The Other Story by Tatiana de Rosnay

The Other Story Reviews

• 
  Jan Pelosi

  Tatiana de Rosnay really missed the mark on this book. I have only read one of her other books (Sarah's Key, which was fabulous) so I was expecting something of that caliber. Boy was I wrong. There was not one single likeable character in the book. There really wasn't a story line. And that last part where she threw in the Costa Concordia accident (under a different name of course) was laughable. What was the point? This book was a joke. She should be completely ashamed of having her name on the cover.
• 
  Tea Jovanović

  Tja... i jeste ona i nije ona... Ako niste dosad ništa njeno čitali ne bih preporučila da krenete s ovom knjigom... Ali pisci ne mogu uvek da pišu odlične knjige, poneka i omane... Čekam sledeću, nadam se bolju od ove... :)
• 
  Beth

  I was not particularly impressed with this book. It took nearly two-thirds of it before I felt much interest in the main character, Nicholas Duhemel, aka Nicolas Kolt. He is an author who managed to have a best selling first novel and let it go to his head. Fam and some fortune made him a pompous, self-absorbed bore. He also became afflicted with writer's block which prevented him from producing a promised second book.
  
  Toward the end of the novel, deRosnay gives some back-story to Nicholas that adds a dimension to his character, but I felt it was too little too late.
  
  This book is nowhere near as well done as her earlier works.
• 
  Julie

  Nicolas is a jerk – a pompous egomaniac who has driven away all of his friends with his arrogance. But he wasn’t always this way. It wasn’t until the publication of his novel, its unprecedented success (and an Oscar winning movie adaptation), and his own international fame swept him off his feet that he ruined everything good in his life. Now the world (and his publisher) is clamoring for more from him, so Nicolas spends a weekend at an exclusive Italian resort to try to find motivation for his second book.
  
  I love stories about writers and their creative process, but what is offered here is not insight into Nicolas’s genius. As his weekend unfolds in the present tense, the narrative flashes back to the circumstances that inspired his first novel, The Envelope. Without giving too much away about this story line, I’ll just say that he had to uncover a mystery about his father 12 years after his death, and that turns into the basis of his book. But during his weekend in Italy, the repercussions of his recent behavior finally hit him full in the face. Not only will Nicolas have the holiday to reflect on the events that led to the demise of his reputation and personal life, he will have a chance to redeem himself. Despite focusing on an often unsavory character, I enjoyed the way Nicolas’s story was presented, the way his past unfolded, and how he came to terms with his own inadequacies.
  
  I received a copy of this book via the Amazon Vine program.
  
• 
  Chidambarakumari

  This book shouldn't have been written. There was absolutely no plot, no character development and nothing really happens for most of the book.
  I forced myself to read it hoping the mystery around Nicolas Kolt's father's disappearance would be solved, but even that doesn't happen.
  Are the readers supposed to assume that whatever the 'author Nicolas' wrote for 'his book' is the same ending for his story too?
  I cannot believe this is by the author of Sarah's Key. The prose was not captivating, at all.
  
  The book is dedicated to Tatiana's Russian grandmother whose surname 'Koltchine' is used in the book. So is this a memoir within a story within a story?
  The lack of plot development or dislikable characters would have been forgiven if she had just written it as a memoir, as her journey. But dang it, it isn't a memoir.
  
  Don't read it.
• 
  Maggie

  For as much as I loved Sarah's Key - I hated 'The Other Story'. The author seems to infer that her main character became a jerk when his accidental first novel became a world wide sensation and fame went to his head. I rather think, he was always a bit of a jerk just without the wherewithal to really act on his baser instincts.
  
  I kept reading wondering what the point or message of this book is, I'm not sure I ever found it. Nicholas Kolt is an odious main character frittering away his success and questionable talent in pursuit of fame. One might infer that he finally finds epiphany in the books final chapters, instead I think he finds only a lifeline that will allow him to continue on the path he's found to be most comfortable.
• 
  Erika Robuck

  I read this novel in a weekend, and was captivated by the protagonist, Nicolas Kolt, a highly flawed but very real man. The Other Story perfectly captures the life of the writer, social media addiction, the end of a relationship, and the beginning of self-realization. Tatiana de Rosnay has a way of sketching the atmosphere of a room through keen insights into the characters populating it, reminiscent of F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the denouement of the novel is moving and redemptive.
  
