Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
How to rate this novel, with its beautiful, labyrinthine sentences? This is like what if Lolita told the story, plus racism, but the man still has power from age and money. Duras's story and narration are slippery. What is fiction? It reads exactly like memoir. This is a book about a young girl that adults force into doing their will, then everyone excuses themselves because everybody gets some pleasure or money out of it. I can't read this as a love story. It reads to me as a story of multiple abuses.
ETA after a stranger scolded me on the internet: all honor and power to Duras and her treatment of her younger, fictionalized self. She claims agency, choice, and refuses the label of victim, even as the text is suffused with abuse. And her empathy for the Chinese girl who marries the lover is striking.
AND YET: I refuse to condone or pardon or in any way the MANY adults, (the lover, the school, the mother and brothers) who were part of the intersecting power differentials that took advantage of and used a poor (i.e., not moneyed) 15yogirl for their own ends. Yes, different time, different place, blah, blah, blah. An adult man having sex with a 15yo girl is wrong, full stop. Any "well, buts" make me wince, because they remind me of Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, Jeffrey Epstein, and whatever politician was just quoted as saying he thought the age of consent should be lowered.
Duras uses all her writerly skills to foreground the strength and agency, and weave the abuse in threads of subtext. But the importance of the former doesn't efface the latter. They're all there, which is what makes this book a heady, fascinating, disturbing read. But not, IMO, a romantic one.
ETA after a stranger scolded me on the internet: all honor and power to Duras and her treatment of her younger, fictionalized self. She claims agency, choice, and refuses the label of victim, even as the text is suffused with abuse. And her empathy for the Chinese girl who marries the lover is striking.
AND YET: I refuse to condone or pardon or in any way the MANY adults, (the lover, the school, the mother and brothers) who were part of the intersecting power differentials that took advantage of and used a poor (i.e., not moneyed) 15yogirl for their own ends. Yes, different time, different place, blah, blah, blah. An adult man having sex with a 15yo girl is wrong, full stop. Any "well, buts" make me wince, because they remind me of Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, Jeffrey Epstein, and whatever politician was just quoted as saying he thought the age of consent should be lowered.
Duras uses all her writerly skills to foreground the strength and agency, and weave the abuse in threads of subtext. But the importance of the former doesn't efface the latter. They're all there, which is what makes this book a heady, fascinating, disturbing read. But not, IMO, a romantic one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Colonisation
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
I just cannot get past the graphic racism and unacknowledged colonialism in this book. Some of the racism is so bad that it turned my stomach, and really distressed me to read, and the protagonist seems completely unaware of her role as a coloniser.
There are too many other great books waiting for me in the world to continue with this.
There are too many other great books waiting for me in the world to continue with this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual content, Colonisation
Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual violence, Slavery
Minor: Death, Death of parent
3.5/5? Maybe? I’m pretty torn about this book. On the one hand, the writing was exceptional. I also think it was interesting to look at love through the lens of colonial power! But then they did the whole underage girl thing and I became uncomfortable. I recognize that it’s all a part of the commentary on power imbalance— she may be younger (a minor), but he isn’t white, and therefore she holds greater power in the relationship— but I still felt uncomfortable reading it. I don’t think this was a “love story” but rather a story that had a love affair within it. I enjoyed reading but would not pick up again. Beautiful prose though! I liked the fluctuation in narrative voice. Some people might hate it because it’s confusing but I thought it was wonderfully complex.
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
yikes
Ni siquiera sé qué decir. Me ha gustado muchísimo y ahora quiero que lo lean mis amigas. He leído algunas cosas muy malas sobre que es un horror y mi duda es… ¿acaso la autora no lo sabe? Quiero decir, no sé quién leyendo esto puede verlo como una *recomendación*. Desde la primera línea está claro que no lo es. En fin va a ser duro encontrar algo similar.
Ravaged, mad, unto death, family, instability, death,
"I thought I loved, never done anything but wait outside the closed door."
A French girl from a poor family is selected for love by a Chinese man from a wealthy family. He cannot give up his father and family and money to be with her. She cannot believe his love real. A brother like a war zone. Mother's chronic depression. Her servant's ruthless loyalty. A martyred younger brother. Outposts. Outside. Supreme pleasure as fit to die. Slow descriptions of flashes of depression.
"I went mad in full possession of my senses."
"Told her that it was as before, that he still loves her, he could never stop loving her, that he'd love her until death."
"I thought I loved, never done anything but wait outside the closed door."
A French girl from a poor family is selected for love by a Chinese man from a wealthy family. He cannot give up his father and family and money to be with her. She cannot believe his love real. A brother like a war zone. Mother's chronic depression. Her servant's ruthless loyalty. A martyred younger brother. Outposts. Outside. Supreme pleasure as fit to die. Slow descriptions of flashes of depression.
"I went mad in full possession of my senses."
"Told her that it was as before, that he still loves her, he could never stop loving her, that he'd love her until death."
dark
sad
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced