Reviews

Mon coeur à l'étroit by Marie NDiaye

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dreams_of_leander's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious slow-paced

4.0

valealle23's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

i have no idea what to feel about this book. first off nadia is so insufferable. at first i agreed w her, why was she being punished? but she doesn’t realize her arrogance and vanity which makes her so unlikeable. as much as i didn’t like nadia this book was very well written. i felt the paranoia and doubt in every page. although it’s never directly stated what makes nadia different, it becomes obvious that it’s her shame for where she comes from and for what other people do that she doesn’t believe is right. this judgement is what sets her apart from others, even though she hasn’t really done anything wrong. i like the ending of the book, though, even tho seeing ange and corrina was super weird? i’m left w so many questions like wtf was that wound and what was in nadia and who tf is noget, but ig that’s part of the book. the characters are unlikeable but the book draws you in anyways. still wtf but good

rouge_red's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

An odd, unhinged reading experience for me. I've never read through a book where I started off feeling sympathetic for our main character, yet turned on her many times later. I'm glad I pushed through, though the book is more vague than I liked. It's interesting to me how NDiaye decided to write Nadia, who is an unreliable character through and through. And one of the worst people I've been in the head of- racist, miserly, greedy, abusive, etc. The text is certainly claustrophobic and uncertain in turns; in fact you never quite know what Nadia's deal is except she has a lot of internalized *insert -ism*. An unpleasant woman, but quite fascinating nonetheless. Didn't end up loving this one, but really glad I pushed through a book I might have otherwise DNF'd.

mimooo's review against another edition

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5.0

terrifying and surreal, an unrelenting portrait of decay, shame, and trauma……. possibly the most unlikeable, fucked up, and pathetic narrator ever who is gruesomely racist fatphobic self hating and narcissistic and thereby perfectly exposes the worst in bourgeois self delusion…… would be a fire horror movie. and also would be rewarded by a second read but do i have the stomach for it omfg. absolutely nutty descriptions of food, witchcraft, demonic birth, and hellish labyrinths in a calm detached tone….. also what the fuck happened i honestly think she was in “purgatory”and entered heaven at the end but who the fuck knows. echoes of the scary castle and aimless journeying in Anna Kavan’s Ice . and the masks???? very strong case presented here for immediately becoming vegetarian, calling your mom, never visiting a gynecologist, and watching daytime TV to save your body and mind from the demon forces at work on our mortal souls

jimmylorunning's review against another edition

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4.0

Amazing book, very different from [b:Ladivine|26025503|Ladivine|Marie NDiaye|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1452099110l/26025503._SX50_.jpg|24338602]. A sort of allegory where what's being allegorized could be many different things. It's powerful enough that it's not just an allegory though, there's something universal in here, primal. What impressed me most was how realistic the emotional world of each character was, even while the manifestations of that in the book's physical world were often surreal and strange. And because we are reading from Nadia's perspective, we don't figure out many of these character's motivations until later. Much is hidden from us that slowly gets revealed. And as it's revealed, the world that is portrayed becomes much more relatable, even understandable along some strange logic.