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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Book of Proper Names, Amelie Nothomb, 2 Jun 2005
This little, eccentric book is simply wonderful. The story of precocious orphan Plectrude, blessed with a gift for dance and a very curious imagination, it's a brilliant story of childhood, and Nothomb clearly has a special talent for inveigling herself into the childhood psyche. The book carries an absolutely unique sense of what it feels like to be a child, the selfishness of childhood, the sense that a childhood might feel like forever. While it has serious undertones - the pressures put on children by their parents; the power of love or the perception of it; the perspective-skewing powers of ambition and desire - it's also a sly, funny, sharp little book. Very funny indeed. Nothomb's writing is fluid, the flow of plot is swift and incredibly engaging, and her small insights are remarkably perceptive. Heavy on dialogue - and very short anyway - it's a really quick read you can probably finish off in a sitting. It may be short, but it's hugely satisfying (the eccentric ending is very odd but very good), and a tremendously entertaining book. Plectrude is a marvellous little character, and is certainly the novella's great triumph among many.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Book of Proper Names, Amelie Nothomb, 6 Jun 2005
This little, eccentric book is simply wonderful. The story of precocious orphan Plectrude, blessed with a gift for dance and a very curious imagination, it's a brilliant story of childhood, and Nothomb clearly has a special talent for inveigling herself into the childhood psyche. The book carries an absolutely unique sense of what it feels like to be a child, the selfishness of childhood, the sense that a childhood might feel like forever. While it has serious undertones - the pressures put on children by their parents; the power of love or the perception of it; the perspective-skewing powers of ambition and desire - it's also a sly, funny, sharp little book. Very funny indeed. Nothomb's writing is fluid, the flow of plot is swift and incredibly engaging, and her small insights are remarkably perceptive. Heavy on dialogue - and very short anyway - it's a really quick read you can probably finish off in a sitting. It may be short, but it's hugely satisfying (the eccentric ending is very odd but very good), and a tremendously entertaining book. Plectrude is a marvellous little character, and is certainly the novella's great triumph among many.
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2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
thoroughly annoying and pretentious, 10 Feb 2008
A story of ballerina's and anorexia, The Book of Proper Names by Amelie Nothomb is quite probably the most annoying book ive read in some time. the story is eccentric and unrealistic almost all the way through, the emotional, precocious orphan, Plectrude is a difficult main character because you cant understand her at any level - sometimes this can be a great thing, characters doing the unexpected, but in this book it was dull, became monotonous and felt silly - i couldnt believe thefacts behind any decisions made.
another annoying thing is the last 2 pages where - not a spoiler - the author gets shot. this is soo absurd it detracts from the book enormously - nothomb obviously didnt know how to finish.
Another thing that annoyed me was in the writing itself. Nothomb has this truely fiendish habit of stating these strange 'platitudes of 'fact'' (and platitudes of child psychology- generalised to all children) - based on nothing but observation or opinion. They aren't facts. Children invariably do this or babies do this, ask any girl and she will say this. They were pointless and grating and seriously undermined some (albeit few) quality parts of the story and i felt like slapping her each time they came up.
une example 'That incidentally is a habit that members of the male sex preserve throughout the whole of their lives: they make a point of slandering the very things that haunt their masturbatory obsessions' p65.
This is an extreme generalisation - she just sounds absurd - its a stupid generalisation presented as fact - not all males 'do' this - she ends up sounding slighted, jealous and sexist.
anyways - good points were few and far between - some nice passages, the handling of the descent into anorexia and the choosing of names.
Overall, a thoroughly annoying and pretentious book, fobbed off as clever witty and precocious, this novel has put me of amelie nothomb for life and i warn all about the absurdities of plot, prose and character within.
4/10
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