on our firsts. Every word and item symbolizes something deeper than it originally appeared, affecting each character in such a significant way: the books, the emotions felt by both characters (more evidently Flannery’s) and the words spoken in their minds that never made it out of their mouths. Both characters affected and influenced each other in such an illustrious manner. Within the 3 parts of the book, we see a different Flannery, a different Anne (though she remains sexy the whole book like DAYUM). The little moments of bliss between the two lovers, like the make up game agh so cute and the little geeky talks they have about books and authors, made me love this book. Paying attention to the little things, cherishing and remembering them.
The ending was quite rapid. It was kind of like, wait what just happened? Most everything in part 3 happened so fast because *spoiler* ok so Anne moved away and Flannery was alone for a while and she flew to her and they broke up because of a past love coming their way JUST. LIKE. THAT. I know it’s pretty cliche to say that I wanted them to stay together though, in the back of my mind, I didn’t think it would last because of the age gap and their differences but why end it like that?! Although I like the part when they were laying together and that Anne was feeling so much love for her still but not love love cry.
The part after the break up scene has to be my favorite. Flannery walking through the campus, as she did before the love, before the heartbreak, before Anne. It was a new beginning for Flannery: the experienced, bruised and battered Flannery. She had grown but not entirely changed.
I give this book a 8/10
★★★★★★★★☆☆
It did. In the most glorious way.
I seldom read romance novels but this one really exceeded my expectations. Brownrigg narrated it in such a poetic manner and in such a rich prose. Narrated from the point of view of a young Flannery, showing us a different side of relationships and allows us to reminisce on our firsts. Every word and item symbolizes something deeper than it originally appeared, affecting each character in such a significant way: the books, the emotions felt by both characters (more evidently Flannery’s) and the words spoken in their minds that never made it out of their mouths. Both characters affected and influenced each other in such an illustrious manner. Within the 3 parts of the book, we see a different Flannery, a different Anne (though she remains sexy the whole book like DAYUM). The little moments of bliss between the two lovers, like the make up game agh so cute and the little geeky talks they have about books and authors, made me love this book. Paying attention to the little things, cherishing and remembering them.
The ending was quite rapid. It was kind of like, wait what just happened? Most everything in part 3 happened so fast because *spoiler* ok so Anne moved away and Flannery was alone for a while and she flew to her and they broke up because of a past love coming their way JUST. LIKE. THAT. I know it’s pretty cliche to say that I wanted them to stay together though, in the back of my mind, I didn’t think it would last because of the age gap and their differences but why end it like that?! Although I like the part when they were laying together and that Anne was feeling so much love for her still but not love love cry.
The part after the break up scene has to be my favorite. Flannery walking through the campus, as she did before the love, before the heartbreak, before Anne. It was a new beginning for Flannery: the experienced, bruised and battered Flannery. She had grown but not entirely changed.
I give this book a 8/10
★★★★★★★★☆☆
February 10, 2018
The book concerns the convincing love affair between two women (the main character has been shrunk by the word Lesbian, and I agree) overshadowed by the coming-of-age and the coined word: "education" in terms of the university atmosphere and the education a woman could gain from the relationship, both falling in and out.
The main character Flannery, fresh from the high school to the university, falls into the greenish eyes of the most beautiful woman she first saw at the diner without knowing she would become her TA. The story goes on with the two started going out and learning about each other. Actually there's not much about plot to talk about but beautiful language and the feelings which are well-described. The language possesses the lyrical prose and stand alone chapters. Many of them are short, out of context, and somehow read like a piece of music videos. So the the writing style is outstandingly prolific but can be perfunctory and boring. the reader chooses.
The main character Flannery, fresh from the high school to the university, falls into the greenish eyes of the most beautiful woman she first saw at the diner without knowing she would become her TA. The story goes on with the two started going out and learning about each other. Actually there's not much about plot to talk about but beautiful language and the feelings which are well-described. The language possesses the lyrical prose and stand alone chapters. Many of them are short, out of context, and somehow read like a piece of music videos. So the the writing style is outstandingly prolific but can be perfunctory and boring. the reader chooses.
