Reviews

What did I just read? I don't know if I liked this book or if it completely baffled me. But it was definitely nothing I could have expected.

Is this... fantasy? Is it absurd literature? All I know is that I felt I was simultaneously in a dream and in a nightmare. It was horrific in part, completely humorous, absurd to the stars, sad occasionally. Boris Vian also made use of language you think you understand, but the words are completely invented and bring a touch of hilarity to what is essentially a tragic love story.

I chose to interpret this novel as a metaphor for young relationships and what happens to them after the initial romance phase is gone. Some choose to fight and stay by each other's site (as Colin and Chloe do), others are swallowed by vice and hardship (much like Chick and Alise). Happiness is not a given in Vian's nightmarish world, but he dissects the psychology behind love, coupled or casual, and how it is affected by wealth or lack thereof, obsession, addiction, sickness.

In Vian's novel, the space becomes a character in itself, interfering with the lives of people or being affected by them. Colin's apartment is a living animal, cuddly and carefree when its inhabitants are so, disintegrating as the lives of Colin and Chloe take a bad turn. The world is initially lovely, taken right out of a futuristic picture, but it develops into this harrowing place where charming things turn dark and destructive. Magic becomes corruption. Sweetness becomes pungency.

The author filled his world with tastes and sounds. Music is made and can produce lovely and colorful cocktails. People are songs. The food is gorgeous (albeit with a touch of absurdity). Smells accompany the characters at every step, and we are also smelling, tasting and hearing, along with them. The universe is alive and mesmerizing to the point where I became hungry or really really drew back because of the cloying smell of the hundreds of flowers surrounding Chloe.

The novel also feels cartoonish, like watching a movie which suddenly becomes and animation (one particular episode of Lucifer comes to mind, for reference). It enhances the absurdity of the whole story, to witness skating rink accidents or weird remorseless murders. It reminds me, somewhat, of Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass".

I'm still not very sure if I liked it, but it was definitely hypnotic and for that, Mess. Vian, I applaud you.

anagrelle's review against another edition

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2.0

Je pensais que j’allais adorer. J’ai pas accroché et ça m’a saoulé. Je comprends pourquoi il est génial et l’univers créé est vraiment intéressant à plusieurs niveaux mais j’ai vraiment pas réussi à apprécier ma lecture :(

borumi's review against another edition

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4.0

Wow. This novel started off as one of those dreamy paintings of Marc Chagall where the people seem to take wings and float up in the rainbow and marzipan-scented air just to land a kiss on the lover's cheek. But then, after the ominous shortcut through the copper mine, this turns into a grotesquely surreal painting reminiscent of Dali. It had its mildly sharp witted stabs at the capitalist society in the beginning but in the end it becomes as inhumane as a butcher's knife slicing everyone into a pile of flesh like a painting of Francis Bacon.
Like the rose on the missile rejected and stained with blood, the romantic poetry becomes sullen with reality that is even more surreal than the fantasy of love.
I have been wondering why the title of the movie became Mood Indigo. Indigo is the deepest blue and Mood Indigo is Duke Ellington's jazz standard. On reading the book I felt the jazzy beat that pulse throughout the pianocktail and biglemoi but ended up feeling the blues hidden beneath the luxurious facade. It's extremely difficult to explain this synesthetic and surreal work in mere words. I think it would be better to express it in the taste or fragrance of a fantastic cocktail with a bitter aftertaste that may leave a terrible hangover afterwards.