Reviews

This book was really something … incredible writing. It’s a book about books, about literature, authors and life. It describes itself best when one of the characters states to the other that ‘a great book is impossible to describe’. So many themes are explored and you could feel the love the author had for each of the characters. A part of it delves into the impossible task that is being an African author who wants to be accepted by French literature. It explores family ties and what belonging means. At some points I thought it took itself (or at least it took literature) slightly too seriously but the author also ends up criticising this train of thought. Basically, this was a delicious read. My only point of contention is how jarring some of his descriptions of sex with black women were. It seemed objectifying especially when you compare them to the scenes with his ex and how respectful and full of love they felt. In any case, this was a great great book.

philineselavy's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

thealphabetcat's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious reflective

4.5

read this for uni. Especially the beginning immediately drew me in, it loses some momentum in the middle but overall a very impressive and thoughtful work. Reflective of literature and what it means to write.

yunyugie3's review against another edition

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4.0

J'attendais beaucoup de ce livre et je ne suis pas déçue, l'histoire est prenante, on a envie d'en savoir plus, la plume est crue et elle ne s'attarde pas sur des détails futiles. Ce qui fait l'originalité du livre est sa narration, on passe sans cesse de narrateur en narrateur sans que cela gène la lecture, la polyphonie y est fluide et maitrisée, les changements de temporalité également.
En somme, un livre à lire

ivsa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

colormecaro's review against another edition

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I was intrigued by the description of topics covered, all relevant and interesting. I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn’t get over the exhausting writing style and on top of that, quite early on I was graced with a poorly written, uncomfortable male gaze sex scene.

About the writing style
Endless pretentious descriptions with too many adjectives and comparisons. The sentences drone on and on, without saying much. I’ve read many reviews saying how lyrical this book is, but I can’t see it. It might be because I am reading the English translation, and it is better in its original. But goodness, the English writing is exhausting.

As for the NSFW scenes…
The first chapter already includes a side note about a woman, and how the narrator “hopes to one day be asphyxiated by her breasts”. I thought that was creeps and should have trusted my gut but hey, let’s give the author a few more pages to prove himself. Boy, I shouldn’t have.

Soon an after, we get the displeasure of a sex scene which in itself I don’t mind at all. But I struggle with sex scenes writtten by men, and this was a perfect example of why that is the case. An older woman that the narrator idolises just up and invites him to have sex because he said he liked her breasts and is already hard. He later includes a description of her body. While you can tell he’s trying to be “lyrical” and trying to intelligently write about a woman’s body, it just comes across creepy. The entire scene is a prime example of the most uncomfortable male gaze. Somewhat ironically, the woman in the scene criticises the narrator for being a writer and thinking about how he was writing a sex scene already in his head and not giving in to the moment. And maybe the author has never had sex without doing just that, and that’s why it feels so lacking.

I flipped through the pages a bit and quickly came across another similar scene and that made me put down the book for good. Include as many sex scenes as you want, but please make them good.

Content Warnings

taysa_gzd's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

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