  The Other Story is very different from de Rosnay's other novels, and every bit as good. I will read anything she writes because I know it will be outstanding. Highly recommended.
• 
  Alline

  Oh my goodness. This is, quite possibly, the worst book I have ever finished. Absolutely AWFUL! I kept reading because I enjoyed "Sarah's Key" so much, and wanted to give the author the benefit of the doubt. I kept waiting (and waiting) for the much referred-to "secret" that would blow the story out of the water. Instead there was poorly written prose, annoying characters with zero depth, and an incongruous plot that was just plain stupid. Really, really stupid. I am so incredibly disappointed. Save yourself - do not read this!
• 
  Robyn

  I had been trying to find a book that gave me more of a reaction than simply "meh." I found such in this title; unfortunately, for this author, my reaction was not so positive.
  
  Nicolas is an author, whose debut novel was a literary sensation, propelling him into unexpected stardom and fame. Sadly, however, we see that fame has turned Nicolas into a jerk. Throughout the novel, set over three days in an exclusive Italian resort, we are shown much of a pompous d-bag he truly is (e.g. checking his social media accounts constantly to see what others are saying about him, disbelief that a famous editor did not recognize him, etc.). Even worse, we spend most of the novel waiting for something to happen beyond watching Nicolas sit around with his dick in his hands (literally), whining about his imagined angst, and pretending that he's writing another novel.
  
  Perhaps we are meant to feel some sort of empathy for Nicolas, whose supposedly amazing novel is a fictionalized account of learning that his father is not who Nico thought he was (born in Russia to a teenage mother, possibly a spy before his mysterious death). The chapters alternate between present-day at the hoity-toity resort and a few years ago as Nico unravels the mystery of his father's life. For those readers waiting for the great reveal about the father, don't hold your breath.
  
  The bulk of the story is how Nico's ego and hubris are destroying his life. And, like every epic Greek tragedy, he must undergo some sort redemption at the end of the story. Sadly, his intended redemption (rescuing people off a sinking ship...seriously) feels just another way in which Nico remains firmly the center of his own world. He fails to save one woman and suddenly he is plunged into self-despair at his own failure. Even worse (again), this supposed emotional wound is what releases the writer's block and compels him to write what we are meant to believe is his second astonishingly brilliant and emotive novel. So, the moral, apparently, is that true writers create their work from a deeply wounded and raw place, a literal catharsis or recovery. Perhaps this little writing lesson would have been better affected had the author (via Nico) cataloged the compulsive writing habits of very well-known authors earlier in the novel...those writers who worked, toiled, labored to write, rather than waiting for the Greek tragic muse to stir them.
  
  And, to top it all off, the novel's title "The Other Story"....what is the other story?!?! Damned if I know.
• 
  Leo

  Decided to DNF this at 70 % but I think I got far enough to still get it a rating. Don't think Tatiana de Rosnay is the author for me
• 
  Marcy

  Sarah's Key was one of my favorite books! The Other Story is such a disappointment! A writer of one book was made into an award winning movie, rocketing Nicholas, the writer, to instant fame. Nicholas' father drowned when he was a boy. Why should an extraordinary swimmer drown? When Nicholas had to get his father's birth certificate, he found out that his father was born with another name and that he had been adopted. Nicholas never knew what job his father had. There were so many secrets surrounding his father. He spent years of his young life trying to figure out his father's secrets. Nicholas tried to address his father's secrets and solve his own questions about his father's past and death in his first book. HIs personal experience and grief over his father's served Nicholas well for the royalties and endless admiration he received from strangers all over the world.
  
  The reader never finds out about Nicholas' father secrets. Most of the book describes Nicholas' egotistic and narcissistic character when fame goes to his head. I found it personally disgusting when Nicholas would use his cell phone to receive and write lewd sexual messages to a woman he met once at one of his book signings. The book dragged on and bored me to tears.
  
  Throughout most of the book, Nicholas is dismayed that he cannot figure out what to write for his second novel. He lies to everyone, including his promoter, that he is nearly done with his second novel. His friends can no longer bear the man Nicholas has become. They berate him and de-friend him, one by one.
  
