Reviews

El adversario by Emmanuel Carrère

bea_capuzzi's review against another edition

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3.75

I've read this in French! It was very good, a crazy story I couldn't stop reading.
I kinda wish I had read it in a language I know more because I have the feeling it was also written beautifully but I didn't fully get it. 

clemgntl's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

4.0

theoryofabook's review against another edition

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3.0

How can one human be so fucked up in the head. I was so angry while reading this book because every pages I turned, I thought the lies couldn’t get worse and that men couldn’t get more despicable and yet here we are

janey's review against another edition

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4.0

A quick read, in many ways better than almost all true crime, but also a little disturbing for the way the writer interacts with his subject, although I think it's safe to say that Carrère was not taken in by Romand.

minchiela's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

rcaohn's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

chiaramentechiara's review against another edition

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dark reflective

4.5

chiara_roscio's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

4.5

“L’avversario” è il brillante tentativo di Carrère di raccontare l’orrore perpetrato da Jean-Claude Romand, che nel 1993 assassinò l’intera famiglia, e che fino a quel momento era riuscito a far credere di essere medico e ricercatore per quasi vent’anni. 
Senza mai scadere nel sensazionalismo morboso che spesso accompagna i casi di true crime, Carrère si pone l’obiettivo di spiegarsi, se comprendere non è possibile, quali fossero i “demoni” che devono aver spinto Romand a commettere l’impensabile. Raccontare una storia del genere non è facile: l’autore fa un ottimo lavoro nel ricostruire gradualmente i fatti antecedenti al disastro, mostrando quanto sia facile che una piccola bugia si trasformi in una vita di menzogne. Un castello di carte che condanna il bugiardo alla fuga da questa realtà per rifugiarsi in una vita fittizia, che non può durare per sempre perché i nodi, alla fine, vengono al pettine. Una scrittura pulita e scorrevolissima.

rachelhenrie's review against another edition

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2.5

Je crois que mon cerveau est pourri par tout le true crime qu'il a absorbé dans les dernières années.

J'aurais peut-être simplement du relire The Red Parts de Maggie Nelson.

georgia_brown's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

3.0