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A review by colormecaro
The Most Secret Memory of Men by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr
Did not finish book. Stopped at 9%.
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.
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
Minor: Misogyny