Critiques et Commentaires

Je les avais lus ado (d'ailleurs, est-ce qu'on les fait toujours lire aux ados ?), et le fait d'avoir vécu dans l'est de Paris depuis y a ajouté une touche assez savoureuse.

A climate thriller and anticipation novel, Always North is really well written, with enough poetry, vivid action and complex characters to embark the reader and take them wherever the story goes. And it never goes where it would be predictable -- only the climate catastrophe is.

This novel has pretty much everything: an alternate history setting that is at times omnipresent and a detail at others ; a mysterious contemporary artist ; many LGBTQ+ characters ; drama and love. It weaves brilliantly facts and fiction, real artists and writers (oh hello David Bowie & Susan Sontag) and completely imaginary characters (or are they?), and manages to be serious with obvious satirical elements. Very enjoyable.

Une stupéfiante enquête sur un groupuscule maoïste, son fonctionnement et l'emprise de son leader charismatique. On voit comment l'emprise fonctionne, et la plongée idéologique, la radicalité qui en ont découlé. Vraiment fascinant.

A gorgeous book, I hadn't annotated a book so much in a while. It's thoughtful, imaginative and highly political.

I loved the idea of playing with the trope of "the chosen one" and putting an elderly woman instead. But the execution wasn't as good as the pitch: the main idea and character felt under-exploited (a teenager takes over mostly), and I could see no real evolution in her. Some characters weren't very useful and some lacked depth, being just a bit more than a name, while becoming important in the end. The writing was good enough, but there's only so many "fidgeting with the hem of their t-shirt" or "hugged herself" or "her hip hurt badly" that I can take. All in all, some nice and fun ideas, but maybe it could have gone really into parodying the genre, or on the contrary, be more serious about it all, avoiding cliches, repetitions etc.

I'm simultaneously jealous of this whole Caucasus mountain trek, and grateful that the author described the scenery, the people he meets and their history in such a generous and humble way. This is not an ethno-study, an adventure book full of swagger or a historical essay, it's journalism in the purest form, with genuine curiosity and a real attachment to a region and its inhabitants.

This books quotes Kill Bill, Cyndi Lauper and Shania Twain -- and also numerous other authors and books, zines, movies more... directly on the subject --, which makes it not just interesting but also funny and smart.

I had the re-read The Space Between Worlds quickly, after beginning this one, because there were things I didn't remember and a lot of the context is needed for this one. I liked the change of perspective, with Mr Scales being a runner this time and her different views on things. It was interesting to see that she's also an unreliable narrator, and that's all right really. One thing I regretted was the lack of explanation as to why a certain event happen (I won't spoil with explaining why what, it should be obvious I guess) In any case, it's a great read, lots of action, despair, anti-heroes and queerness.

J'aime bien écouter le podcast d'Arte "Bookmakers", parce que régulièrement, ça me fait découvrir des voix très singulières et des auteur·es dont je n'avais jamais entendu parler. Et après trois épisodes avec Justine Niogret, ça donnait pas mal envie. Alors sans doute Gueule de Truie n'est pas le plus évident pour aborder sa bibliographie, l'écriture est brutale, très imagée, le propos sans interdits, donc on aime ou pas. C'est un peu indigeste parfois, dans la seconde moitié, lorsqu'on perd un peu de vue où l'auteure veut nous emmener, où on a l'impression de tourner en rond dans la folie des personnages sans aller vers une résolution. Malgré tout, il y a plein de choses intéressantes, de tournures de phrases, d'idées, d'images.

Another brilliant book by Nghi Vo, who is such a consumed storyteller, the kind who gently take your hand and make you believe every detail. A fascinating read.