A review by thoreautigliano
Last Words from Montmartre by Qiu Miaojin
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is an incredibly difficult book, difficult in the ways that people are difficult. Told through a series of letters, which we are told can be read in any order, the book details what I would call a breakdown.
Our main narrator, Zoe, is going through some really messy feelings, a lot of them at startingly speed and varying levels of coherency. Overall, I liked it. There is a lot going on within it, good luck piecing together a full picture of things, but what makes it so engaging is how real so much of it feels. She is talking through so much, gender, sexuality, love, death, responsibility; the kind of things you think about when you're in your 20s. A lot of that circles the proverbial drain, coming in and out of focus, shifting across borders in logic. Like I said it's really messy, but a lot of that works towards establishing an overall mood, and it is one that I can find myself sympathizing with and relating to throughout. It is not an easy read for a lot of those reasons, also because it is much looser in its construction, but it has a really intense impact nonetheless.
Our main narrator, Zoe, is going through some really messy feelings, a lot of them at startingly speed and varying levels of coherency. Overall, I liked it. There is a lot going on within it, good luck piecing together a full picture of things, but what makes it so engaging is how real so much of it feels. She is talking through so much, gender, sexuality, love, death, responsibility; the kind of things you think about when you're in your 20s. A lot of that circles the proverbial drain, coming in and out of focus, shifting across borders in logic. Like I said it's really messy, but a lot of that works towards establishing an overall mood, and it is one that I can find myself sympathizing with and relating to throughout. It is not an easy read for a lot of those reasons, also because it is much looser in its construction, but it has a really intense impact nonetheless.