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Métaphysique des tubes
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"Il existe des êtres qui ne subissent pas la loi de l'évolution. Ce sont les légumes cliniques", ou des tubes par où circule seule la nourriture. Ces tubes ne sont pas pour autant sans cervelle puisqu'il arrive que celle-ci, suite à un "accident fatal", se réveille soudain, et déclenche la vie. C'est exactement ce qu'a vécu la (très) jeune narratrice de Métaphysique des tu
...more
Mass Market Paperback, 156 pages
Published
January 10th 2004
by Le Livre de Poche
(first published 2000)
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Start your review of Métaphysique des tubes
Nov 07, 2010
Petra-X Off having adventures
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
travel-adventure-countries,
fiction
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Another good one from Nothomb. I love her short but powerful novels. This wants to be her autobiography from the age of 2 and 1/2 until 3 while living in Japan. Obviously it is an invention as nobody has memories from that time as the author pretends to have. However, it is a special book and Amelie is a wonderful writer. Also, I love to read about her experience of Japan despite it being mostly fiction.
just finished the French version so currently reading the English version before the rating till now it s quite better :-)
this is the weirdest autobiography I ever read!! starting reading it in French with a tube a god and a vegetable what the hell !!! either am not understanding or this writer is hyper crazy couldn't tie anything together so I decided to finish the French version and read the English version coz I didnt want any idea or word to slip without looking deeply to it and she rocked m ...more
this is the weirdest autobiography I ever read!! starting reading it in French with a tube a god and a vegetable what the hell !!! either am not understanding or this writer is hyper crazy couldn't tie anything together so I decided to finish the French version and read the English version coz I didnt want any idea or word to slip without looking deeply to it and she rocked m ...more
Jun 11, 2012
Cecily
rated it
it was ok
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
biog-and-autobiog,
china-japan-asia
Really 2.5*: it's not a bad book, but I didn't really enjoy it (fortunately, it's very short).
This describes Nothomb's life from her birth until her third birthday. The youngest child of a Belgian diplomat in Japan, she tells it with the Japanese assumption that children are gods until their third birthday: "at three... you see everything and understand nothing" because you don't remember the previous year (though she claims to). Unfortunately, I quickly found the gimmick of the omniscient and ...more
This describes Nothomb's life from her birth until her third birthday. The youngest child of a Belgian diplomat in Japan, she tells it with the Japanese assumption that children are gods until their third birthday: "at three... you see everything and understand nothing" because you don't remember the previous year (though she claims to). Unfortunately, I quickly found the gimmick of the omniscient and ...more
A book narrated by a two-year-old intellectual prodigy, slyly based on the author’s own upbringing in Japan. As the blurb states, the book looks at the Japanese notion of okosama, or the Lord Child, a piece of lore where children are revered as Gods until they are three. This is true of a toddler’s own outlook: there is no one more important in the world than themselves—attention lavished on others is downright insulting.
What transpires is a curious novel about a two-year-old experiencing the wo ...more
What transpires is a curious novel about a two-year-old experiencing the wo ...more
Writers create worlds in their books. These worlds may be reflections of the real, physical world, but they do not have to be. The only constraint writers are subject to while creating these worlds is to make them internally consistent (and original and captivating, of course). Amelie Nothomb has created in her books a world in which a little child (in "The Character of Rain" the narrator is Amelie herself at the age between two and three) is fully developed intellectually and emotionally, able
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I found reading this book to be a pretty unpleasant experience--surprising, as it was recommended by a good friend of mine.