October 19, 2015
This is the story of someone who fell in love, not only with another human being, but also with herself. This is a self-discovery journey, a journey that teaches that with wonder comes loss, and that with sadness comes happiness. There are ups and downs, there are smiles and tears. In the end? It will be worth it. No matter how much it seems to hurt at the beginning, there will come a time in life when you will sit and smile at the memories from the moments that broke you into thousands of different tiny pieces. Those moments, those memories, those pieces... they are whoever you have become.
This book is just beautiful. You too fall in love, you too start reading the signs... and they will break you... into tears, into smiles... What else could you really ask for?
Still don't think that 17 is the appropriate age for Flannery, but reading this book was an absolute pleasure.
This book is just beautiful. You too fall in love, you too start reading the signs... and they will break you... into tears, into smiles... What else could you really ask for?
Still don't think that 17 is the appropriate age for Flannery, but reading this book was an absolute pleasure.
July 10, 2015
This book killed me. I loved it, but it killed me. You knew from the beginning the relationship would not last. Hell, you knew by reading the prologue for crying out loud! So I don't see how this is a spoiler.
Even though I knew the relationship was doomed, I still felt the impending dread as the book went on. My chest got tighter and tighter until the awful heart wrenching breakup scene. And the more I think about it, the more I hate the prologue(even though it's beautifully written like the rest of the book), because Flannery is alone and still pining for Anne, years and years later. Why does "not really nice" Anne get "happily ever after" and "sweet and kind" Flannery get solitude?! I know, because life isn't fair and as Anne says "People are cruel and will do anything."
Even though I knew the relationship was doomed, I still felt the impending dread as the book went on. My chest got tighter and tighter until the awful heart wrenching breakup scene. And the more I think about it, the more I hate the prologue(even though it's beautifully written like the rest of the book), because Flannery is alone and still pining for Anne, years and years later. Why does "not really nice" Anne get "happily ever after" and "sweet and kind" Flannery get solitude?! I know, because life isn't fair and as Anne says "People are cruel and will do anything."
March 11, 2019
3.5 stars
Surprisingly I liked this less than the sequel (which I’d read first). The pace was much quicker and it was a much more straight forward love story, but I actually prefer the slower second book. Also: Anne is horrible. Not for being with a 17 year old when she’s 28 (it’s not written from her perspective, so I just hope for her sake that she had some
Problems with that), but she just came off as pretentious, self-centered and sometimes mean.
Oh, and sometimes the dialogue is super cringy. Especially when they mix literature, philosophy and sex. Than again, I guess these kind of people do exist.
Surprisingly I liked this less than the sequel (which I’d read first). The pace was much quicker and it was a much more straight forward love story, but I actually prefer the slower second book. Also: Anne is horrible. Not for being with a 17 year old when she’s 28 (it’s not written from her perspective, so I just hope for her sake that she had some
Problems with that), but she just came off as pretentious, self-centered and sometimes mean.
Oh, and sometimes the dialogue is super cringy. Especially when they mix literature, philosophy and sex. Than again, I guess these kind of people do exist.
May 31, 2009
To me, this book was very powerful. It was a wonderful book. I found it really sad. I cried at the end of this book. I never do that. It's your typical tragic love story. Anyone who's a sucker for a good love story should read this! It's one of my favourite books!
September 5, 2017
The writing is eloquent and lyrical but god this book was depressing. Not sure if it was the best thing for me to read right now.
So it's gorgeous but be forewarned. You may want to stab yourself in the face after reading.
So it's gorgeous but be forewarned. You may want to stab yourself in the face after reading.
January 18, 2020
Books are inherently personal, to the author who wrote it, of course, but also to each reader. How old we are, where we are, the mood we’re in and experiences we’ve had will all inevitably color our opinions of the story. This book in particular hit me in a lot of very personal ways and I’m very aware it may not mean all it meant to me to someone else. In fact, my feelings for this book are probably too personal for a review at all.
That said, I do think the author, Sylvia Brownrigg, has serious talent. She does something here with her tone and word choice, that is so fitting, essential even, to the plot and setting of the book, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it done so well. Flannery is 17, intelligent but a little sheltered, and oh so young. She’s a freshman from California who’s come easy to what we can only assume is one of the Ivies. She walks into a dinner and is absolutely struck by a beautiful woman buried deep in a book. Later she steps into a literary criticism class and finds that beautiful woman is Anne, one of the TAs. Anne rocks and rattles Flannery’s entire young life. And I think by the end, after they come together and then apart, Flannery has rattled Anne’s as well.
