_mjmp_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
4.0
sendlasagna's review
2.0
The first story I published was like this, with a smidgen more of plot. This feels like Literature, the experiments of the writer's salon sound cool tho, like the book without the letter 'e'. Reads like a man too.
dajna's review against another edition
2.0
Non avevo capito esattamente a cosa sarei andata incontro. Forse nel 1975 era un esercizio originale, ma oggi non l'ho trovato così interessante, seppure mi è piaciuto fare il voyeur con Perec. Diciamo che mi è sembrato di leggere un capitolo, un estratto di un libro, e non un'opera indipendente. Però non è spiacevole, visto anche la brevità del libro.
jon_eb's review
informative
3.0
Decided to go with a short Perec in preparation for my read of Life later this year, widely regarded as his masterpiece. An Attempt At Exhausting a Place in Paris is Perec's approach at capturing the overlooked in the everyday or rather what he called the 'Infraordinary". He decided to camp by a cafe window for three days between 10am and 5pm, and to record everything that crossed his field of vision; the occasional street buses, passerbys, children holding balloons, pigeons who visits the same spot everyday. While the book mostly consists of an occasional one or two line remark on things, it still wonderfully highlights the workings of Perec's mind, and is a foray into understanding the mind and the affinities of this brilliant brilliant writer.
ardinareads's review
3.0
in this 55 page book, georges perec sits at a cafe at Place Saint-Sulpice in Paris and records everything he sees in front of him. “what happens when nothing happens,” perec records, in basically a list, each bus that passes, the type and color of cars driving by, people and the way they move and what they carry and who they’re with. “why count the buses? probably because theyre recognizable and regular: they cut up time, they punctuate the background noise; ultimately, they’re foreseeable. the rest seems random, improbable, anarchic.” As the book continues, he “grows tired of buses” and stops recording each bus, which makes the writing feel like slightly less of a list. Some of the writing becomes more contemplative though still just as mundane: “what difference is there between a driver who parks on the first go and another who only manages to do so after several minutes of laborious efforts?” occasionally, perec includes some humor: “a little girl, flanked by her parents (or by her kidnappers) is weeping.”
I picked this book up because I was intrigued by the premise of writing about the ordinariness of life. Rather than a thriller or a mystery filled with drama and suspense, I wanted to appreciate the day-to-day. I kind of appreciated just how boring Perec’s record of daily life was because it felt like kind of true. yet, i realized as i read it that my perception of the “infraordinary” includes a bit more marvel that comes with not knowing what you might come across next. for example, at the getting off bus stop on my way home from work at sunrise, looking up and being shocked by a bright orange and pink sky in between the skyscrapers downtown. or the woman I saw at trader joe’s dressed in a purple from head to toe, her jacket made up of flowers, her skirt rimmed with those same matching flowers, and the strangers i watched pass her by with a smile or a compliment. Or the most perfectly white fluffy cloud I saw on the horizon while going on a walk with my friend Erin that made us reminisce on childhood when we imagined how it would feel to lay on a cloud. those little surprises tucked in between all of the buses and cars and people that make no impression are what feel special about the ordinariness of life.
Another thing I didn’t like was the way in which perec called all asians “japanese,” something I’ve noticed is common in european cultures. Like do they not have a word for “asian” so they just take one country and use it as the descriptor? no I know they have a word for it so they’re just being racist!