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The Emperor's Children (Vintage) | 
 enlarge | Author: Claire Messud
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  239 reviews
Sales Rank: 12108
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 496
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 030727666X
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780307276667
ASIN: 030727666X
Publication Date: June 26, 2007
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Product Description
The Emperor’s Children is a richly drawn, brilliantly observed novel of fate and fortune—about the intersections in the lives of three friends, now on the cusp of their thirties, making their way--and not-- in New York City. In this tour de force, the celebrated author Claire Messud brings to life a city, a generation, and the way we live in this moment.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 234 more reviews...
 disappointed August 26, 2008
This book was very disappointing for an award winning book. It may have been presented as a comedy of manners but this tale lacks even that. When I read a book I am spending time with the characters in the novel. I felt I wasted my time with the characters, they were immoral and clueless. It was not funny and the ending left you with a very void feeling. There may have been a few witty phrases in the early chapters, but I would not recommend this book to anyone, I rarely say this about a book. Even my younger acquaintances residing in New York City had similar opinions.
 seriously overwritten August 25, 2008
I bought this book largely on the basis of its strong NYT review (a huge mistake!). While there might be a sly novella hiding somewhere in this behemoth of a book, it's not worth the slog to discover it. Satire of this type--and length--needs to be propelled by a dynamite plot, yet THE EMPEROR'S CHILDREN is largely 450 pages of precious characterization. It's amusing for 30 pages and then quickly grows wearisome.
6 months later... August 24, 2008
It's a bedside table book that will be finished at some point (I'm 300 pages in). Basically, I read one or maybe two pages a night when I can't sleep.
 Mixed feeling about this one... August 14, 2008
As a thirty year old who lived in Manhattan during my twenties (and still lives nearby), I know so many people who fit the profiles of the characters in the novel, so for me, their lifestyles, self-importance, and overprivileged aimlessness was nothing out of the ordinary and quite relatable (unfortunately). However, I could see how readers from other parts of the country may be unable to relate to the main characters and their experiences.
I loved the author's style of writing and found the book entertaining and interesting. I would compare it to "The Secret History" and "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" due to similarities in the characters' circumstances (wealthy, overprivilegd youth), yet would not give it as high a rating as either novel. I have a very hard time recommending this to a general audience, however, I would definitely recommend it to those living in NYC and/or in their late twenties/early thirties, for relatability reasons.
Really surprised at the negative reviews August 11, 2008
I finished this book in three days and didn't find it hard to get through at all. I actually did not even notice anything weird about the structure of the sentences or find that I needed to use a reference book to understand anything. I found it to be more of a light read that is an interesting and amusing satire and kept me reading to find out what would happen to each of the characters that precisely because of their self absorption and flaws seemed so real to me. The only chapters that moved rather slow were the ones devoted to Bootie. I felt as though the author wanted him to be the most likeable/relatable though least glamorous character and feel that the family had wronged him and I just could not get on his side. The ending made me dislike him even more. My other criticism of this book is that I wanted more to happen in it. I wanted Seeley to do something more, I wanted Bootie's piece to be published, I wanted Marina to find out about the affair, etc. In this matter the book was slightly disappointing though it was only because Messud did such a good job of building her characters and making them real that I wanted more.
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