When I tucked into this book, I kept sending my best friend passages. I was wanting to be carried away in a romance and I got that. But I also got so much more. The language used and so many descriptions of Anne reminded me startlingly so of the woman who rocked my freshman world. They reminded me of the poems I’d written then and also the love stories I still write, somewhat secretly, a bit ashamed. Reading this book made me realize some of my shame in writing romance is simply that the genre so often disappoints me. Lesbian romance in particular seems confined to some tiny gutter. Beautiful literary gay male romances are having their day in recent years. Heterosexual romances are everywhere, not ghettoized to any specific genre or tiny almost nonexistent section of even the most diverse bookstores. And the whole reason I’ve been writing romance stories is that until this book, I’d never read one that fit or was personal enough. Certainly not about two women.
So it’s also clearer to me than most just how personal romance is. I suspect too that those who see themselves more easily, even some basic version of themselves, on romances just don’t get it, can’t imagine all it means to finally find the one that speaks to you and your experiences. I mentioned this book to someone who made a point of telling me she was adding it to her TBR and that she loved a good love story, no matter the genders involved. In theory I would like to agree and certainly, as I said, heterosexual romance is absolutely everywhere. But it’s easier to enjoy all sorts of romances when you can easily see yourself in them. Until this book, I never had. And there is no way this can mean near as much to someone who doesn’t experience it as I did.
I mentioned the writing style. It was so evocative of the magic and wonder of first love. It might be a bit flowery for some and it may have been for me, as well, if Flannery wasn’t 17, and a wannabe writer in her first semester of college. The same hint of pretension that might have otherwise turned me off, worked wonderfully here. As I already said, I was startled by how utterly similar, at times eerily so, it was to what this young wannabe writer was writing about her own first love at that age. So it transported me in such a powerful and special way.
Yet even apart from that, this is such a literary romance. That’s not unique in and of itself but I’ve never read one about two women. I can indulge in that small ghettoized world of typical lesbian romance novels but they bore me with their tropes and euphemisms and just... unreality. No shame for those who love them. Like I said, I read them too. But what I’ve always wanted, so much I’ve sat and written my own, was a book just like this one. I’m baffled by how there aren’t more of them, but then women loving women romances got their start in pulp and in so many ways, has never been allowed to leave it. I don’t want to sound pretentious and gosh knows, plenty of people judge all romance harshly (yet read authors like Jane Austen or André Acimen). I just had never been able to find the one that spoke to me. Wrote my own for that reason. Then I read this book, a book I’ve wanted to read and been aware of for probably most of the almost twenty years it’s been out there, and I guess it rattled my world too. And took me to exactly the place I’ve always wanted a romance novel to take me. Brownrigg writes in the language of my own woman loving soul.
It’s so beautiful and so relatable that I’ll stop over analyzing. It’s the kind of book that if anyone were to ask me why I like women, I’d place this into their hands and say read. This is why.
So all the the typical review stuff aside. I finally found a romance I could swoon along with, get totally lost in that glorious headspace where when they first kiss I was literally sighing and aching to be kissed myself. I can’t begin to tell you if this book is for you. Most of my book friends aren’t women who like women anyway. And while I do believe anyone could enjoy this book, you’re not going to get what I got from it unless you’re a woman who is attracted to other women and even then there’s no guarantee. But for me- ooh, what a beautiful, swoony, sighing, gorgeous book I’m sure I’ll read again and again.
That said, I do think the author, Sylvia Brownrigg, has serious talent. She does something here with her tone and word choice, that is so fitting, essential even, to the plot and setting of the book, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it done so well. Flannery is 17, intelligent but a little sheltered, and oh so young. She’s a freshman from California who’s come easy to what we can only assume is one of the Ivies. She walks into a dinner and is absolutely struck by a beautiful woman buried deep in a book. Later she steps into a literary criticism class and finds that beautiful woman is Anne, one of the TAs. Anne rocks and rattles Flannery’s entire young life. And I think by the end, after they come together and then apart, Flannery has rattled Anne’s as well.
