Como siempre, la coleccion de Anagrama, Panorama de Narrativas, brinda los mejores autores no hispanos contemporáneos.
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This is one of my favorite books. No summary will do it justice.
I went back to the re-read the French edition (currently known in America as "the freedom edition") and found that the important chapter about the character of rain appears two thirds of the way through the book and it is NOT central. The discussion of tubes at the beginning and end of the book (as related to the godlike infant/narrator and to her pet koi) are the meat of the story.
This is a pet peeve of mine (or more correctly, a black beast [bete noire] of mine). Why the prejudgement among American publishers that their readers will react violently against philosophy? Thank god they didn't spot the Kierkegaardian echoes in her "Stupeur et Tremblements" or they would have found something different than "Fear and Trembling" for the American edition. It's not just here and with Scholastic's change of the Philospher's Stone to the Sorcerer's Stone either; there is a general dumbing down of titles when they cross the Atlantic.
This wonderful book deserves its real title.
This unusual autobiographical tale first is told in the third person until the pivotal moment in history, the infamous chocolate incident, when the plot is written as a first person narrative. Not everyone will want to read this metaphysical story, but those who do will find a clever, witty, and intelligent tale that even makes the earliest of days come across realistically. Except for the title, fans will appreciate Amelie Nothomb's work that does not miss a beat in the translation from the original French MÉTAPHYSIQUE DES TUBES.
Harriet Klausner
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The reader may find it a bit difficult to empathize with Amelie, particularly when she kowtows to a culture that demands, by its own admission, foreign adherence to its whims when its own people are not expected to reciprocate in any kind. When Amelie apologizes to Fubuki, the pseudo-nemesis of the story's protagonist, for committing "grave mistakes" that should have otherwise been excused or overlooked, I actually cringed. It was not until the final page that I felt I had a good grip on the author's intent in those passages.
Nothomb is an exquisite author, but I can only say this because of the magnificent translation provided by Adriana Hunter. Hunter gives us a sympathetic reading of Nothomb's nuances and intentions, and allows the reader to fill in the verbal gaps from the original French version.
This is a highly respectable (and very short) work, and well worthy of even the most cautious reader's eye.
In the course of one year Amélie Nothomb makes it from junior clerk to toilet cleanser. Why? By taking initiatives.
She gives us an impressive (very bleak) portrait of life in a Japanese business office: fear for colleagues, fear to lose a job or to miss a promotion, trembling before the hierarchy, bitter commpetition between the employees, suspicion and spying on everybody. As a matter of fact, the exact climate to stop all progress.
What are the employees waiting for after this terrible office hours: compulsive evening out with colleagues(?), hours in an overcrowded subway and finally an exhausted housewive. To quote another famous author: the air-conditioned nightmare.
She gives us an incisive picture of the condition of Japanese women: the author admires them because they don't commit suicide.
A compelling and eye-opening read.
For other impressive books on Japanese culture I recommend the works of Ian Buruma, and for the condition of Japanese women: Harriet Sergeant 'The old sow in the back room'.
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Very good sense of humor, using which she describes how she went from an intern to the person who cleans the toilets, just because she didnt understand the 'confusianism' of Asian people
really good book, if you can read it in french ...
Enjoy your reading !!
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In the midst of this atmosphere, young Amelie (and the author, in an afterword, maintains that the story is a true one, that even the names have not been changed) is pretty much left to fend for herself during the days. She rides her bicycle (she refers to it as her horse) through the Peking streets, offended that the Chinese guards at the compound gate do not see her as a threat to them. She has an active imagination -- one of the blessings of being seven years old -- and sees herself in vivid roles as a hero. The other children in the compound seem to be growing up the same way, and to amuse themselves, they engage in what they call a 'war' with the children of the East German diplomats.
With the arrival of a beautiful little girl named Elena, the child of an Italian diplomat and his South American wife, Amelie feels for the first time in her young life the magnetic pull of love for another person. She is entranced and obsessively infatuated with the little girl, who is cold and distant -- which only serves to make her more of an attraction. The lessons Amelie learns about love and friendship -- and the observations she shares with us of her world -- make this a touching, readable book. The feeling I was left with after reading it was one of sadness -- there's a lot of loneliness and heartbreak in this story, lessons that are tough to see a child learn by herself.
Nothomb's writing is a little choppy -- but that is most likely appropriate in this case, given the age of the narrator. In retrospect, I think it added some authenticity to that aspect of the story. I definitely want to read more of this author's work in order to gain a better perspective on her style and talents.
The beginning of the book is amazing, you really don't know where the writter is leading you-could this be reality, I mean is this every Human's reality or just a metaphoric approach of the beginning of our lifes...Are we just tubes that need a revelation to exist?
This would be the metaphysical part of the book-very exciting not all boring like it may seem- leading to a more "normal" yet very intriging story.
A fabulous tale written with an insatiable rythm inviting us into the world of a little Belgian girl born in Japan deeply touched by the grace and the culture of that country and surrounded by European and Japanese cultures in the same house.
I never thought a four year-old could have led such an interresting and sometimes so scary life.No violence, no blood only inner-fears we might all have felt one day.This reefers to the French version of the book.Phil-Nicole's husband.
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She is truely an amazing writter using a very spontaneous and raw yet subtel vocabulary.Nothomb is for me the best Belgian writter along with Thomas GUNZIG, and as a Belgian myself I can only proudly recommend them to you.This review reefers to the french version-the original language of this book, but I'm pretty sure it has been very well translated into English or Spanish.
Philippe-Nicole's Husband.