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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
dark
tense
slow-paced
A quick read; one that I read in a few hours at a café. Modiano's writing is excellent, as is the translation by Weston-Evans. It's quite a mysterious book, and one that I'll be thinking about for a few days to come.
Premier Modiano. Récit déroutant et sombre , qui s'imbrique tant bien que mal en une narration intériorisée et onirique. L'auteur nous embarque vers une destination inconnue : celle de la quête personnelle du narrateur , jouant avec l'espace-temps au point de semer le trouble.
Pour moi, c'est surtout errer sans aller nulle part en particulier.
Surréel et précis à la fois , même si la narration m'a énormément perturbé , j'avoue avoir été happée par l'histoire sans histoire , l’anecdote devenant roman.
Je n'avais pas d'attentes particulières , mais je ne m'attendais sûrement pas à cela.
Mystères, mystères , mystères... ça m'a donné faim et cette fin ne m'a pas convaincu. Du coup , je ne sais pas trop quoi en penser. L'aspect de la construction - ou déconstruction- des souvenirs est néanmoins très intéressant.
Auteur à suivre.
Pour moi, c'est surtout errer sans aller nulle part en particulier.
Surréel et précis à la fois , même si la narration m'a énormément perturbé , j'avoue avoir été happée par l'histoire sans histoire , l’anecdote devenant roman.
Je n'avais pas d'attentes particulières , mais je ne m'attendais sûrement pas à cela.
Mystères, mystères , mystères... ça m'a donné faim et cette fin ne m'a pas convaincu. Du coup , je ne sais pas trop quoi en penser. L'aspect de la construction - ou déconstruction- des souvenirs est néanmoins très intéressant.
Auteur à suivre.
In just a fraction of a second it happens: a young man, about 20 years old, is hit by a sea-green car at the Place des Pyramides in Paris. He is injured and immediately transported to a hospital where he wakes up a couple of days later, not remembering what happened exactly. A man addresses him and makes him sign a piece of paper stating that he is not going to press charges. The next days, the young narrator tries to figure out what happened that evening and especially who the driver – an attractive young woman – was. Yet he confuses current and past events since he had a similar accident when he was a boy. Ominous Monsieur Solière seems to be the key to the memories.
A motive which is reoccurs in Modiano’s novels is a young man roaming the streets of Paris in search for a young woman. Here, however, it is not the one who fascinates him and whom he fell in love with, but the driver who caused the accident. He gathers pieces of information which do not fit together for a long time, but finally he manages to sort out the unlucky evening. The novel parallels the narrator’s pace at which he gets forward in his research for the truth, at some time it slows down just to accelerate again. In this it is typical of Modiano’s style of writing and again we get an idea of the Paris of the 1960s which has vanished long time ago. The bars you attend to get to know people and chat easily, the people open to talk to you. This novel differs in the way that there is an aim of the protagonist, he is not just strolling around searching for the sense of being, but looking for something specific, which makes this novel stand out amongst Modiano’s long list of Paris novels.
A motive which is reoccurs in Modiano’s novels is a young man roaming the streets of Paris in search for a young woman. Here, however, it is not the one who fascinates him and whom he fell in love with, but the driver who caused the accident. He gathers pieces of information which do not fit together for a long time, but finally he manages to sort out the unlucky evening. The novel parallels the narrator’s pace at which he gets forward in his research for the truth, at some time it slows down just to accelerate again. In this it is typical of Modiano’s style of writing and again we get an idea of the Paris of the 1960s which has vanished long time ago. The bars you attend to get to know people and chat easily, the people open to talk to you. This novel differs in the way that there is an aim of the protagonist, he is not just strolling around searching for the sense of being, but looking for something specific, which makes this novel stand out amongst Modiano’s long list of Paris novels.
Un rêve, en sorte. Une réalité parallèle, une recherche de repères à répétition - il vaut mieux connaître Paris, des aller-retour. Une tristesse, un voyage, des impasses et des rues. Et une idée des dimanche après-midi.
El principio es muy desorientante. A partir de la mitad, la lectura se vuelve más fluida y se puede ir enlazando los hechos. Sin embargo, quizas porque no estoy tan canchera con este género, por momentos me pareció muy lento y me perdía en la trama.
(I received this book for free through a Goodreads giveaway.)
Paris Nocturne is a lovely and baffling little gem. It's almost completely narrative, very little dramatization, which adds to the sense of claustrophobia and the feeling that we are trapped in the narrator's paranoia with him. The language is evocative, skillfully crafted--and from what I can tell, the translation seems excellent as well. A lot of noir depends on unexpected stabbings or the like. This is noir in the purest sense--where everything is sinister even when nothing explicitly sinister is happening.
But I have to confess that I finished it without any sense of conclusion. Maybe I didn't read it carefully enough; maybe I missed some clue; maybe there was nothing there in the first place. Whatever the case, half of the satisfaction of a good mystery is seeing all the pieces come into place, and the big pieces never came together for me.
Paris Nocturne is a lovely and baffling little gem. It's almost completely narrative, very little dramatization, which adds to the sense of claustrophobia and the feeling that we are trapped in the narrator's paranoia with him. The language is evocative, skillfully crafted--and from what I can tell, the translation seems excellent as well. A lot of noir depends on unexpected stabbings or the like. This is noir in the purest sense--where everything is sinister even when nothing explicitly sinister is happening.
But I have to confess that I finished it without any sense of conclusion. Maybe I didn't read it carefully enough; maybe I missed some clue; maybe there was nothing there in the first place. Whatever the case, half of the satisfaction of a good mystery is seeing all the pieces come into place, and the big pieces never came together for me.
Modiano was clearly going for nebulous: the word, or variations of it, appear several times in the text, and even from the first few pages I felt befogged. Only the most cursory description of setting or mood; just vague outlines with occasional details of shadows. The narrator is utterly personalityless: I was reminded of [b:The Stranger|13480960|The Stranger|Albert Camus|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328988727s/13480960.jpg|3324344], intentionally, I’m sure. I could not care about anyone or any event in the book, and found myself slogging through it simply because it’s so short—”it’ll be over soon.” I’m sorry I stuck with it. Nothing is resolved; the fog never lifts.
But maybe—ok probably—I’m just not smart enough to understand it. So I won’t taint the Goodreads ratings average with a star-score; I’ll simply leave it unrated, with these words to serve as warning (or perhaps recommendation?) to my friends.
But maybe—ok probably—I’m just not smart enough to understand it. So I won’t taint the Goodreads ratings average with a star-score; I’ll simply leave it unrated, with these words to serve as warning (or perhaps recommendation?) to my friends.