When I tucked into this book, I kept sending my best friend passages. I was wanting to be carried away in a romance and I got that. But I also got so much more. The language used and so many descriptions of Anne reminded me startlingly so of the woman who rocked my freshman world. They reminded me of the poems I’d written then and also the love stories I still write, somewhat secretly, a bit ashamed. Reading this book made me realize some of my shame in writing romance is simply that the genre so often disappoints me. Lesbian romance in particular seems confined to some tiny gutter. Beautiful literary gay male romances are having their day in recent years. Heterosexual romances are everywhere, not ghettoized to any specific genre or tiny almost nonexistent section of even the most diverse bookstores. And the whole reason I’ve been writing romance stories is that until this book, I’d never read one that fit or was personal enough. Certainly not about two women.
So it’s also clearer to me than most just how personal romance is. I suspect too that those who see themselves more easily, even some basic version of themselves, on romances just don’t get it, can’t imagine all it means to finally find the one that speaks to you and your experiences. I mentioned this book to someone who made a point of telling me she was adding it to her TBR and that she loved a good love story, no matter the genders involved. In theory I would like to agree and certainly, as I said, heterosexual romance is absolutely everywhere. But it’s easier to enjoy all sorts of romances when you can easily see yourself in them. Until this book, I never had. And there is no way this can mean near as much to someone who doesn’t experience it as I did.
I mentioned the writing style. It was so evocative of the magic and wonder of first love. It might be a bit flowery for some and it may have been for me, as well, if Flannery wasn’t 17, and a wannabe writer in her first semester of college. The same hint of pretension that might have otherwise turned me off, worked wonderfully here. As I already said, I was startled by how utterly similar, at times eerily so, it was to what this young wannabe writer was writing about her own first love at that age. So it transported me in such a powerful and special way.
Yet even apart from that, this is such a literary romance. That’s not unique in and of itself but I’ve never read one about two women. I can indulge in that small ghettoized world of typical lesbian romance novels but they bore me with their tropes and euphemisms and just... unreality. No shame for those who love them. Like I said, I read them too. But what I’ve always wanted, so much I’ve sat and written my own, was a book just like this one. I’m baffled by how there aren’t more of them, but then women loving women romances got their start in pulp and in so many ways, has never been allowed to leave it. I don’t want to sound pretentious and gosh knows, plenty of people judge all romance harshly (yet read authors like Jane Austen or André Acimen). I just had never been able to find the one that spoke to me. Wrote my own for that reason. Then I read this book, a book I’ve wanted to read and been aware of for probably most of the almost twenty years it’s been out there, and I guess it rattled my world too. And took me to exactly the place I’ve always wanted a romance novel to take me. Brownrigg writes in the language of my own woman loving soul.
It’s so beautiful and so relatable that I’ll stop over analyzing. It’s the kind of book that if anyone were to ask me why I like women, I’d place this into their hands and say read. This is why.
So all the the typical review stuff aside. I finally found a romance I could swoon along with, get totally lost in that glorious headspace where when they first kiss I was literally sighing and aching to be kissed myself. I can’t begin to tell you if this book is for you. Most of my book friends aren’t women who like women anyway. And while I do believe anyone could enjoy this book, you’re not going to get what I got from it unless you’re a woman who is attracted to other women and even then there’s no guarantee. But for me- ooh, what a beautiful, swoony, sighing, gorgeous book I’m sure I’ll read again and again.
June 17, 2024
I first read this book when I was sixteen: it was a transformative piece of literature for me. It was the first book I read in which a lesbian romance was given space to grow and breathe without a background of homophobia. Flannery falls for Anne the first time she sees her in a diner, drinking coffee, and has no crisis of sexuality: though she has never had sex before, she knows that she wants Anne. Flannery is seventeen when the story beings, and Anne is twenty-eight; Flannery is in her first year of the university where Anne is a graduate student, and Flannery's passion draws her to pursue Anne, despite Anne's spiky personality and the age gap. What follows is a beautifully realised love story, that explores the intensity and pitfalls of a first love, in a way that is tender and lush, but also very believable. Much does not go the way Flannery expects, and ultimately the two go their separate ways, but Brownrigg gives the reader room to explore the landscape of first love with Flannery through a long, dark winter. At thirty-five, my impression of this book is different from when I was sixteen, but I was afraid the book might come to disappoint me, and it did not: reading it is still a joyful experience. Brownrigg is a skilful and evocative writer, and a reader can learn much from her.
