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raulbime's review
"What could be crueler than good things coming too late, when the worst possible thing had happened?"
By the time I was done reading this book I was confused and frustrated. So I decided to take a day, now turned two days, to let it sit and soak in. Certainly one of those books that confirms the redundancy of stars as a measure to convey reading experience and so I won’t be rating it in that way.
The story, though titled Ladivine, is centred on Clarice, née Malinka, and her family. Malinka was born to a Black woman who worked as a domestic labourer. Her father was a white man she has never known and who she never meets. Ashamed of her origin, and her mother, she disentangles herself from her, renounces her, going as far as telling a schoolmate that her mother is in fact her servant; a word she comes to use almost exclusively in her thoughts towards her. Her appearance allows her to pass as white. Soon she breaks free from her mother as a teenager and renames herself Clarice, and visits Ladivine–that is the name of her mother–periodically while her mother who suffers from this treatment laps happily at these small crumbs of acknowledgement. A tacit agreement between them emerges where neither acknowledges that one neglects the other. Even after she becomes married and has a child of her own, a daughter who she named after her mother (Ladivine), she keeps her mother's existence away from her new family.
The only time she ever recognizes her mother to another is in her middle-age, after she's been divorced and is alone, to her lover Freddy Moliger, and the tragedy central to the story ensues.
The most brilliant part of this story is how part of the information in the paragraph above is gleaned by the reader. The writer doesn't state explicitly the elder Ladivine's race, and the only time she does-it's slipped in so well that I had to bookmark it to confirm it actually did happen. But before this moment, by the way the town and the people treat Ladivine mostly, the reader understands that she's clearly an outsider treated repugnantly for being unlike the rest of the populace.
Clarice, while she treats her mother abominably, is weighed down by her love for her which she is constantly fleeing from:
All this guilt and shame in turn affects the relationships Clarice has with those she loves. Rigid and unable to be her true self as she's lived her entire life reinventing herself, to be as far away from her mother as possible, in turn has fraught relations with her husband and daughter, who are never able to return the love she has for them, and tragically, although with less calculation and intended malice, abandon her in the same way she abandoned her mother. All in a rippling way that reminded me of that brilliant Fiona Apple lyric: “Evil is a relay sport when the one whose burnt turns to pass the torch”.
The second part of this story, which caused exasperated sighs on my end, comes after a tragedy (that’s foreshadowed in the earlier part of the book) marks this family and they are forced to contend with how they’ve treated each other. It involves murders and disappearance, and ,although more exciting in terms of plot, doesn’t live up to the brilliance of the inner worlds NDiaye creates in the first half.
Ultimately this book concerns human relationships, mostly domestic–meaning familial in the traditional sense. How love in its pure form, asking nothing of us and given to us unconditionally, even though we yearn for it and suffer from its lack, terrifies and turns away those who are given it. How fragile these connections we have with others through birth and marriage really are underneath, and how we’re constantly posturing and negotiating, and constantly making ourselves and those we love in the image we need ourselves and them to be. It’s incredible, and even though I didn’t think it lived up to the potential or the image I had of the book as I began reading it, it continues to stun me as I continue contemplating it. What NDiaye tells, and what she doesn’t tell; what she shows, and what she doesn’t show; the explicit and implicit merge so incredibly well that I can’t help but be impressed at such remarkable talent.
By the time I was done reading this book I was confused and frustrated. So I decided to take a day, now turned two days, to let it sit and soak in. Certainly one of those books that confirms the redundancy of stars as a measure to convey reading experience and so I won’t be rating it in that way.
The story, though titled Ladivine, is centred on Clarice, née Malinka, and her family. Malinka was born to a Black woman who worked as a domestic labourer. Her father was a white man she has never known and who she never meets. Ashamed of her origin, and her mother, she disentangles herself from her, renounces her, going as far as telling a schoolmate that her mother is in fact her servant; a word she comes to use almost exclusively in her thoughts towards her. Her appearance allows her to pass as white. Soon she breaks free from her mother as a teenager and renames herself Clarice, and visits Ladivine–that is the name of her mother–periodically while her mother who suffers from this treatment laps happily at these small crumbs of acknowledgement. A tacit agreement between them emerges where neither acknowledges that one neglects the other. Even after she becomes married and has a child of her own, a daughter who she named after her mother (Ladivine), she keeps her mother's existence away from her new family.
