Reviews

Zazie nel metró by Raymond Queneau, Roland Barthes, Franco Fortini, Louis Malle, Giacomo Magrini

catdad77a45's review against another edition

3.0

Not sure how I made it to my ripe old age with never having read Queneau's best known work, nor viewing Malle's iconic film made from the same ... but both were a mite disappointing - although this IS one of the rare cases when the film MIGHT be slightly better than the book. At least, I enjoyed Malle's visuals more than Queneau's verse, which even in such a short work got repetitious and tedious - and often incomprehensible. More clever than actually witty or LOL funny, Queneau's verbal pyrotechnics have been likened to Joyce, but I would say his anarchistic Punch & Judy-ish antics bear a much clearer debt to Alfred Jarry. And though I take all of Zazie's incessant questioning over Uncle Gabriel's alleged 'hormosessuality' (sic) as more or less a sign of the time in which it was written, it still slightly grates. Glad I finally read it, but have a feeling it will all be a blur within a week.

PS ... I can see how much the film was a direct influence on Jeunet in his "Amelie'...

debnanceatreaderbuzz's review against another edition

2.0

It is hard to read a book when you do not like the main character. At all.

And what if the book is written in some sort of odd Ulysses-ish manner? Not inviting.

Only two things kept me reading along: (1) the story is set in (ahhh!) Paris and (2) the book is on our list of 1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up.

So there. I finished it. I didn’t like it. But I finished it.

janhicks's review against another edition

4.0

This is a hoot of a book. Surreal like Flann O'Brien is surreal. The word play is fun and gives the prose its rhythm. Zazie is a feisty potty-mouth who stirs up the weekend of her uncle and his friends. On her account they encounter all kinds of rum characters, and largely take it in their stride. Good fun, all of it.

babayagaofficial's review against another edition

P.G. Wodehouse-esque slapstick, trashy detective novel dialogue, gender trouble, and verbose philosophy. How much did I love this book? A lot.

ditarlatoni's review against another edition

2.0

Having wanted to read this book for a long time I sadly found it disappointing when finally given a copy.

I adore "Exercises In Style", another book by Raymond Queneau that is similarly playful with language. However whereas that takes a simple idea and extrapolates it beautifully "Zazie In The Metro" seems laboured and self-satisfied in comparison. The neologisms are just annoying, and the wafer-thin plot doesn't help. Also there is far too little of Zazie in the actual narrative, which is a shame as it her impatient, doesn't-stand-on-ceremony or suffer-fools-gladly attitude that are the best bits of it.

I don't know whether it is the translation or the age of this book that turned me off, and indeed I am aware that if I were capable of reading it in the original French it might jump off the page at me. But I can't so I won't so that's about it then.

pao986's review

4.0

4 e 1/2

" Parigi è solo un sogno, Gabriel è solo un'ombra (incantevole), Zazie il sogno di un'ombra (o di un incubo) e tutta questa storia il sogno di un sogno, l'ombra di un'ombra".

encomiabile il lavoro compiuto dal Fortini nel tradurre e adattare questo romanzo!