De tous les rires et de tous les desirs
Jan. 10th, 2022 11:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bloodygranuaileBSpec book club figured it was time to check out V. E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, which has broken out of the fantasy scene and garnered a bunch of mainstream recognition, including from Oprah. We had read one of Schwab’s other books a few years ago, which I liked enough that I read the whole trilogy, but it hadn’t struck me as the kind of thing you’d like if you didn’t already like that kind of thing, so we were curious what was different about this one.
The cheap answer would be that it is literary-er, with its plot based on Faust, overthinking main characters, references to all sorts of classical art, and heaping helping of classic literary settings like “New York” and “France.” And sure, it’s definitely a book for people who love big cities and old bookstores and family dysfunction (and who doesn’t)? It’s a book to read when you’re feeling all deep and lonely and you love books but also wonder why you’re stuck reading them in the hours between your job and the next day at your job instead of having meaningful adventures, which certainly made it a good melancholy January lockdown read.
That, however, might make it sound like I disliked it or thought it was pretentious. On the contrary, I absolutely loved it, and it was precisely the kind of pretentious I’m a huge sucker for. The cheesy-ass self-referential ending? Arguing with the Devil about semantics? Cameos by Beethoven and Wagner? Ze simple but restrictive life of ze French countryside contrasted with ze sordid glamour of pre-Revolutionary Paris? Donnez-moi plus! I found it a great comfort read in a self-indulgent sort of way, although as I am unable to indulge in traveling and unwilling to indulge in making other people listen to me whinge about how I wanted to achieve Greater Things In Life than editing tech reports (I do a lot of stuff cooler than editing tech reports outside of work, and also I have money now, which after ten years on publishing wages I am not going to be all ‘90s ennui about), it pretty much only inspired me to dick about with Duolingo French lessons and listen to a bit of Wagner.
I loved the slow meandering tours through various historical settings, and Addie’s halting, difficult exploration of the rules and limitations of her curse, and Henry’s fear of his own mediocrity, the romanticization of used bookstores, and did I mention all the French stuff. All just grand, instantly classic stuff. I’m sure we’ll have a fun time talking about all the stuff it says about The Human Condition and all the other such big philosophical ideas that the characters all fight about.
The cheap answer would be that it is literary-er, with its plot based on Faust, overthinking main characters, references to all sorts of classical art, and heaping helping of classic literary settings like “New York” and “France.” And sure, it’s definitely a book for people who love big cities and old bookstores and family dysfunction (and who doesn’t)? It’s a book to read when you’re feeling all deep and lonely and you love books but also wonder why you’re stuck reading them in the hours between your job and the next day at your job instead of having meaningful adventures, which certainly made it a good melancholy January lockdown read.
That, however, might make it sound like I disliked it or thought it was pretentious. On the contrary, I absolutely loved it, and it was precisely the kind of pretentious I’m a huge sucker for. The cheesy-ass self-referential ending? Arguing with the Devil about semantics? Cameos by Beethoven and Wagner? Ze simple but restrictive life of ze French countryside contrasted with ze sordid glamour of pre-Revolutionary Paris? Donnez-moi plus! I found it a great comfort read in a self-indulgent sort of way, although as I am unable to indulge in traveling and unwilling to indulge in making other people listen to me whinge about how I wanted to achieve Greater Things In Life than editing tech reports (I do a lot of stuff cooler than editing tech reports outside of work, and also I have money now, which after ten years on publishing wages I am not going to be all ‘90s ennui about), it pretty much only inspired me to dick about with Duolingo French lessons and listen to a bit of Wagner.
I loved the slow meandering tours through various historical settings, and Addie’s halting, difficult exploration of the rules and limitations of her curse, and Henry’s fear of his own mediocrity, the romanticization of used bookstores, and did I mention all the French stuff. All just grand, instantly classic stuff. I’m sure we’ll have a fun time talking about all the stuff it says about The Human Condition and all the other such big philosophical ideas that the characters all fight about.