"Sometimes she thought they’d finally burned through the many layers of silence and shame that did not so much separate as envelop them and so had arrived at a sort of sincerity, assuming that sincerity can wear the costume of an actor.
It was, she sometimes thought, as if they could see each other perfectly through their masks, all the while knowing they’d never lower them.
For the naked truth would not have allowed itself to be looked at."
The only time she ever recognizes her mother to another is in her middle-age, after she's been divorced and is alone, to her lover Freddy Moliger, and the tragedy central to the story ensues.
The most brilliant part of this story is how part of the information in the paragraph above is gleaned by the reader. The writer doesn't state explicitly the elder Ladivine's race, and the only time she does-it's slipped in so well that I had to bookmark it to confirm it actually did happen. But before this moment, by the way the town and the people treat Ladivine mostly, the reader understands that she's clearly an outsider treated repugnantly for being unlike the rest of the populace.
Clarice, while she treats her mother abominably, is weighed down by her love for her which she is constantly fleeing from:
"How she wished her mother could be happy far away, without her, how she wished that, wrapped up in her own happiness, she might lose all interest in her daughter Malinka, how she wished, even, that her mother’s love were monopolized by other children! How the weight of that unused love exhausted her, that vast but humble, mute love, irreproachable! How her own sympathy weighed on her!"
All this guilt and shame in turn affects the relationships Clarice has with those she loves. Rigid and unable to be her true self as she's lived her entire life reinventing herself, to be as far away from her mother as possible, in turn has fraught relations with her husband and daughter, who are never able to return the love she has for them, and tragically, although with less calculation and intended malice, abandon her in the same way she abandoned her mother. All in a rippling way that reminded me of that brilliant Fiona Apple lyric: “Evil is a relay sport when the one whose burnt turns to pass the torch”.
The second part of this story, which caused exasperated sighs on my end, comes after a tragedy (that’s foreshadowed in the earlier part of the book) marks this family and they are forced to contend with how they’ve treated each other. It involves murders and disappearance, and ,although more exciting in terms of plot, doesn’t live up to the brilliance of the inner worlds NDiaye creates in the first half.
Ultimately this book concerns human relationships, mostly domestic–meaning familial in the traditional sense. How love in its pure form, asking nothing of us and given to us unconditionally, even though we yearn for it and suffer from its lack, terrifies and turns away those who are given it. How fragile these connections we have with others through birth and marriage really are underneath, and how we’re constantly posturing and negotiating, and constantly making ourselves and those we love in the image we need ourselves and them to be. It’s incredible, and even though I didn’t think it lived up to the potential or the image I had of the book as I began reading it, it continues to stun me as I continue contemplating it. What NDiaye tells, and what she doesn’t tell; what she shows, and what she doesn’t show; the explicit and implicit merge so incredibly well that I can’t help but be impressed at such remarkable talent.
crownofsage's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.5
…”she was grateful to the part of her mind that controlled her emotions for protecting her in this way, because with her faculties alert and her heart afire she could never have withstood the incomprehension and grief.“
OUCH this book made me feel a lot. Really related to Clarisse, unfortunately!
OUCH this book made me feel a lot. Really related to Clarisse, unfortunately!
wombat_reads's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
The first half of this book broke my heart in the best way possible. And the second half was a feverish dream.
hanntastic's review
4.0
Hard to describe but I really liked it. It definitely stays with you. The first half and second half felt like two separate books to me, but I liked both of them so much that I didn't mind it.
figgyfran's review
4.0
This book is a circle. It’s all about guilt and shame and the various ways people act when it consumes them— but all in relation to family and relationships. I found it hard to follow at times, but it is so intriguing and would be great with a book club or in a classroom setting. Lots to discuss!!!
pleoniesmith's review
1.0
DNF. It started off so strong and it just got stuck. There was no joy in reading it.
gorecki's review against another edition
1.0
I always feel guilty when sharing a negative view on a book - I'm aware of how much work goes into a book and how it's the fruit of someone's sweat, tears and dedication. But even so, there are books that unfortunately really drag me out of my skin and I can't rest until I get the frustration off my chest.
