“Silky prose in this harrowing account of crime and punishment.”—Kirkus Reviews “Using spare, effective prose, Chessex bri...
read full description
reviews
Jan 04, 2012
Oyé Oyé, nouveau partenariat Blog-O-Book, ici avec Le Livre de Poche.
Tiens donc, un vampire... c'est assez tendance pour le moment. Oui, sauf que celui-ci n'a rien à envier à l'édenté Edward Cullen et sa mielleuse Bella (désolée pour les fans... ils commencent à me souler avec leur battage médiatique pro-twilight... y a pas que les vampires mormons dans le vie!).
Bref, Le vampire de Ropraz est une courte histoire (85 pages environs). Le style fait penser à une chronique judiciaire. L' More...
Tiens donc, un vampire... c'est assez tendance pour le moment. Oui, sauf que celui-ci n'a rien à envier à l'édenté Edward Cullen et sa mielleuse Bella (désolée pour les fans... ils commencent à me souler avec leur battage médiatique pro-twilight... y a pas que les vampires mormons dans le vie!).
Bref, Le vampire de Ropraz est une courte histoire (85 pages environs). Le style fait penser à une chronique judiciaire. L' More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Dec 04, 2008
Heather
rated it: 
Where I live, winter is not just the name of a season, it’s a state of being. Today I look out the windows – sure, there’s a line of geese heading to where the Boardman River pours out into West Bay making a little unfrozen spot, but there’s also snow like grit, like clouds of icy gnats, and the view beyond a block fades away into clammy gray. From below, all day long, comes the sound of chopping and metal on concrete. The few people on the streets walk with their shoulders hunched into collars
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
May 27, 2011
Phlaemmle
rated it: 
Große Fabulierkunst wird der Leser nicht finden, die Sprache ist sehr knapp, fast schon zackig und wirkt informativ, so dass die Erzählung einem teilweise wie ein Bericht über den authentischen Fall erscheint. Gleichzeitig blähen sich durch die nüchterne, präzise Schilderung die Seiten auf, die Seiten scheinen voller zu sein als bei anderen Büchern und dennoch schwingt Prosa in der Formulierung mit, der Stil war für mich schwer zu fassen. Die recht anschaulichen Schilderungen ballen sich zu eine
More...
Jul 17, 2009
Stephen
rated it: 
More of a short story than a novel (even novella), Chessex's take on a series of brutal attacks on corpses in the region around Ropraz in Switzerland is remarkable mainly for the manner in which the author chooses to relate his story.
All the elements of a classic gothic tale are present: defilement (recently buried corpses being dug up and mutilated), superstition (the Calvinists of the area quickly return to Catholic habits during the period of panic over the existence of the " More...
All the elements of a classic gothic tale are present: defilement (recently buried corpses being dug up and mutilated), superstition (the Calvinists of the area quickly return to Catholic habits during the period of panic over the existence of the " More...
Jun 18, 2009
Blandine
rated it:
J'avoue ne pas trop savoir quoi penser de ce livre. Je l'ai trouvé en Bookcrossing à la bibliothèque de mon UFR à l'université, et le "vampire" du titre m'a poussé à l'amener à la maison avec moi. Le livre ne fait que 107 pages, la police est large... bref, il se lit en moins d'une heure et très facilement: parfait si vous prenez les transports en commun.
L'histoire est en fait un fait divers ayant eu lieu en Suisse francophone au tout début du 20ème siècle. La Suisse profon More...
L'histoire est en fait un fait divers ayant eu lieu en Suisse francophone au tout début du 20ème siècle. La Suisse profon More...
Jun 22, 2009
Kate
rated it:
I grabbed this as it was returned to the library, hoping it would be about a vampire, as the title indicates. It's actually a translation of a Swiss novella, and not quite about vampires...
In 1903, several recently deceased young women are found with their bodies VERY perversely defiled (if you don't like gore or graphic descriptions of murder, don't read this book!). The serial killer is called "The Vampire of Ropraz," and is later found to be a young man who was violent More...
In 1903, several recently deceased young women are found with their bodies VERY perversely defiled (if you don't like gore or graphic descriptions of murder, don't read this book!). The serial killer is called "The Vampire of Ropraz," and is later found to be a young man who was violent More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Mar 04, 2009
Isil
rated it: 
Le vampire de Ropraz n’est pas une histoire de la littérature fantastique même si elle en reprend des motifs, comme le vampire ou la dame blanche. Ce très court roman s’ouvre sur une description frappante de la vie rude d’un village reculé de Suisse au début du 20è siècle. On découvre un monde de misère affective, d’alcoolisme, où le silence entoure les pires maltraitances, où la superstition se mêle à la religion la plus stricte. C'est dans ce contexte que des événements effroyables se déroulen
More...
Jul 16, 2009
Candace
rated it: 
I read the English translation. It seemed to be roughly translated so that while parts were almost poetic, other parts were just difficult to understand and ... annoying is the word that comes to mind. The story itself was lost in the confusion and after just finishing it now I feel as if I totally missed the entire point. I wish I could read French because I believe the translation was mostly to blame. Then again, some of the gruesome bits I would not like to read again in any language. If
More...
