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patsaintsfan's review against another edition
1.0
What did I just read? I must have missed something with this one. Sigh.
dissendiumnox's review against another edition
3.0
C'est mon tout premier Modiano, prix Nobel de littérature. Je ne savais pas tellement à quoi m'attendre car le résumé de la quatrième est très lacunaire (c'est une citation), et que ma mère (à qui j'ai volé mon exemplaire) m'a expliqué que ses romans se lisaient comme une promenade mémorielle à travers Paris. Et ça me donnait envie.
J'ai un avis mitigé finalement. Je reconnais le brio de son écriture, la sensibilité de son histoire. C'est beau, ça se déguste en effet. C'est très court, on peut le lire en un week-end, sous un plaid, au coin du feu. C'est doux-amer et plein de belles images. Il sait rendre l'atmosphère parisienne comme personne.
Mais je n'ai pas été touchée par son histoire et ses pérégrinations. Certains passages m'ont perdu, sont-ce des hallucinations ou de réelles rencontres ? Je suppose que c'est voulu, mais malgré la beauté de l'écriture et de l'histoire, ça m'a laissé de marbre. Je pense qu'il faut parfois lire certains romans à un moment T de notre vie pour réellement l'apprécier. Je me dit que c'est le cas pour celui-ci.
J'ai un avis mitigé finalement. Je reconnais le brio de son écriture, la sensibilité de son histoire. C'est beau, ça se déguste en effet. C'est très court, on peut le lire en un week-end, sous un plaid, au coin du feu. C'est doux-amer et plein de belles images. Il sait rendre l'atmosphère parisienne comme personne.
Mais je n'ai pas été touchée par son histoire et ses pérégrinations. Certains passages m'ont perdu, sont-ce des hallucinations ou de réelles rencontres ? Je suppose que c'est voulu, mais malgré la beauté de l'écriture et de l'histoire, ça m'a laissé de marbre. Je pense qu'il faut parfois lire certains romans à un moment T de notre vie pour réellement l'apprécier. Je me dit que c'est le cas pour celui-ci.
galachevaillier's review against another edition
3.0
L'écriture et le ton sont très intéressants mais ce livre est très frustrant car il ne donne que peu de réponses aux questions qu'il soulève.
siham's review against another edition
3.0
Un jour quelqu'un devra m'expliquer le processus de selection du prix Nobel.
En madame mouton qui se respecte j'ai choisis ce livre obnubilée par le sticker "Nobel de littérature". 148 pages plus tard j'étais au bord de la crise d’épilepsie à force de rouler mes yeux à chaque page.
Histoire sans queue ni tête, récit bancal, écriture simplet et des chapitres qui se suivent et se ressemblent (chacun commençant impérativement par la sonnerie du téléphone).
Un livre niais aux airs d'aigle.
En madame mouton qui se respecte j'ai choisis ce livre obnubilée par le sticker "Nobel de littérature". 148 pages plus tard j'étais au bord de la crise d’épilepsie à force de rouler mes yeux à chaque page.
Histoire sans queue ni tête, récit bancal, écriture simplet et des chapitres qui se suivent et se ressemblent (chacun commençant impérativement par la sonnerie du téléphone).
Un livre niais aux airs d'aigle.
danni_faith's review against another edition
5.0
If I could give this book six stars I would. This book is EVERYTHING I love in a novel.
silvianotsylvia's review against another edition
3.0
This book has a special atmosphere that you may find haunts you some days later after you have finished it. As I am not familiarised with Modiano's writing at all, for me at times it was difficult to keep up. However, I believe now, after some time has passed, that what makes this book special is the ambiguity of it all, the way borders seem to erase themselves, no matter their nature, the way everything vague and unexplainable is cherished in this book.
maccymacd's review against another edition
2.0
Started off very interesting and rather gripping, but then changed to become slightly dull and confusing. I have no doubt that Modiano is a great writer, and can set an atmospheric scene, but can he keep the momentum up throughout the book? For such a short novella, I found that on this occasion I lost interest. The idea of a mysterious man honing in on an author who lives alone in his apartment under the pretence of being a fan is rather eerie, but this eerieness becomes silly by the time we reach the end.
carolwolverine's review against another edition
4.0
Primer libro que leo del autor y me ha dejado con buen sabor de boca, se me ha hecho corto la manera que tiene de escribir me ha gustado mucho.
christina_with_ch's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
jdscott50's review against another edition
4.0
We are often our own archeologist. We try to decipher and interpret artifacts that have happened in our past in order to determine an event. It is made up of who we are. There are, however, strong reasons why these items have been long buried, but we remember too late.
John Darangue receives a mysterious phone call one afternoon. A stranger is searching for the man Darangue used in one of his early novels. While it seems innocuous, the author is filled with a deep dread of the person and his associate. It does not feel like some random event, but a purposeful threat. When others press him to remember the character, he realizes he has a sort of amnesia about his first book. He uncovers the reason why he wrote it. As he excavates his own past he discovers his own motivations and clues to his own identity.
Modiano's novel gives a wonderful noir air to it that is both hypnotic and hard to put down. Each interaction plunges the main character deeper into himself. Most of the early interactions become red herrings. In the end, it would seem that the entire exercise is a way for the author to explain himself and his technique. It is a way of explaining himself and why he does what he does. It is this part that is the most fascinating told with the most beautiful and insightful prose.
Favorite passages
"...he suddenly found himself confronted with certain details of his life, but reflected in a distorted mirror with those disjointed details that pursue you on nights when you have a temperature." P59
He had never understood why anyone should want to put someone who had mattered to them in a novel. Once that person had drifted into a novel in much the same way as one might walk through a mirror, he escaped from you forever. He had never existed in real life. He had been reduced to nothingness. P76
"...children never ask themselves any questions. Many years afterward, we attempt to solve puzzles that were not mysteries at the time and we try to decipher half-obliterated letters from a language that is too old and whose alphabet we don't even know about. P 124
John Darangue receives a mysterious phone call one afternoon. A stranger is searching for the man Darangue used in one of his early novels. While it seems innocuous, the author is filled with a deep dread of the person and his associate. It does not feel like some random event, but a purposeful threat. When others press him to remember the character, he realizes he has a sort of amnesia about his first book. He uncovers the reason why he wrote it. As he excavates his own past he discovers his own motivations and clues to his own identity.
Modiano's novel gives a wonderful noir air to it that is both hypnotic and hard to put down. Each interaction plunges the main character deeper into himself. Most of the early interactions become red herrings. In the end, it would seem that the entire exercise is a way for the author to explain himself and his technique. It is a way of explaining himself and why he does what he does. It is this part that is the most fascinating told with the most beautiful and insightful prose.
Favorite passages
"...he suddenly found himself confronted with certain details of his life, but reflected in a distorted mirror with those disjointed details that pursue you on nights when you have a temperature." P59
He had never understood why anyone should want to put someone who had mattered to them in a novel. Once that person had drifted into a novel in much the same way as one might walk through a mirror, he escaped from you forever. He had never existed in real life. He had been reduced to nothingness. P76
"...children never ask themselves any questions. Many years afterward, we attempt to solve puzzles that were not mysteries at the time and we try to decipher half-obliterated letters from a language that is too old and whose alphabet we don't even know about. P 124