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nicfavic23's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
adam613's review
4.0
"I was captivated by the idea of a struggle with no stakes other than my own satisfaction. I was experimenting without any restrictions, embarking upon the basics of a new language that no one had taught me; I was the master and the student, but the apprenticeship of this new science was not a form of autodidacticism. Rather, I was discovering rules as I went along, establishing what had always existed without any basic precepts. Each night I was giving a speech in this unknown, unformulated language, unaware that I was deviating from a specific practice that so many others had followed before me."
"Had I ever been capable of loving without suffering? And what was I suffering from, exactly?"
The Oulipo is a loosely associated group of French writers and mathematicians that seek out new potentials for literature using constrained writing techniques. What makes Anne Garréta's work so unique is the absence of pronouns to describe A***, the object of the narrator's affection and exploring this innovative method makes Shinx a memorable feminist, LGBT/queer piece of literature with many universal themes. What this does is leave plenty of room for the reader to form their own image of A*** and play with the language we've grown more than attached to.
"Back then my strategy was to lose myself in order to find myself, which today I understand to be a mysticism; however, I had been deluding myself for so long that once I finally came to that realization, my life had already dissolved into waiting vainly for a death that was equally vain."
Written in 1986, and translated to English for the first time in 2015, Sphinx is the tale of the life of a relationship that starts in the clubs and cabarets of after-hours Paris. In the second half of this book, Anne Garréta crushed my soul and left me feeling all sorts of existential dread over concerns of the heart of the narrator as well as my own. Constructing ephemeral passages, Sphinx sliced me open with the narrator's vulnerability and writing prowess of beautifully crafted prose. Don't let the idea of experimental literature throw you off, Sphinx is accessible and its bursts of ecstasy and bouts of melancholy will leave you shattered and left to pick up the pieces.
"I am assailed by indifference. I had thought that I would never be able to grow tired of loving, but one night I woke to an absence of love and felt no torture: it was the absence of this torture that truly scared me, that tortured me."
"Had I ever been capable of loving without suffering? And what was I suffering from, exactly?"
The Oulipo is a loosely associated group of French writers and mathematicians that seek out new potentials for literature using constrained writing techniques. What makes Anne Garréta's work so unique is the absence of pronouns to describe A***, the object of the narrator's affection and exploring this innovative method makes Shinx a memorable feminist, LGBT/queer piece of literature with many universal themes. What this does is leave plenty of room for the reader to form their own image of A*** and play with the language we've grown more than attached to.
"Back then my strategy was to lose myself in order to find myself, which today I understand to be a mysticism; however, I had been deluding myself for so long that once I finally came to that realization, my life had already dissolved into waiting vainly for a death that was equally vain."
Written in 1986, and translated to English for the first time in 2015, Sphinx is the tale of the life of a relationship that starts in the clubs and cabarets of after-hours Paris. In the second half of this book, Anne Garréta crushed my soul and left me feeling all sorts of existential dread over concerns of the heart of the narrator as well as my own. Constructing ephemeral passages, Sphinx sliced me open with the narrator's vulnerability and writing prowess of beautifully crafted prose. Don't let the idea of experimental literature throw you off, Sphinx is accessible and its bursts of ecstasy and bouts of melancholy will leave you shattered and left to pick up the pieces.
"I am assailed by indifference. I had thought that I would never be able to grow tired of loving, but one night I woke to an absence of love and felt no torture: it was the absence of this torture that truly scared me, that tortured me."
pearloz's review
3.0
Interesting novel on love, the Narrator and their love interest's gender are never revealed but it still read as an authentic and fraught relationship (albeit all too short). Their issues, while vague and somewhat generic, were grander than standard "I'm a girl and you're a boy and sometimes we don't understand each other because of that" arguments, and leaned toward the existential: if I let you love me, can I let others love me? Well, there was one cliche argument early on ("But I don't want to ruin our friendship!"), but that was skipped pretty quickly.
The book has a breezy whirlwind quality, and lots of time jumps that, at times, made the book feel like it was merely an exercise for the author. "Three years later, I was..." Chapter V sort of redeemed it--a brief, solemn bit with the love interest's mother.
The book has a breezy whirlwind quality, and lots of time jumps that, at times, made the book feel like it was merely an exercise for the author. "Three years later, I was..." Chapter V sort of redeemed it--a brief, solemn bit with the love interest's mother.
paperknotbooks's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This is a goodie!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Violence, Racism, Murder, and Excrement
emilyknott's review
4.0
kinda a slay, hurt my brain at points but i liked the concept of a gender less love story and the inclusion of connection and impacts of romance towards the end <333
sofiaceleste's review
5.0
Beautiful and fascinating. Garreta captures the giddy, dizzying disorientation of being introduced into a new world of nightlife and identity with enormous grace. I felt a vivid connection with the emotions, high and low, of the first part, which made the second part hit that much harder. Uniquely among Oulipo novels, Sphinx uses its self-imposed rules to great effect rather than as a restriction: the ambiguity and foregrounding of queerness imparted by the linguistic choices of the book give it new dimensionality that elevates the narrative and works in harmony with its own goals. It's also very interesting to examine the French original vs. the English translation - as Ramadan's reflections show, the difference in how the conceit of the novel works in English and French is marked and illustrative of lessons many of us can stand to learn in our approach to our own language.
audreyvm's review
5.0
This astonishing novel hooked me on the first page. It tells the story of a love affair and it does so using a unique constraint (best kept a surprise, if at all possible) that has informed every aspect of the language, both in the original French and in translation, at which Emma Ramadan has done an amazing job. It was only on reading the translator's notes at the end that I realised just how tied to the story the language really is. I'm going to reread it this weekend to experience it all over again, as I got through it the first time in less than 24 hours.
nerdynursereads's review
4.0
We discuss this live on TBR Lowdown podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2ciTv-x7vU