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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was a sufficiently engaging work of fiction. Enjoyable to flip through while sitting at restaurants or commuting on the bus. I took two or three very long breaks while reading this book, which definitely made it even more mysterious for me than it is for the average reader as I struggled to recall plots and characters from many months prior. The abundance of locations and street names might make the narrative feel dry and hard to follow at times (unless you happen to be very familiar with the landscape of Paris), but I'm pretty certain that this attention to details was thematically relevant and not just poor writing. It also jumps around in time a lot, often referencing past, present, and future within the span of a single paragraph. This is also a choice that supports its central themes. That said, I think I would have gotten more out of this book if I read up on some of the literary and philosophical concepts that informed the story—Eternal Return, liminal spaces, etc.
This book might be worth revisiting if I ever travel to Paris. I'd like to try walking some of the routes it describes as I feel it might illuminate more meaning in the story. Besides this, I am glad to have finally finished it after 2 years LOL. It was a good casual read. It may be dry, confusing, and even dark at times, but I found the narration just detached enough that I was never too emotionally affected by its contents. It is thematically intriguing, and has a distinct ambience, but it is not overwhelming.
This book might be worth revisiting if I ever travel to Paris. I'd like to try walking some of the routes it describes as I feel it might illuminate more meaning in the story. Besides this, I am glad to have finally finished it after 2 years LOL. It was a good casual read. It may be dry, confusing, and even dark at times, but I found the narration just detached enough that I was never too emotionally affected by its contents. It is thematically intriguing, and has a distinct ambience, but it is not overwhelming.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Alcohol
Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, Grief
As someone who romanticizes the Parisian cafe life of yore, I savored the setting, atmosphere, the cast of characters. And thus followed the unfolding of the tragic mystery with an ominous enthusiasm and homesickness for a time and place I never was.
“Well, sure, I understood. In this life that sometimes seems to be a vast, ill-defined landscape without signposts, amid all of the vanishing lines and the lost horizons, we hope to find reference points, to draw up some sort of land registry so as to shake the impression that we are navigating by chance. So we forge ties, we try to find stability in chance encounters. “
“Well, sure, I understood. In this life that sometimes seems to be a vast, ill-defined landscape without signposts, amid all of the vanishing lines and the lost horizons, we hope to find reference points, to draw up some sort of land registry so as to shake the impression that we are navigating by chance. So we forge ties, we try to find stability in chance encounters. “
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
another "no plot, just vibes" book and i'm totally here for it.
this felt like slipping into a dream, one filled with nostalgia, melancholy, and a quiet yearning for lost moments. Modiano’s writing is so mysterious and unique, so many fleeting encounters and mundane details that suddenly feel sacred, as if they hold the weight of entire lives. there’s also a deep loneliness in the novel, but also a longing for connection, for brushing against strangers and leaving behind ghostly traces.
by the end, i truly felt as as if i had wandered through Paris at night, catching glimpses of stories that vanish the moment you try to grasp them.
(Something about this book makes it seem like a perfect gift)
this felt like slipping into a dream, one filled with nostalgia, melancholy, and a quiet yearning for lost moments. Modiano’s writing is so mysterious and unique, so many fleeting encounters and mundane details that suddenly feel sacred, as if they hold the weight of entire lives. there’s also a deep loneliness in the novel, but also a longing for connection, for brushing against strangers and leaving behind ghostly traces.
by the end, i truly felt as as if i had wandered through Paris at night, catching glimpses of stories that vanish the moment you try to grasp them.
(Something about this book makes it seem like a perfect gift)
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-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
1⭐️
Horrible.
Ambiantada en Francia de los años 60, distintos narradores cuentan la historia de sus vidas y cómo 'ella' les tocó a cada uno.
Demasiado rebuscado, muchas referencias, nombres muy similares, recuerdos vagos, un final predecible, puntos y aparte necesarios que no encontré... podría seguir.
La cosa es que no me ha gustado nada.
La historia gira alrededor de Louki, una joven y su trágica historia. Pero realmente parece un montón de borrones desde distintos puntos de vista, demasiados nombres de calles y sitios, y sinceramente no me interesan lo más mínimo sus vidas.
Siento que ha sido una pérdida de tiempo esta lectura. Estoy muy decepcionada.
Horrible.
Ambiantada en Francia de los años 60, distintos narradores cuentan la historia de sus vidas y cómo 'ella' les tocó a cada uno.
Demasiado rebuscado, muchas referencias, nombres muy similares, recuerdos vagos, un final predecible, puntos y aparte necesarios que no encontré... podría seguir.
La cosa es que no me ha gustado nada.
La historia gira alrededor de Louki, una joven y su trágica historia. Pero realmente parece un montón de borrones desde distintos puntos de vista, demasiados nombres de calles y sitios, y sinceramente no me interesan lo más mínimo sus vidas.
Siento que ha sido una pérdida de tiempo esta lectura. Estoy muy decepcionada.
One young woman, and the different ways she is seen by people in her life. The portrait felt incomplete, as did the characters. Beautifully written, nevertheless, I had even less sense of who she was, than I did at the start.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Reading this book felt like seeing snippits of a 1950s film noir drenched in sepia lighting about the underbelly of Paris, or the ‘neutral zones’ between clear neighborhoods as the book relates. The purpose of the novel seems to be both the sensation of memory and its elusiveness in recollection. Probably will think about it for awhile