Mar 27, 2011
King Dinösaur
rated it:
Not really sure how to classify this one. It says "based on a true incident", but I don't know how much is true and how much is fiction. But it's a great story either way. Starkly, but beautifully written, capturing the blurred line between science and superstition in 1903 Switzerland. Someone, or something, is desecrating graves and graphically and sexually mutilating bodies (and I mean graphically). When they finally narrow down the suspects, we are still left slightly unsure of
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Apr 20, 2011
Dana
rated it:
I finished two books today: one about the city and one about the country. They are both about squalor and isolation. It's that kind of day. This one is the country book, and it is elegant. It's a filthy topic but a very clean book. No sloppy extra words, no bizarre tangents.
But I would never reread it. Whereas I would reread the city book (The Shadow-Boxing Woman by Inka Parei, if you were wondering), even though I gave that one fewer stars. This makes me wonder on what basi More...
But I would never reread it. Whereas I would reread the city book (The Shadow-Boxing Woman by Inka Parei, if you were wondering), even though I gave that one fewer stars. This makes me wonder on what basi More...
Mar 06, 2011
Steffi
rated it:
Anhand eines historischen Kriminalfalls werden die Abgründe einer verarmten, rückständigen Schweizer Region um 1903 erläutert. Gewalt, sexueller Missbrauch und Misstrauen gegen Fremde sind weit verbreitet und einem erst einmal überführten Perversen werden schnell auch andere Verbrechen untergejubelt. Das ist atmosphärisch ähnlich gut gelungen wir in Schenkels Tannöd, aber die beschriebenen Gewalttaten und sexuellen Phantasien werden am Ende auch als Lockmittel für den Leser eingesetzt und das is
More...
Nov 01, 2009
Manny
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
0 comments
like
(8 people liked it)
Mar 18, 2008
Madame Charlotte
rated it:
Jacques Chessex nous raconte dans un style délicieux alliant humour noir et pure épouvante un faits divers qui secoua l’opinion publique suisse au début du XXème siècle durant des mois. Le livre est extrêmement court (classé “Courts romans et autres nouvelles” chez France Loisirs), et on reste inévitablement sur sa faim dès sa fermeture (environ une heure après son ouverture). Les faits évoqués sont juste abominables, sanglants et d’une cruauté infinie. Un cadavre, puis deux autres sont profanés
More...
Aug 07, 2011
Helen
rated it:
The dust cover promises a "lyrical tale of fear and cruelty" and "a dose of poetry, of the aesthetics of sin, and of the metaphysics of the monster". I am perfectly willing to believe these things can be found in the original language, but in the translation much seems to be lost. I read an interesting (though shallow) narrative of events, but even then it wasn't until the last page that I was given the information to understand why this tale might be interesting.
Aug 27, 2010
Bill
rated it:
A novella more than a novel, this gritty story of a body snatcher of ravishes corpses of young women in 1900s Switzerland is a bracing dip into paranoia, fear, despicable lust and degradation humans can get up to, especially of they live in a benighted fundamentalist land. Jacques Chessex was a Swiss writer, so this is well worth checking out if you're in the mood for a darker vision tinged with the otherness that a writer from another culture can bring.
Jul 10, 2011
Lauren
rated it:
Rough translation from the original French - felt like I wasn't getting it. Brutal story about murders in a rural area of Switzerland in 1903. There really is very little "vampiric" about it - more sadistic and cannibalistic - I think it was translated that way to cash in on the 2009 vampire craze.
Very quick read - a novella really.
Very quick read - a novella really.
Dec 23, 2011
Kirsty
rated it:
The historical element is fascinating and the depiction of small-town claustrophobia is intense, but the actual writing hurt my brain. It's so overwrought and nothing seems to really go anywhere. It could have been a brilliant book, but it stumbles.
Jun 18, 2011
Deanne
rated it:
Very good story but do feel that so much more could have been made of this, it felt like a taster and could have been a three course meal.
May 06, 2011
Seizure Romero
rated it:
Maybe it would be better in the original language. I don't know how much of it is based on truth & it left me empty so I don't care to find out. I do not feel better for having read this book. Meh.
May 09, 2009
Margaret
rated it:
Entertaining novella writtenn journalistically, about a murder and a damaged younsg man. Late 1800's, Swiss Village
Jan 12, 2009
Alex
rated it:
Difficult to recommend. I read it in an hour and I'm not really clear on the point.
Jan 04, 2012
Edwige
rated it:
Malgré les crimes odieux qui font froid dans le dos et qui sont décrits de façon mécanique et implacable par Jacques Chessex, l'histoire est finalement assez pauvre et le récit laisse un goût de trop peu. Ce roman dans la Suisse rurale du début du XXe et dont les campagnes sont le théâtre des pires horreurs perpétrées par un vampire aurait mérité quelques dizaines de pages supplémentaires.
Nov 17, 2007
Saturnina
rated it:
Lacking. Lacking in length and content, and emotion. With a bit more effort one could have gotten so much more out of this fascinating story.
Jan 31, 2012