Ladivine starts as a very good read - uncomfortable and pretentious, but still good in its topic - Malinka is the daughter of a black woman who works as a cleaner. Growing up poor and without a father, being called a princess by her mother who tries to give her everything she needs, Malinka starts feeling ashamed of her mother which leads to her treating her as a slave, calling her her servant when one of her classmates sees her, and running away to another city, changing her name and only visiting her mother on the first Tuesday of every month without telling her anything about herself and her life - not even that she's married or has children. I believe this is the only part Ndiaye had figured out before she set out to write this novel. Probably not even the whole part. After this, it all goes downhill.
The language of the whole book is intolerably pretentious, trying hard to be deep but never achieving it. The whole novel reads like an endless character development exercise - what little traces we have of a storyline are only there to put the characters in situations where we can further read about how they feel about this thing or that or what they think of some thing or other, or read endless passages on unrelated memories. So much so, that on many occasions they would contradict themselves. In its pretentiousness and effort at being deep, the book didn't make sense in many scenes: a married couple talks about why they have a dog - the woman says its for protection, the man says its not, the woman says the man is right, it really isn't, so why then? Why do we have a dog? Indeed, Marie, why did you give them that dog? The man says he had no choice. We have no idea what that is supposed to mean, but it must be something deep. In another scene, they throw a young man from a balcony of a hotel and go to sleep. Then the perpetrator is under such intense pressure when he realises that the victim is still alive that we really should feel sorry for him she not for the poor unfortunate soul who was slammed against the pavement. Also do you think this scene was actually related to anything else that happenef in the book?
No.
The characters' behaviour makes no sense in 90% of the time, a huge part of the book is redundant, we learn what happens in the middle of the book and then in the remaining second half nothing else happens. Nothing. People go about thinking and feeling things, then the end comes without any sort of resolution or closure or fanfare.
I'm sorry for ranting, but this was frustrating. How it got nominated for the Booker International Prize is beyond me.
Ladivine starts as a very good read - uncomfortable and pretentious, but still good in its topic - Malinka is the daughter of a black woman who works as a cleaner. Growing up poor and without a father, being called a princess by her mother who tries to give her everything she needs, Malinka starts feeling ashamed of her mother which leads to her treating her as a slave, calling her her servant when one of her classmates sees her, and running away to another city, changing her name and only visiting her mother on the first Tuesday of every month without telling her anything about herself and her life - not even that she's married or has children. I believe this is the only part Ndiaye had figured out before she set out to write this novel. Probably not even the whole part. After this, it all goes downhill.
The language of the whole book is intolerably pretentious, trying hard to be deep but never achieving it. The whole novel reads like an endless character development exercise - what little traces we have of a storyline are only there to put the characters in situations where we can further read about how they feel about this thing or that or what they think of some thing or other, or read endless passages on unrelated memories. So much so, that on many occasions they would contradict themselves. In its pretentiousness and effort at being deep, the book didn't make sense in many scenes: a married couple talks about why they have a dog - the woman says its for protection, the man says its not, the woman says the man is right, it really isn't, so why then? Why do we have a dog? Indeed, Marie, why did you give them that dog? The man says he had no choice. We have no idea what that is supposed to mean, but it must be something deep. In another scene, they throw a young man from a balcony of a hotel and go to sleep. Then the perpetrator is under such intense pressure when he realises that the victim is still alive that we really should feel sorry for him she not for the poor unfortunate soul who was slammed against the pavement. Also do you think this scene was actually related to anything else that happenef in the book?
No.
The characters' behaviour makes no sense in 90% of the time, a huge part of the book is redundant, we learn what happens in the middle of the book and then in the remaining second half nothing else happens. Nothing. People go about thinking and feeling things, then the end comes without any sort of resolution or closure or fanfare.
I'm sorry for ranting, but this was frustrating. How it got nominated for the Booker International Prize is beyond me.
anaiira's review
4.0
Sadness and loneliness in equal parts, with characters mired in their own tragedies of anxiety and love, desire unfulfilled. All set with a backdrop of the loveliness of France and the terrible prejudices against lower-class and race. Every character we meet is so fully convinced that they are not deserving of love, yet try to give it in such generous yet subtle ways.
paulineg's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0