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emmafaye6's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-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
blueyorkie's review against another edition
3.0
Tournier takes his reader along in the meanders of his thought with this novel. I admit, personally, getting lost in all the contradictions raised, in all the inversions mentioned explicitly or not and in all the signs and other symbols that I have no doubt not always been able to decipher but especially which ended up annoying me. The novel's beginning is inviting, attaching the reader to its ambiguous hero, holding both the paedophile ogre and the universal mother. However, my interest withered throughout the reading, when I had the impression of receiving lessons sometimes in history and sometimes in philosophy when Tournier praised the body of boys when everything under his pen had theorized and thus justified. For me, the novel lacks unity, and if I recognize the writing qualities of its author, I would say that he sins by an excess of erudition that he never ceases to display. Therefore, I am far from the rave reviews usually made of this work and only give the relatively average note in my ranking of three stars.
justbill82's review
4.0
A mincing, hulking French pedophile gets caught in the winds of World War 2 and ends up in charge of a Hitler Youth prep school! Hijinx Ensue!
redbluemoon's review against another edition
4.0
A highly symbolic book, really peculiar and original. I never read a book like this carried by this kind of character, a man who makes the reader uncomfortable sometimes, but to whom he grows attached along the book.
A story in the middle of WWII, a tale which becomes more and more powerful until it exploses in the end.
A story in the middle of WWII, a tale which becomes more and more powerful until it exploses in the end.
luluallison's review
A fascinating book that explores appetite, the monstrous appetites of Abel Tiffauges, a grotesque and sympathetic character, who seeks grace and beauty in his world, but all that is beautiful is inverted, almost as a result of the ecstasy it creates. Tiffauges, like the Nazis that carve up the background, the land and the time that sets his private exploration, is trying to build a context, a greater good, a system of sign and symbol to articulate and deify what is in the end after all only an ogres appetite. A wonderful and fascinating book.
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