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cbendixe's review against another edition
2.0
The first novel in this book, Things: A Story of the Sixties, outlines a 20-something couple in 1960s Paris. They are incredibly materialistic, and the only interesting thing that they really do in the whole book is decide to temporarily move to Tunisia. Which of course they hate. I wish something else of note had happened, because these two characters were pretty crazy (in an interesting way).
I did not finish the second novel, A Man Asleep. The first half describes a college (or maybe grad school?) student's descent into depression. But there is apparently no reason for how the depression comes about, and chemical assistance is never discussed (not that it's always effective, but it might have made this guy more...I don't know, interesting? I know I've used that word too much already in this review, but I'm at a loss--I was really uninterested in this book).
I know there is a lot more to these philosophical novels, and I'm sure that I missed a lot. But for now I'm going to lay off of French novels.
I did not finish the second novel, A Man Asleep. The first half describes a college (or maybe grad school?) student's descent into depression. But there is apparently no reason for how the depression comes about, and chemical assistance is never discussed (not that it's always effective, but it might have made this guy more...I don't know, interesting? I know I've used that word too much already in this review, but I'm at a loss--I was really uninterested in this book).
I know there is a lot more to these philosophical novels, and I'm sure that I missed a lot. But for now I'm going to lay off of French novels.
_carlibri_'s review against another edition
4.0
L'attualità di questo libro è disarmante.
Ed è disarmante sapere anche che è un esordio.
Molto interessante è la prefazione di Andrea Canobbio, che spiega le influenze del Barthes di Miti d'oggi e del Flaubert de L'educazione sentimentale, due testi che mi è venuta voglia di leggere e che, fortunatamente, ho già in libreria.
Il volume non è neanche da considerarsi un vero e proprio romanzo: infatti, molti critici lo hanno contrassegnato come testo sociologico.
E a ragione.
In generale, ho apprezzato tantissimo il pensiero di Perec, il suo modo di leggere il mondo in cui viveva e in cui viviamo. In questo caso, indagando l'attaccamento alle cose, il desiderio viscerale di essere ricchi senza sforzo, il perenne senso di insoddisfazione che caratterizza i due protagonisti, e un po' anche tutti noi.
Chapeau.
Ed è disarmante sapere anche che è un esordio.
Molto interessante è la prefazione di Andrea Canobbio, che spiega le influenze del Barthes di Miti d'oggi e del Flaubert de L'educazione sentimentale, due testi che mi è venuta voglia di leggere e che, fortunatamente, ho già in libreria.
Il volume non è neanche da considerarsi un vero e proprio romanzo: infatti, molti critici lo hanno contrassegnato come testo sociologico.
E a ragione.
In generale, ho apprezzato tantissimo il pensiero di Perec, il suo modo di leggere il mondo in cui viveva e in cui viviamo. In questo caso, indagando l'attaccamento alle cose, il desiderio viscerale di essere ricchi senza sforzo, il perenne senso di insoddisfazione che caratterizza i due protagonisti, e un po' anche tutti noi.
Chapeau.
pino_sabatelli's review against another edition
4.0
I realisti vivono nel presente, i nostalgici nel passato, i visionari nel futuro, i falliti nel condizionale.
spopovic's review against another edition
4.0
J'adore Perec. Ce livre-ci se lit très vite. Sa plume est ici encore d'une richesse remarquable. Cette histoire est finalement assez philosophique et toujours d'actualité. C'est une sorte d'oraison funèbre pour un certain idéalisme très matérialiste. Le genre d'idéal un brin romantique qui supporte difficilement l'épreuve de la réalité. Une lecture essentielle à mon avis.
wordsformandie's review against another edition
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS BOOK! A beautiful and easy read that is buried in overlayering ideas that reflect the way we are taught to consume and never appreciate the “things” we already have in this simple world.
el_book_dragon's review against another edition
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
cmg_'s review
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
jaime00's review against another edition
5.0
His word power is such that its effectiveness upholds even through translation
zoracious's review against another edition
4.0
[Review on Things only - for now:]
Things puts a new spin on the whole "The things you own end up owning you" principle. The couple at the outskirts of this story (I was going to say 'center of this story' but really they are both central and peripheral) at times knowingly buy in to the belief that they are deliberately purchasing things or conducting market research on things knowing they themselves do so with an end to fill a void to provide pleasure and/or status. But at other times, they seem to find themselves lost, unable to find this joy from the objects around them, or to find the right kind of objects to fill their emptiness.
Perec doesn't present his story with any kind of dialogue (unless you count the epilogue). Instead he presents his story as a kind of catalog of description, accounts and inventories of things, people, and activities. It is sometimes tiresome but more often than not a bit absorbing in a social commentary/voyeurism sort of way, and often beautiful and very visual. Probably the only problem I had with his 'message' is that the trip to Sfax is almost a cop-out: Why are we required to leave our country in order to find change or to seek out an answer? He salvages this by suggesting that leaving is just another form of loss that the characters experience.
The book has a taste of optimism but is mostly dreary and heartbreaking. There is beauty to be found, but Jerome and Sylvie seem to discover it only as it is leaving them (or they are leaving it).
There is a lot to discover in this book that make it a worthwhile read, a lot of moments that, even though this was written about the sixties, resonate in our consumerist culture and in our desire to find ourselves through the things we buy and with which we surround ourselves.
Note: I read Things for a class in conjunction with Lipovetsky's Hypermodern Times. Even though neither were written for the other, there is great value to reading them together.
Things puts a new spin on the whole "The things you own end up owning you" principle. The couple at the outskirts of this story (I was going to say 'center of this story' but really they are both central and peripheral) at times knowingly buy in to the belief that they are deliberately purchasing things or conducting market research on things knowing they themselves do so with an end to fill a void to provide pleasure and/or status. But at other times, they seem to find themselves lost, unable to find this joy from the objects around them, or to find the right kind of objects to fill their emptiness.
Perec doesn't present his story with any kind of dialogue (unless you count the epilogue). Instead he presents his story as a kind of catalog of description, accounts and inventories of things, people, and activities. It is sometimes tiresome but more often than not a bit absorbing in a social commentary/voyeurism sort of way, and often beautiful and very visual. Probably the only problem I had with his 'message' is that the trip to Sfax is almost a cop-out: Why are we required to leave our country in order to find change or to seek out an answer? He salvages this by suggesting that leaving is just another form of loss that the characters experience.
The book has a taste of optimism but is mostly dreary and heartbreaking. There is beauty to be found, but Jerome and Sylvie seem to discover it only as it is leaving them (or they are leaving it).
There is a lot to discover in this book that make it a worthwhile read, a lot of moments that, even though this was written about the sixties, resonate in our consumerist culture and in our desire to find ourselves through the things we buy and with which we surround ourselves.
Note: I read Things for a class in conjunction with Lipovetsky's Hypermodern Times. Even though neither were written for the other, there is great value to reading them together.
crystaldeluge's review against another edition
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0