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sharkybookshelf's review against another edition
3.0
An anthropology student moves to a village in western France, attempting to capture the essence of rural life for his thesis by interviewing locals - but the Parisian doesn’t realise the omnipresence of Death in these lands, once bastions of war and revolution…
Frankly, this was mostly a tedious read. Well, a tedium sandwich, since the first 100ish pages and last 50ish pages were good. But everything in between dragged - the Buddhist Wheel of Life philosophy is interesting, but it was explored in such minute detail, with rundowns of the past lives of so many people, that it rapidly became painful.
The past lives did provide an avenue to touch on the history of France - there’s a focus on the Huguenots, but we jump all through history, so a basic awareness of France’s history is certainly helpful. The area in which this is set has had a bloody history, and the idea of exploring it in this way could have been fascinating, but the execution was, you guessed it, tedious.
However, Énard did perfectly capture the current rural-urban divide, uppity Parisians and their superiority towards the rest of the country and the desolation of France’s dying villages - being left behind and outright overlooked by the political elites in Paris is an extremely contentious issue in rural France, one I see whenever I visit my family (and when the elections roll around). Naturally, I thoroughly enjoyed Énard’s poking fun at Parisians.
The titular banquet (which takes quite some time to get to) was filled with laborious amounts of detail around past lives, etc., but was also a love letter to the incredible variety of French regional foods and wines. It left me hungry - I adored all the food descriptions (probably not one for the vegetarians or vegans, by the way). It wasn’t nearly enough to compensate for having to wade through those 350ish middle pages of tedium though.
A tedious, juxtaposed exploration of France’s increasingly inflammatory rural-city divide and central-western France’s history through a Buddhist philosophical lens.
alixf889's review against another edition
funny
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Well written/translated. I enjoyed the parts that focused on the various townsfolk and the gravediggers gathering. David, the probable protagonist, sucked which makes sense because without fail every David I’ve met has sucked.
theasdertt's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.5
hunterandrew's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
If this book were divided into five parts I would have only enjoyed 2 and half-enjoyed one. The “field notes” format sections were a great read as an anthropology guy, but I was lost in so much of the rest of the story. They were trying to tell too much story without really developing any of it meaningfully. Circle of lives was a cool concept. Actual guild description of the celebration was interesting, if hard to follow.
kirstenfindlay's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
emily_madcharo's review against another edition
challenging
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
emiliaclew's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Je ne comprenais pas ce livre, voilà le problème. Je ne sais pas à quoi sers le thème de réincarnation, qui est abandonnée à la fin du livre. Je ne vois pas la mérite de David, qui me paraît ennuyeux, hautain, et inaccompli.
J’ai trouvé un petit plaisir dans les histoires courtes entre les gros chapitres, mais tout le reste ne me va pas.
J’ai trouvé un petit plaisir dans les histoires courtes entre les gros chapitres, mais tout le reste ne me va pas.