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  • Lesley A @Lesley4 Mod Frant - updated 4y

    Discussion on Gregorius.

    Difficult to know where to start. I haven’t read Dr Glas the novel by Hjalmar Söderberg, where Gregorius, a pastor, is first portrayed, in terms of repulsion (ageing, fat, ugly, whining, sexually arrogant). This ‘follow up’ novel looks at the world purely from Gregorius’s perspective and naturally he is portrayed as a somewhat more sympathetic character - though Ohlsson only says he set out to make him human. I liked the idea of the novel, could admire some of the writing, could recognise some of Gregorius’s struggles around love, mortality, and identity, as being things we might all struggle with, but - and there’s a big ‘but’ - I just didn’t enjoy the novel. I found it tediously slow, dry and repetitive, and am afraid I didn’t want to dwell inside Gregorius’s head for a moment longer than necessary. He never became sufficiently real for me, so I felt no investment in him or the novel and was glad to put it down. How did others get on? Will be interested to know.

Book club

This group is for people who like to read a book and discuss it with others. We will choose a book each month from titles suggested by members of the group. We will then return for an on-line discussion at a pre selected date which will be 6 weeks later. Important that we suggest books which are readily available, not too expensive, and not too long.

** Please note that this is a book discussion group. Business posts will not be accepted and members posting these will be removed from the group. SO PLEASE NO ADVERTISING.