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3.0 AVERAGE
3.0 AVERAGE
"Upon spying the red and yellow of the McDonald's, I immediately knew that the spell was broken. My eyes blurred with tears: for the moment, I was saved. McDonald's was my true home."
Me is a very celebrated literary novel but I Could Not do it
I only finished it because it was so short but like....... this could have been a short story.........
I picked up Me knowing that 1) the book opens with a guy pulling the famous "ore da" phone scam (saying "it's me" and letting the elderly person on the other end assume you're some kind of relative) on an old lady. After that, some wacky stuff happens
I assumed........ crime? But nope! Instead, after claiming someone else's identity, everyone starts treating our protagonist like he really is that other guy, and when he returns home he finds that someone else has replaced him
The rest of the book is just exploring that wacky, surreal narrative about loss of selfhood
Kind of psychological maybe.........??? Basically at first, the protagonist embraces all his other selves, hating people who are not Mes. as time goes on, the Mes come to revile and hate each other. ultimately, the boundaries of the self are redefined, and the protagonist rebuilds society or whatever
Anyway I read this whole book with an attitude of "Okay, and...?"
People don't really act like this LOL which I know is not the point but!! What is the point??
I'm sure it's all a statement on society or whatever
If I really stretched I could possibly analyze what it is in terms of social conformity etc. etc.
The technical skill of the writer is not bad! All the creepy parts are properly creepy
But I don't think I really got anything out of it
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Maravilla. Igual que la película de Satoshi Miki inspirada en esto... no, qué digo, ¡mejor que la película! jaja una alegoría surrealista y loca sobre la pérdida de la identidad y sus consecuencias que además en Japón pues tiene todo el sentido del mundo que se reflexione sobre ello. Me vuela la cabeza esta historia y fue un gusto descubrir que la novela va todavía un bastante más allá... De esas para filosofar jaja, se las recomiendo.
This book is misleading. It most definitely does not do what it says on the tin. The reader goes in thinking it will be some fast-paced thriller (with possible sci-fi elements) based on a popular phone scam in Japan. What the reader gets instead is an opaque and concept-heavy tale about identity, a sense of self, and standardisation of society.
I found it tedious. The main character discovers there is another him who could (and does) easily take his place and no one would be the wiser. Initially this discovery excites him, especially when he finds a couple more “ME’s” and they form a circle of perfect understanding. Eventually of course, this endless self-replication of his own self makes him (them?) hostile towards each other. I suppose the moral here was that only by finding our true, unique selves can we form a healthy community. Maybe. Or maybe there was no moral at all.
There were some interesting passages around the relationships between parents and their children, with the former wanting the latter to fit a certain mould they had in mind for them, disregarding their children’s own identities, and thus making the parents susceptible to being scammed by impostors.
This novel was ultimately unsatisfying, because there was no way for me to relate to this amorphous blob of a main character. He was never much of a person, more of a walking concept. Although, I do like how a lot of the book took place in McDonald’s – the perfect, endlessly replicating symbol of uniformity.
I found it tedious. The main character discovers there is another him who could (and does) easily take his place and no one would be the wiser. Initially this discovery excites him, especially when he finds a couple more “ME’s” and they form a circle of perfect understanding. Eventually of course, this endless self-replication of his own self makes him (them?) hostile towards each other. I suppose the moral here was that only by finding our true, unique selves can we form a healthy community. Maybe. Or maybe there was no moral at all.
There were some interesting passages around the relationships between parents and their children, with the former wanting the latter to fit a certain mould they had in mind for them, disregarding their children’s own identities, and thus making the parents susceptible to being scammed by impostors.
This novel was ultimately unsatisfying, because there was no way for me to relate to this amorphous blob of a main character. He was never much of a person, more of a walking concept. Although, I do like how a lot of the book took place in McDonald’s – the perfect, endlessly replicating symbol of uniformity.
The last two chapters is what makes it worth four stars. But you have to go through all the others, and that was the damndest of chores.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes