Scan barcode
danhowellstan2's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
my year of rest and relaxation but like better
buddhafish's review against another edition
4.0
12th book of 2020. This is my first Perec. The blurb states Things as:
'The story of a young couple who want to enjoy life, but the only way they know how to do so is through ownership of 'things'. Perec's first novel won the Prix Renaudot and became the cult book for a generation.'
Sounds good. I'm particularly interested in the concept of materialism, so I was sold. However, I wasn't expecting the way this book is written. Only several times does Perec mention the couples' names. I would say 80% of the sentences in this book start with 'they'. It's always they did this, they thought that, they will do this, they would do that. There are many, many, many, many list too. Lists of things. Lists of furniture, food, events. The book is very impersonal. You get to know the characters in a way, I suppose, by Perec's incessant telling of them, they like this, they don't like that, but there's no dialogue, technically no scenes either. It's a reported book, and unlike anything I've read before.
However, it isn't bad. In fact, surprisingly, it's good, considering everything I've just said sounds negative. My book copy also has his novel A Man Falls Asleep, but I've separated them on Goodreads so I can give each its own review, and so I can place both in my 1001 Books to Read Before You Die folder as they both appear, and not lumped in as one.
Just one quote today. This is both a good quote and represents the way in which it's written.
On occasions they wished everything would stay the same, not ever move. Then they would just be able to drift. Their life would keep them warm: it would stretch ahead through the months and years without - or almost without - altering, without ever hampering them. It would be but the harmonious sequence of their days and nights, the one almost imperceptibly modulating the other, a never-ending reprise of the same themes, a continuous happiness, a perpetuated enjoyment which no upset, no tragic event, no twist or turn of fate would ever bring into question.'
'The story of a young couple who want to enjoy life, but the only way they know how to do so is through ownership of 'things'. Perec's first novel won the Prix Renaudot and became the cult book for a generation.'
Sounds good. I'm particularly interested in the concept of materialism, so I was sold. However, I wasn't expecting the way this book is written. Only several times does Perec mention the couples' names. I would say 80% of the sentences in this book start with 'they'. It's always they did this, they thought that, they will do this, they would do that. There are many, many, many, many list too. Lists of things. Lists of furniture, food, events. The book is very impersonal. You get to know the characters in a way, I suppose, by Perec's incessant telling of them, they like this, they don't like that, but there's no dialogue, technically no scenes either. It's a reported book, and unlike anything I've read before.
However, it isn't bad. In fact, surprisingly, it's good, considering everything I've just said sounds negative. My book copy also has his novel A Man Falls Asleep, but I've separated them on Goodreads so I can give each its own review, and so I can place both in my 1001 Books to Read Before You Die folder as they both appear, and not lumped in as one.
Just one quote today. This is both a good quote and represents the way in which it's written.
On occasions they wished everything would stay the same, not ever move. Then they would just be able to drift. Their life would keep them warm: it would stretch ahead through the months and years without - or almost without - altering, without ever hampering them. It would be but the harmonious sequence of their days and nights, the one almost imperceptibly modulating the other, a never-ending reprise of the same themes, a continuous happiness, a perpetuated enjoyment which no upset, no tragic event, no twist or turn of fate would ever bring into question.'
buddhafish's review against another edition
4.0
schumacher's review
2.0
Can't bring myself to finish this book because it feels like it's actively harming my health. It reminds me too much of paranoid thought spirals I would get into when I smoked too much weed in college.
mina_bovary's review against another edition
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
an interesting book about the consumer society but maybe too cynical for me
tania_varallo's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
maivugon's review against another edition
3.0
This reads like a very long complaint about consumerist society.
Update juillet 2021: j'ai un peu envie de relire ce roman qui m'avait laissée sur ma faim il y a maintenant quelques années grâce au bac français 2021. Avec du recul, c'était très intéressant comme critique du capitalisme. Mais il faut que je le lise en VO cette fois car la traduction que j'ai lue et aussi la seule que j'ai eue est affreusement mauvaise.
Update juillet 2021: j'ai un peu envie de relire ce roman qui m'avait laissée sur ma faim il y a maintenant quelques années grâce au bac français 2021. Avec du recul, c'était très intéressant comme critique du capitalisme. Mais il faut que je le lise en VO cette fois car la traduction que j'ai lue et aussi la seule que j'ai eue est affreusement mauvaise.
akirathelemur's review
5.0
A slow accumulation of details that, in the span of just over a hundred pages, manages to be utterly devastating. Though 50 years old, this text feels deeply relevant to our times.