  Only at the very end of the book does an event occur that will change Nicholas' fortune, (and endless misfortune), as the reader had to read about over and over again. Again, I am so disappointed in this read. I read to the end only because I admire Tatiana de Rosnay...
• 
  Toby Welch

  This book was recommended to me by a librarian. I had never heard of Tatiana de Rosnay and had never read Sarah's Key, which I think was my saving grace. Just seeing the reviews here stunned me as I was so taken back at how many people responded so negatively to this book. I can't help but wonder if most of that is because of preconceived notions of what a de Rosnay book should be like? If you approach this with a 100% open mind and no expectations, this is a fantastic read! de Rosnay did a phenomenal job of crafting a main character that is so flawed that you can't help but be absorbed by his journey.
• 
  Katherine Bates

  The last quarter of this book was actually good. First 3/4 was painful reading about a self absorbed author with nothing going for him. Sarah's key is one of my all time favorite books, so I was expecting more from this author.
• 
  Sara Jesus

  Uma narrativa que mistura a cultura de Hollywood e a literatura universal.
• 
  Bam cooks the books ;-)

  #2015 Reading Challenge--Week 20: a book at the bottom of my to-read list.
  
  I added this book to my to-read list shortly after it was published. I think it languished there because it had received so many one and two-star reviews, mostly because it was being compared so unfavorably to Tatiana de Rosnay’s other books such as Sarah’s Key.
  
  I have to go against the stream and say I actually enjoyed this book. De Rosnay has a captivating writing style that drew me into the storylines she intertwines so successfully. Although the main character, Nicolas Duhamel, was quite often an insufferable jerk, I have to admit, he was still interesting to me and I found myself cutting him some slack because he was only twenty-something and still trying to find himself through many challenging, life-changing situations.
  
  Nicolas Duhamel was eleven when his father, Theodore Duhamel, failed to return from a day sailing at sea. No body was ever found and after a year, he was officially presumed dead. Another blow falls ten years later when Nicolas is required to provide documentation about his family’s places of birth when he applies for a French passport. When he obtains these papers, he is shocked to learn that his father was born Fiodor Koltchine in Russia to an unwed mother who was only fifteen at the time, then later Theodore was adopted by his French stepfather, Duhamel. As Nicolas digs further into his father’s past, an idea for a book comes to him. Practically overnight, the book becomes a bestseller and an award-winning film is made from it, plunging Nicolas (now using the pen name Kolt) into the intoxicatingly heady world of the rich and famous. It is all too much too fast for the twenty-nine-year old and he becomes insufferable, alienating friends and family.
  
  As the story begins, Nicolas is spending three days at an exclusive resort on an Italian island with his current girlfriend, where supposedly he is writing his second novel. Instead, everything blows up in his face and circumstances contrive to make him realize what he has become.
  
  Finally, I have to mention that another aspect of the book I enjoyed were all the fascinating tidbits about authors and the act of writing.
  
• 
  Toni Palma

  Having just completed this novel, I'm now here on Goodreads perusing the ratings. I was shocked to discover some pretty harsh ones. While I too did not like Nicholas's character initially, he felt very real to me - a young man, who is still very much a boy emotionally, overwhelmed by his success and acting out on a lot of his Id impulses, rather than getting to work on the novel he's promised to so many people. As a writer, I appreciated Nicholas's struggles as a writer and how he would want to avoid delving into a well of emotion again. How easy it is to be seduced by the superficial draws of modern life that we all get lost in from time to time (some of us addicted, like Nicholas). I think de Rosnay created a fully fleshed out character who develops and changes. I think the secondary characters are also interesting. Beyond the character and the story, which unfolds deliciously, de Rosnay's prose are crisp and pretty, without being overly pretty.
• 
  Carla

  The author bio indicates she's written ten books. The only other book I've read of this author was Sarah's Key, a novel I loved. Pity the poor reader who uses that novel as a means of deciding whether to read another of hers, like I did.
  This book is about a writer, VERY self-absorbed who writes a huge international successful novel about his family's secret. Flash back to his finding out about that secret, which we really don't find out until the end, and it's not a bombshell. By the time you find out, you really don't care.
  This character is not well fleshed out at all. He has NO redeeming qualities. The amount of sexual thinking and "doing" is very overdone and unnecessary!
  I can't even believe this book was by the same author, and she's definitely riding on the coattails of Sarah's Key. It was almost as if this book was written by another person.
  I can't believe I finished it. I have no idea why I bothered to finish it. Deplorable writing, and story.
• 
  Joanne

  This author's books can be very uneven. Like most of the reading world, I loved Sarah's Key. A Secret Kept wasn't very interesting to me, and The House I Loved was captivating.
  
