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A review by arianappstrg
A Spy in the House of Love by Anaïs Nin
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
5: I lost my virginity to Anais Nin.
I have no rational thoughts or arguments. I can say nothing about the language, the structure or the mystery that is Sabina. Nin wiped out my brain and left it a blank canvas on which she drew new versions of love, femininity, relationships, freedom and guilt. She stuffed melodrama and pain into a bottle and molotoved me. She spun me a tale about a restless woman/ spy/ actress/ mother/ girl/ criminal and I ate it up without question. Anything resembling reflection happened so fast I do not even remember what I reflected on. I am chaos dissolved, scattered like Jay's paintings experienced through the eyes of Sabina.
I have a really old, questionable looking faded purple copy by Bantam Literature, all 118 pages of it infused with vulnerable eroticism and commitment issues. Before going into this, I read a few reviews that preferred Delta of Venus to this but since this book was my introduction to Nin, it blew me away. If the reviews are true and Delta of Venus is indeed superior then I expect I won't just be blown away, I'll be annihilated.
I have nothing resembling a review to give so I will conclude this with one of the quotes that pained me the most:
'But are you aware of the courage, the audacity which my profession requires? Very few people are gifted for it. I had the vocation. It showed very early in my capacity for deluding myself... What I corrupted was what is called the truth in favour of a marvellous world. I could always improve on the facts... The smoke issuing from Aladdin's lamp was my first smokescreen, and the lies learned from fairytales were my first perjuries. Let us say I had perverted tendencies: I believed everything I read. I never found a way to get what I wanted except by robbery.'
I have no rational thoughts or arguments. I can say nothing about the language, the structure or the mystery that is Sabina. Nin wiped out my brain and left it a blank canvas on which she drew new versions of love, femininity, relationships, freedom and guilt. She stuffed melodrama and pain into a bottle and molotoved me. She spun me a tale about a restless woman/ spy/ actress/ mother/ girl/ criminal and I ate it up without question. Anything resembling reflection happened so fast I do not even remember what I reflected on. I am chaos dissolved, scattered like Jay's paintings experienced through the eyes of Sabina.
I have a really old, questionable looking faded purple copy by Bantam Literature, all 118 pages of it infused with vulnerable eroticism and commitment issues. Before going into this, I read a few reviews that preferred Delta of Venus to this but since this book was my introduction to Nin, it blew me away. If the reviews are true and Delta of Venus is indeed superior then I expect I won't just be blown away, I'll be annihilated.
I have nothing resembling a review to give so I will conclude this with one of the quotes that pained me the most:
'But are you aware of the courage, the audacity which my profession requires? Very few people are gifted for it. I had the vocation. It showed very early in my capacity for deluding myself... What I corrupted was what is called the truth in favour of a marvellous world. I could always improve on the facts... The smoke issuing from Aladdin's lamp was my first smokescreen, and the lies learned from fairytales were my first perjuries. Let us say I had perverted tendencies: I believed everything I read. I never found a way to get what I wanted except by robbery.'