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Een Vorm Van Leven (2010)

by Amélie Nothomb(Favorite Author)

3.41 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

9085422515 (ISBN13: 9789085422518)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Meulenhoff/Manteau

review 1: This is a strange little novella translated from the French. The narrator is the author Amelie Nothomb. I usually love this kind of thing, especially when Philip Roth did it in Operation Shylock, and I enjoyed Nothomb's take on playing with identity. Nothomb, the fictional narrator, gets into a correspondence with an obese American soldier in Iraq. The letters back and forth are fascinating, but sometimes Nothomb's commentary on what's happening is less than astute. The criticisms of the war seem a bit trite and worn out. I agree with the point of view but I've heard it all before. The soldier is basically a caricarture of American gluttony.Overall, I enjoyed Nothomb's prose and I've always been a fan of the epistolary novel.
review 2: This book was really odd... more for me. I have mixed feelings. If I’m reading it as a work of fiction, it was just okay. The protagonist was not very endearing. If I read this as semi-autobiographical, I really didn’t like it.If this isn’t autobiographical, why use her own name as the main character. Were we supposed to somehow relate to her, or even like her? It was all a little too snooty for me, and I honestly couldn’t get past my dislike.*This book was provided for review on Confessions of a Bookaholic. All thoughts and opinions are my own. less

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