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Reviews tagging 'Death'

Gods ingewanden by Amélie Nothomb

2 reviews

ginbat's review against another edition

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challenging reflective
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Feels like something a 15 year old wrote that maybe won a short story prize and the author got overconfident and published it. There just wasn't anything likeable about it. At first I was like oh interesting pov, not all main characters have to be likeable. But the book as a whole didn't give me anything.
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ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“How appropriate that one definition of the Japanese character for my name was “rain”. I, too, was precious and copious, inoffensive and deadly, silent and raucous, joyous and despicable, life-giving and corrosive, pure and grasping, patient and insidious, musical and off-key—but more than any of that, and beyond all those things, I was invulnerable.” 
 
TITLE—The Character of Rain (fr. Métaphysique des tubes) 
AUTHOR—Amélie Nothomb 
TRANSLATOR—Timothy Bent 
PUBLISHED—2000 
 
GENRE—literary fiction; experimental novella 
SETTING—1970s Japan 
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—identity, selfhood, hedonism, the Meaning of Life, divinity of self, philosophy, pluviophilia 
 
WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️—I still really want to read this in the original French though! 
CHARACTERS—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 
STORY/PLOT—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 
BONUS ELEMENT/S—the parallels I felt between this and Freshwater!; extra bonus points for the discussion of pluviophilia which blewww my mind 🤯 
PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 
 
“Humanity has formed a cult around normalcy.” 
 
In today’s edition of #BooksYouNeverSeeOnBookstagram 😂 we’ll be discussing the English translation of Amélie Nothomb’s Métaphysique des tubes (The Character of Rain). This was such an interesting and philosophical little novella treating the themes of the divine humanity, identity, death, and spirituality in a way that spoke *very* strongly to and aligned *very* closely with my own thoughts and beliefs on those subjects—which is always surprising and delightful to find in a book. I also loved Nothomb’s writing style—assuming this translation was faithful, though I *felt* like it probably was—but I definitely want to read this in the original French as well so I’ve ordered a copy and am just waiting on it to come in the mail… 🙃😂 Definitely going to be reading more of her work! 
 
“After all, why would the gods be immortal? What did immortality have to do with divinity? Was a peony any less sublime because eventually it would wilt?” 
 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 
 
TW // death, suicidal ideation (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!) 
 
Further Reading— 
  • more Amélie Nothomb!—TBR
  • Freshwater & Dear Senthuran, by Akwaeke Emezi 
  • The Icarus Girl, by Helen Oyeyemi
  • The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson
  • I, Tituba, by Maryse Condé 
  • Jitterbug Perfume, by Tom Robbins
  • Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke
  • The Summer Book, by Tove Jansson 

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