  This book was less captivating. I found the main character Nicolas to be unsympathetic, with his Tweets, Facebook updates and pissy little need to be constantly recognized and therefore validated. I was onside with his old friends in that way. I thought the book had a few neat twists, such as the revelations about the Russian family. The bit with the cruise ship was, to say the least, contrived.
  
  Overall, not a bad summer read, but don't expect much emotional impact.
• 
  Jeanette (Ms. Feisty)

  Could not finish. HORRIBLY bad writing. I see I'm not alone in this opinion, as the current average rating on GR is 2.71.
• 
  Parri

  This is my fourth Tatiana de Rosnay book and, honestly, my least favorite. It's very slow compared to her other books. The entire book is a character's quest for information that he really never gets and how he fills in the holes in his own mystery and turns it into a novel. While midway through the book, I was finally caught up in the intrigue of the protagonist's heritage, there is very little action until the last 15 or so pages.
  
  This book took place completely in the protagonist's mind, and he's not a very likeable character. He's an egomaniac one-hit wonder of an author, who is resting on the laurels of the best-selling book he wrote four years prior to the story's onset. He is pompous, arrogant, materialistic ... fame has turned him into a grown-up brat who has alienated everyone he once loved. And throughout the book, despite several people berating him for his selfish, wasteful ways and lack of thoughtfulness, there is very little growth on his part. ... until the end, which is the literary equivalent of "the butler did it."
  
  Something happens in the last 20 or so pages that we are led to believe will change his life for the better. But it's not very believable. The character risks his own life in a way I don't believe he would. It's like de Rosnay tried to make him into a superhero in the 11th hour -- someone who steps up to the plat and saves both strangers and his own soul. The ending seems tacked on by an author who couldn't figure out how to resolve her semi lack of plot. I found this book disappointing.
• 
  Ignacio Rebolledo

  La verdad es que no sé como plasmar lo que me transmitió este libro. Lo intentaré.
  
  Primero que todo tienen que saber que es un libro que para muchas personas será un libro más en sus vidas. La narrativa no es una maravilla, los personajes no son muy queridos y sin duda tiene algunos elementos bien falsos dentro de la historia, además de ser poco acertados, como el final.
  
  Quizá se pregunten entonces ¿por qué le pongo cinco estrellas? pues porque es esos libros que te enseñan un poco más de ti mismo. Fue un espejo y me hizo cuestionarme cosas que no estaban escritas en el papel, pero me dio las referencias para pensarlo. Me gustó el libro porque me llegó en cierto sentido. Me hizo darme cuenta del modo de vida de algunos cercanos y de mi mismo. Tinta rusa no está pensado para hacerte reflexionar pero por alguna razón lo logró conmigo. Quizá a otra persona no le provoque nada y lo comprenderé cien por ciento. Estoy consciente de sus carencias. Pero la sensación que me hizo vivir muy pocos libros lo han logrado, por no decir el único.
  
  Si no me hubiera transmitido ese mensaje que sigue dando vuelta en mi cabeza pues la verdad le habría puesto tres estrellas. Quizá fue el momento indicado para mi, no lo sé. Puede que en un futuro lo lea y lo encuentre pésimo. Solo el tiempo lo dirá.
  
  Si recomiendo este libro pues la verdad es que si. Pero te digo desde ya que te encontrarás con un libro del montón. Es rápido, ligero y hasta cómico.
  Las cinco estrellas solo las entenderé yo. O eso creo.
  
  
• 
  Katie

  De Rosnay's novel describes the events of Nicholas that led to his first novel which became a best seller, and how he became engrossed in the fame that it brought to him.
  
  I did not care for the format of this book. The novel centered around that Nicholas had already published, filmed, and was now in writers-block (i.e. laziness) in developing his second novel. His character was selfish and arrogant. The novel also time-jumped a lot describing Nicholas' life events that he based his writing upon as well as current day. After reading the novel, I would have preferred the story to be centered around his discovery that led him to writing his book as well as the demise of his relationship.
  
