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3.37 AVERAGE
3.37 AVERAGE
In this semi-fictional memoir, translated by Mark Polizzotti, Breton wanders through Paris and meets Nadja—a strange, ethereal woman who feels more like a vision than a person. She’s magnetic, spooky, maybe not fully real. A walking poem. “I am the soul in limbo.”
Breton becomes completely obsessed: “She is there, moving through the streets like a question that cannot be answered.”
The two drift through the city, having intense conversations—talking ghosts and symbols—until suddenly she disappears into an asylum. Breton is left unraveling, caught between love, madness, and memory.
If you want a book that reads like a dream you half remember in the morning, pick this up.
Breton becomes completely obsessed: “She is there, moving through the streets like a question that cannot be answered.”
The two drift through the city, having intense conversations—talking ghosts and symbols—until suddenly she disappears into an asylum. Breton is left unraveling, caught between love, madness, and memory.
If you want a book that reads like a dream you half remember in the morning, pick this up.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
overbearingly pretentious and laughably indulgent. the parts with Nadja were the most interesting and she was unfortunately only in the book for less than half of it. obviously a good intro to surrealism as a movement but keep Breton's personal history in mind while reading as it is, to say the least, elucidating.
9/15/24 reread: upon revisiting this book I was delighted to find that I loved it the second time around. I definitely think that knowing what to expect made it much more enjoyable to read and I even grew to appreciate most of the aspects of the book that I disliked before.
“Beauty will be CONVULSIVE or will not be at all.”
“…neither dynamic nor static, I see beauty as I have seen you.”
9/15/24 reread: upon revisiting this book I was delighted to find that I loved it the second time around. I definitely think that knowing what to expect made it much more enjoyable to read and I even grew to appreciate most of the aspects of the book that I disliked before.
“Beauty will be CONVULSIVE or will not be at all.”
“…neither dynamic nor static, I see beauty as I have seen you.”
oh to be an esoteric muse/artist/genius living in paris
Looking back this read as more of an antiFreudian promarxism manifesto than it did a romance novel
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Debut extremement long. 71 pages de niaiseries de promenage à paris sans but lol. Par contre wow que stai impressionant la grosse transgression surrealiste. J'ai vraiment aimé ce bout.
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
