adambwriter's review against another edition
3.0
Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet
Final Verdict: 3.0 out of 4.0
YTD: 25
Plot/Story:
3 – Plot/Story is interesting & believable.
Our Lady of the Flowers is existentialism for gay French drag queens. Seriously. The story is narrated by one of its characters, who is retelling the story of his life from prison, except that he is creating the characters and situations in his head (for the most part), and then transplanting personalities he meets in prison to recreate people from his own life. The reader doesn’t really know who the narrator is, except that he’s interacted with these less-than-laudable characters in incredibly intimate ways and possibly his connection to those people is what landed him behind bars. There is a very real pain and longing in this narrator, which comes across in the way he tells his story and by his choice of characters (recreating his mother, for instance, or retelling the story of his first “love”). It was difficult for me to understand the purpose, though, other than a stark portrait of the life of French homosexuals in the 1940s which aided the narrator in adding a certain “spice” to his dull time in prison – much of what he is writing seems to be for his own purpose, to entertain him and to “assist” him. Jean-Paul Sartre called this an “epic of masturbation” for good reason. It is, of course, also about transgression as means to freedom and trans-valuation of morals as means for expression.
Read the full review at www.roofbeamreader.net
Final Verdict: 3.0 out of 4.0
YTD: 25
Plot/Story:
3 – Plot/Story is interesting & believable.
Our Lady of the Flowers is existentialism for gay French drag queens. Seriously. The story is narrated by one of its characters, who is retelling the story of his life from prison, except that he is creating the characters and situations in his head (for the most part), and then transplanting personalities he meets in prison to recreate people from his own life. The reader doesn’t really know who the narrator is, except that he’s interacted with these less-than-laudable characters in incredibly intimate ways and possibly his connection to those people is what landed him behind bars. There is a very real pain and longing in this narrator, which comes across in the way he tells his story and by his choice of characters (recreating his mother, for instance, or retelling the story of his first “love”). It was difficult for me to understand the purpose, though, other than a stark portrait of the life of French homosexuals in the 1940s which aided the narrator in adding a certain “spice” to his dull time in prison – much of what he is writing seems to be for his own purpose, to entertain him and to “assist” him. Jean-Paul Sartre called this an “epic of masturbation” for good reason. It is, of course, also about transgression as means to freedom and trans-valuation of morals as means for expression.
Read the full review at www.roofbeamreader.net
simon666's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Holy faggotry 🤍🕊
galadu's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
casparb's review against another edition
Almost certainly the finest piece of gay erotica I've read this year this is an incredible incredible piece of literature and I'm glad it arrived today. Genet is brilliant, a natural - the first half of this novel is honestly some of the best prose writing I've found. I was comparing this to Miller as I was going along (something of the Parisian and the sordid I expect) and as I said of Miller - there is brilliance, perhaps even prose genius, but it comes in flashes. With Genet it doesn't flash so much as hum throughout the entire piece and yet seems entirely natural. He resists the temptation of prosaic flamboyance and instead gives us unrepentant filth, delicious.
I'll get to more JG. Our Lady exceeded the expectations which even then were high
I'll get to more JG. Our Lady exceeded the expectations which even then were high
raulbime's review
3.0
There are two kinds of novels that I have read so far. The ones that engage the reader from the onset, normally the reader is made fully aware of what's going on (unless there's a mystery or a lead to a denouement) and feels that he/she can trust the narrator (note that the narrator in this instance is the voice in and/or of the story and not necessarily the kind from an audio book) to guide him/her through the story. Then there's the kind of novels that immerse the reader in a sort of strange world created by the writer from the first and the narrator could not care less for his/her reader or their attention spans or their frustrations, going from one time span to the other and from the thoughts of one character to the other without warning or regard.
Our Lady of Flowers falls in the second category, Genet who wrote the story while in prison tells the story of Divine, Darling, Our Lady and various other characters (including himself) in what was the underground scene ,if it may be called so, of 1940s Paris with crooks, drag queens, thieves and murderers.
This book was brilliantly done but as much as I appreciated Genet's imagination and his ability to (re)make a dark vengeful but sweet sort of world with precision and ease, the frustration I faced due to structure and intentional lapses didn't seem worthwhile for my reading experience.
Our Lady of Flowers falls in the second category, Genet who wrote the story while in prison tells the story of Divine, Darling, Our Lady and various other characters (including himself) in what was the underground scene ,if it may be called so, of 1940s Paris with crooks, drag queens, thieves and murderers.
This book was brilliantly done but as much as I appreciated Genet's imagination and his ability to (re)make a dark vengeful but sweet sort of world with precision and ease, the frustration I faced due to structure and intentional lapses didn't seem worthwhile for my reading experience.
aesopsdaddy's review against another edition
3.0
It’s Pride month which means gay Classic time. Genet’s novel is a piece of prison literature; its self-reflexive story told from the perspective of an incarcerated Jean, freely/fluidly floating from character to imagined character, including: a pimp (Darling), a murderer (the titular Lady) and a drag queen (Divine), who takes up the majority of the limelight. The book contains some of the most lyrically beautiful writing I’ve ever read, and I did enjoy the portrait of the queer Parisian underworld, the high camp aesthetic and its Rabelaisian register. Nevertheless…Sartre called this an “epic of masturbation” and, accordingly, I found the rambling, self-indulgent, onanistic style to detract from my own pleasure. It’s plunged me into a bit of a reading slump to be honest.
ivancicamslck's review
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0