January 13, 2019
Pages for You is like a cross between Alain de Botton's Essays in Love and Ann Bannon's Odd Girl Out. Like Botton's novel, it examines the life of a relationship through all of its twists and turns (although in a much less clinical way). And, like Bannon's pulp novel, it is about an experienced college girl and a naïve freshmen finding love together in a world that doesn't accept them .
This is a beautifully written novel that is about as close to poetry as you can get while still being prose. Where it loses points from me is that it just slightly overstays its welcome (do we really need to read about everything these women do, eat, read, and listen to? Every trip, every restaurant, every glance, every touch, and every conversation seems cataloged here, chapter after chapter).
I saw that Brownrigg wrote a sequel to this novel but, after finishing this one, I can't help but feel that everything that needed to be said about these two women has been said.
This is a beautifully written novel that is about as close to poetry as you can get while still being prose. Where it loses points from me is that it just slightly overstays its welcome (do we really need to read about everything these women do, eat, read, and listen to? Every trip, every restaurant, every glance, every touch, and every conversation seems cataloged here, chapter after chapter).
I saw that Brownrigg wrote a sequel to this novel but, after finishing this one, I can't help but feel that everything that needed to be said about these two women has been said.
March 5, 2018
Flannery, a university student, falls in love with Anne, 10 yrs her senior. This starts beautifully & the language is poetic & sensual throughout. Flannery & Anne are interesting, each strong in their own way, & the dynamics of a relationship wonderfully observed. But I didn’t share Flannery’s absorption in her new love. She was like a precocious uni student; it didn’t quite hold my interest. Saved by the lyrical writing.
August 26, 2009
This book came highly recommended. It was one of those books that leaves you with an inexplicable feeling rather than a set of characters and plot. More like a soothing jazz ensemble, this book is a book for those who want to discover or relive the first taste of infatuation.
August 13, 2018
I've got a new project on the go where I reorganized the TBR books on my shelf in a random order onto my shelves and I'm reading them in order. This was the next book to pop up, and I am so happy that it did.
This book follows Flannery Jansen, who at the start of her University life at the age of 17, falls in love at first sight with another woman and thus begins a very whirlwind romance.
I saw so much of myself in Flannery and therefore really enjoyed this. I read through this book in around 24 hours, and it was just a very poetic and beautiful reading experience. The author was able to manipulate my feelings and anytime she said I should feel or believe something, I did. Using a cross between a third and first person narrative, the writing was poetic and flowed. Each chapter was only 1 page and it made reading it a lot easier and smoother. I basically just threw myself into the book and let the characters and writing guide me through the story.
This book was originally published in 2001 and has had a reprint because Brownrigg has released a sequel 17 years later that follows Flannery and Anne 20 years after the event of this first book. I initially held off ordering that sequel until I read this one, but I look forward to seeing where the lives of these two women has led and how this love story impacted them over time.
I relate heavily to Flannery's character and her situation in the book and I am curious to see what 20 years later looks like for her, and if maybe that is the same direction my life will go.
This book follows Flannery Jansen, who at the start of her University life at the age of 17, falls in love at first sight with another woman and thus begins a very whirlwind romance.
I saw so much of myself in Flannery and therefore really enjoyed this. I read through this book in around 24 hours, and it was just a very poetic and beautiful reading experience. The author was able to manipulate my feelings and anytime she said I should feel or believe something, I did. Using a cross between a third and first person narrative, the writing was poetic and flowed. Each chapter was only 1 page and it made reading it a lot easier and smoother. I basically just threw myself into the book and let the characters and writing guide me through the story.
This book was originally published in 2001 and has had a reprint because Brownrigg has released a sequel 17 years later that follows Flannery and Anne 20 years after the event of this first book. I initially held off ordering that sequel until I read this one, but I look forward to seeing where the lives of these two women has led and how this love story impacted them over time.
I relate heavily to Flannery's character and her situation in the book and I am curious to see what 20 years later looks like for her, and if maybe that is the same direction my life will go.
