A review by jasonfurman
Life Form by Amélie Nothomb

4.0

This short novella is a quick and interesting read, although ultimately it does not feel fully successful to me. It largely consists of an exchange of letters between "Amélie Nothomb" and Melvin Mapple, who claims to be a soldier in Iraq. The letters start short and oddly with Mapple saying that only she can understand him, but then they start to get longer as he explains that in an act tantamount to sabotage he and his "buddies" are rapidly gaining weight. He tells her that he imagines that the new 200 pounds in him is a separate person, a woman called Scheherazade, and that he is regularly going through new army uniforms. The letters are interspersed with Nothomb in the first person reflecting on the letters, her letter writing in general, and projecting her naive attitudes towards America, the corn belt, and the Iraq war onto her correspondent--while being aware of the naivety of her views. Eventually we find out the correspondent is not what she thinks but instead of being turned off Nothomb's enthusiasm, interest and caring grows.

I found Life Form to be a page turner, but I kept hoping something more interesting would come of all of it. But still, is an interesting novella about the impact that writing has, obsession, obesity, the European perception of America, and much more.