Scan barcode
elliebasta's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Racism
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, and Death of parent
mcribsy13's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Her writing is like good black and white film. Silver and fluttering it shows the death of childhood in its complicated simplicity. Destruction shouldnt feel so effortless.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, and Colonisation
emisbooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
the writing was nice and i liked the story, but the constant jumping in timeline, tense and perspective was quite frustrating. decent quick read
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Racism, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Sexual content
myopicmars's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
3.0
difficult to read, but written beautifully.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Racism
sourl's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Xenophobia
wipeout's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, War, and Classism
Minor: Miscarriage
bj66rk's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.75
"our first confidants, though the word seems excessive, are our lovers"
— i would give this a 4 but after thinking it over i couldnt bring myself to do that and settled on a 3.75 LOL.. this book gets a bit hard to follow along as it continues and i found myself grazing over long paragraphs after losing interest. i do enjoy the collection of memories and switches between povs as the narrator reflects on snippets of her childhood, watching the young girl from her adult eyes and the eyes of the reader.
her relationship with her adult lover is strange. i feel for her with her relationship with him and her mother, how it felt like she clinged onto him because of her upbringing and societal belief that she as a young girl was nothing but a sexual object. you question whether it was love or merely just desire needing to be met—many things the lover did made me feel ill. its reminiscent of a lolita type relationship, but told from the pov of dolores.
the racism and whiteness is something i as a poc had trouble coming to terms with, but nonetheless it was a quick book i couldn't put down.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Racism
james1star's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I admit I did build this book in my mind and expectations as one I was going to love. It’s about a doomed love with the longing that comes with it in the form of French auto-fiction but ummm… what was this?!? Hugely disappointing and honestly a very unpleasant read.
The book follows our narrator (basically a younger Duras) as she begins a love affair with an older Chinese man during her time in French Indochina (Vietnam) and how this develops. This is one part of the story where the relationship with her mother and strangely abusive (why?) older brother takes up more of the ‘The Lover’ then the actual lover parts (okay…) and we essentially learn who she is and her place in the family dynamic. There’s sort of more to the story but I don’t care for it.
The book is messy, there’s inconsistent time jumps and quite a lot of what’s being said just doesn’t make much sense - I felt like I had to go over passages time again to pinpoint what’s going on. The Chinese man is sometimes called by the mc and others as ‘a’ or ‘the’ Chinese which yes I get the time but if he’s someone you once loved or at least cared for wouldn’t you make the tiny effort to address him properly? No? Okay then. He’s also written/portrayed as weak and slightly cowardly in the way he won’t stand up to his father which is yeah great Asian representation in your book! This is bad but what I thought was just nope ewww dis-gus-tang was how later in the book Duras becomes this ‘child’ character and as I quote ‘He takes her as he would his own child. He’s take his own child the same way.’ (p. 107 of the harper perennial ed) which is just vile, like I cannot comprehend how or why her mind went there?!? It’s depraved and to want this to happen just nopeeeee.
The saving grace and why this book isn’t a 1 star is the writing is nice, I mean it’s French so this is somewhat the standard now. It’s lyrical and flows but the actual content is confusing and very frustrating at times. I do also appreciate the way it portrays the French-Viennese relations and also the way women were viewed and expected to do things.
On the whole, very underwhelming and it’s put me off reading more by her for a long time. Would most definitely not recommend this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Pedophilia
Minor: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Colonisation
cultbyproxy's review against another edition
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
“We’re united in a fundamental shame at having to live.”
“I’ve never written, though I thought I wrote, never loved, though I thought I loved, never done anything but wait outside the closed door.”
“It’s while it’s being lived that life is immortal, while it’s still alive.”
“My memory of men is never lit up and illuminated like my memory of women.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Racism
Moderate: Addiction, Physical abuse, and Grief
Minor: Death, Drug use, Xenophobia, and War
empsea's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Pedophilia, Racism, and Death of parent