January 6, 2017
I wish I'd read this ten years ago—not because I think I particularly needed it ten years ago, but because there are ten years between Anne and Flannery, and I wonder whether I might have taken the book differently if I'd read it when I was at Flannery's age (seventeen, then eighteen) rather than Anne's (twenty-eight, as I am now).
I wish, too, that I hadn't read any reviews immediately before starting the book, because I also wonder whether I might have taken things differently had I not had an inkling what was coming. (So, to anyone thinking about reading the book, take that as a warning...)
As it is, I'm not sure. I couldn't really sympathise with Anne because I never quite trusted her—her motives, her love, her...reserve, I guess. And as I said above, I'm now the age she is in the book, and I'd never get involved with a seventeen-year-old, because at that age a ten-year difference is massive. That too made me reluctant to trust her. Meanwhile, I couldn't really sympathise with Flannery, either. Oh, I envy her for going for it, for figuring out what she wants and (eventually) doing something about it. Yet she falls so completely head over heels that I just couldn't relate. One thing to have a crush on somebody and another thing to structure your whole life around that crush, you know? She grows somewhat as the book goes on, and I suspect that as an older character she'd just get more interesting (oddly enough, it looks like there's a sequel planned to come out this summer), but oh gosh she's young.
The writing is at times beautiful. It took me a little while to get into it, but I'm glad I kept going. I wish I knew when it was set—it was published in 2001, but was it meant to be contemporary? Or older? Because Flannery seems to be able to both buy alcohol and rent a car despite her young age, which I don't think was possible in the relevant states in 2001. Yet the relative lack of homophobia in the book makes me think it's not so likely to be set too far back... (Actually, that was another thing I appreciated—that the conflict really didn't come from the outside world but rather from Anne and Flannery.)
Not sure I'll read the follow-up book when it comes out, but...I suspect curiosity will get me there eventually.
I wish, too, that I hadn't read any reviews immediately before starting the book, because I also wonder whether I might have taken things differently had I not had an inkling what was coming. (So, to anyone thinking about reading the book, take that as a warning...)
As it is, I'm not sure. I couldn't really sympathise with Anne because I never quite trusted her—her motives, her love, her...reserve, I guess. And as I said above, I'm now the age she is in the book, and I'd never get involved with a seventeen-year-old, because at that age a ten-year difference is massive. That too made me reluctant to trust her. Meanwhile, I couldn't really sympathise with Flannery, either. Oh, I envy her for going for it, for figuring out what she wants and (eventually) doing something about it. Yet she falls so completely head over heels that I just couldn't relate. One thing to have a crush on somebody and another thing to structure your whole life around that crush, you know? She grows somewhat as the book goes on, and I suspect that as an older character she'd just get more interesting (oddly enough, it looks like there's a sequel planned to come out this summer), but oh gosh she's young.
The writing is at times beautiful. It took me a little while to get into it, but I'm glad I kept going. I wish I knew when it was set—it was published in 2001, but was it meant to be contemporary? Or older? Because Flannery seems to be able to both buy alcohol and rent a car despite her young age, which I don't think was possible in the relevant states in 2001. Yet the relative lack of homophobia in the book makes me think it's not so likely to be set too far back... (Actually, that was another thing I appreciated—that the conflict really didn't come from the outside world but rather from Anne and Flannery.)
Not sure I'll read the follow-up book when it comes out, but...I suspect curiosity will get me there eventually.
October 17, 2012
When I got this book I expected so much from it. The plot sounded really good. A forbidden lesbian love between an older teacher and student. How could I pass that up? But honestly, I wouldn't care if I had. When I first began reading this I got into it but as I kept reading it just dragged on and on. I found myself wanting to finish it already so I could move on. The ending was anticlimactic but really the entire thing was. The writer could have toyed with the idea of it being between a teacher and student. Maybe they get caught or shes married...something. :P Anyone who reads my reviews knows that I look for that connection. When I read a book I want to feel the connection. With this one, I felt little to nothing. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't the best.
July 16, 2010
This book is admittedly pretentious, unrealistically centered around two characters, and it loses its momentum about three quarters the way through, but I liked it anyway. There were many sentences, or merely phrases, that were heart-stoppingly beautiful. And although I would label this strictly as literary fiction, it had a suspenseful quality to it that kept me spellbound.
All in all, an interesting, although flawed, book.
All in all, an interesting, although flawed, book.
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