  Please do not base De Rosnay's writing off of this novel. Her other novels are beautifully researched and written.
• 
  Amber Jones

  Sarah's Key, the debut novel of Tatiana de Rosnay, was an amazing book. I LOVED it. When I saw that a newer book of hers was available to download and listen to I thought I was pretty darn lucky.
  
  I feel terrible saying this, but I think I know why the audio was available to download. I think that might be part of the problem with my feelings about this book. It seems that the book is one continuous story that goes back and forth in time with no clear definition of when you are in the past or the present.
  
  My other issue with this book was the narcissistic personality of the main character. What a prick. Could not stand the main character and in fact, I still don't even understand entirely what the story was about.
  
  I was waiting for it to all come together and it fell flat. I'm extremely disappointed in this book.
• 
  Amanda

  **edited: I changed it to 1 star. Maybe I'm just feeling less than generous tonight, but after discussing the book today....it really was pretty bad.**
  Rounding up from 1.5 starts because I really hate giving 1 star ratings. After an excruciatingly slow start, an intriguing family secret is revealed, making me think the book was going to actually go somewhere. But no. Absolutely. Nothing. Happens. For almost the entire book. The main character--who is immensely unlikable--spends the entire time whining about how hard it is to be him. He gets recognized everywhere and it's oh-so-burdensome....or he doesn't get recognized at all, and don't these people KNOW who he IS?!?! It's just so hard to be him. Then at the VERY end, something huge and completely unrelated to the story happens to lead him change his ways. The intriguing family secret? Barely touched again. Boring as hell.
• 
  Lydia

  This story is boring -- it is a re hasse of several plots for other stories and uses recent news stories as a base for the ending. There where two quotes that made me take note:…creativity…can not be willed…imagination produces creativity; creativity comes when it comes and is beyond one’s personal control.and "when there is no corpus,...no coffin, no undertaker, no grave, no mass(service), no obituary;It is hard to accept that someone is dead."
  
  This is the second book from her I've read will not read again.
• 
  Frenchorchidea

  Un tres tres tres bon roman! J'ai passe un tres bon moment!
• 
  Stephanie

  I’m wayyy behind in posting my reviews.
  
  I’ve been curious for a while about novels written by Tatiana de Rosnay and selected THE OTHER STORY as a good place to begin.
  
  The character Nicholas Duchamel is what I would call .. ‘a nice piece of work’. An individual who represents why it’s not a great idea to for any of us .. to take ourselves too seriously.
  
  In my estimation, Duchamel is also an individual who eventually reaps what he sows .. and through experience, aptly represents why SUCCESS isn’t a good fit for everyone.
  
  He is a man caught in a horrendous cycle of bad habit, wrong choices, and vanity which eventually
  lead to downward spirals everywhere he turns.
  
  I found myself eager to reach the ending to learn
  IF he would find his way .. find his truth.
  He did. But sometimes truth is ugly .. and often not
  what we expect.
  
  I offer the author ‘a thumbs up’ for a well-written tale.
  Just a bit heavy for my reading tastes.
• 
  Debbie

  I hate to rate a book this low, especially by this particular author. But…it is not memorable. The characters are not memorable. Nicholas is a young man who wrote a book which became a bestseller around the world with a movie to boot, and since then he is only pretending to be writing his second book, because….he is tired, bored, too busy having silly meaningless affairs, sexting, and/or reminiscing about his past, and trying to deal with his father’s disappearance many years before. As far as I can fathom, the family saga was never solved. I suppose that means that the mystery is ripe for the picking, to reimagine a new story, a new reality, a better family history, blah blah blah. I made myself finish it because I respect this author, but this book just did not work. It did not gel.
  1 1/2 stars rounded to 2 because of the author.
• 
  Janet

  I only finished this to see if it was possibly so bad all the way through, and should not have wasted my time. Absolutely loved Sara's Key, so not sure what happened with this book. Perhaps de Rosnay had writer's block herself and tried to put it into words, but it was terrible. A tedious book about a horrible author who has had great success with his first novel, but is unable to write a second. Few redeeming characteristics and little growth, boring and off putting, Sorry I finished it, but do read Sara's Key if you haven't.