The narrator is a child prodigy who goes from age 0 to age 3 in this book. I found her extremely unpleasant, and two main touchstones came to mind. One was Alia Atreides from the "Dune" novels, who is called "The Abomination" because she is born with the memories and mental capacities of an adult. The sense in which this is an "abomination" was left mostly tacit in the Dune ...more
The narrator is a child prodigy who goes from age 0 to age 3 in this book. I found her extremely unpleasant, and two main touchstones came to mind. One was Alia Atreides from the "Dune" novels, who is called "The Abomination" because she is born with the memories and mental capacities of an adult. The sense in which this is an "abomination" was left mostly tacit in the Dune ...more
What a book! I was doubtful going into this, which then turned into wary, which slowly transformed into interested, then amused, then laughing out loud for a whole chapter (how the dad got into Noh! Brilliant stuff), and finally fascinated. All of this in 157 pages!
This is a book about a baby who spends 2 and a half years in a vegetative state. After two and a half years, she wakes up. The book describes the first three years of her life, including some of the time she was a "vegetable". As she ...more
This is a book about a baby who spends 2 and a half years in a vegetative state. After two and a half years, she wakes up. The book describes the first three years of her life, including some of the time she was a "vegetable". As she ...more
This is a difficult book to describe. Put briefly, the novel attempts to capture the mind of an infant. It is occasionally engaging and sometimes witty, but is spoiled by numerous pseudo-philosophical musings. These supposed pearls of wisdom include the following:
"There isn't any point to remembering that which has no connection to pleasure". Really? No point in remembering your past mistakes, then?
"For children the only true pleasure lies in eating". Obviously no child enjoys playing in the par ...more
"There isn't any point to remembering that which has no connection to pleasure". Really? No point in remembering your past mistakes, then?
"For children the only true pleasure lies in eating". Obviously no child enjoys playing in the par ...more
I certainly have no idea how much of it is fiction and how much real memories. I could argue about the impossibility of one remembering actual facts from birth till the 3rd birthday, but it's definitely not important and I can't expect everybody to have my poor memory. Anyway, she freely admits herself to be an ingenious liar, so...
I totally love this insane woman and I so needed this humorous book right now, I wish it worked as an anti-flu shot. ...more
I totally love this insane woman and I so needed this humorous book right now, I wish it worked as an anti-flu shot. ...more
That's what I can call a talented writer !
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The only thing this book has going for it is that it's short.. And at 132 pages it's still too long. Dont even bother....
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“People are often asked what, as children, they wanted to be when they grew up. In my case it would be better to ask my parents. Their replies would provide an idea of precisely what I didn’t want to be when I grew up.”
As a kid, I’ve always wanted to be a scientist, not necessarily having a specific specialization in mind, but since I secretly liked insects, I was gradually fantasizing about becoming an entomologist as a grown up. I was also fond of astronomy and had the urge to learn more about ...more
As a kid, I’ve always wanted to be a scientist, not necessarily having a specific specialization in mind, but since I secretly liked insects, I was gradually fantasizing about becoming an entomologist as a grown up. I was also fond of astronomy and had the urge to learn more about ...more
I liked the philosophical way of Amelie's writing. If you remain on the surface, trying to understand the plot and why there is an omniscient baby telling the story, you will loose the very deep opportunity this book gives to think about life, consciousness, pleasure, self vs. relationships, etc.
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French is not my first language, nor my second. So the first times I started reading this I never got past page 17. For many months I ignored the book. Then a week ago I took it with me on the train and when I got home again I had reached page 57.
This is an amazing book, written from the point of view of a child between two-and-a-half and three years old, except for the first part of the book where the same child has a rather strange start in life which is told in third person (but still as muc ...more
This is an amazing book, written from the point of view of a child between two-and-a-half and three years old, except for the first part of the book where the same child has a rather strange start in life which is told in third person (but still as muc ...more
A more detailed description of Amelie's childhood. Like all her autobiographical works, I loved it!
The beginning was a most awkward and fascinating one. She awakes at the taste of chocolate, oh Amelie, I think I understand what you are trying to say. Chocolate is a most exquisite food, is it not? :)
When the "tube" finally awakens we get to see her experience in the beautiful Japan. I do think I loved Japan more through her eye. Every-time I hear about this country I fall in love again, they are ...more
The beginning was a most awkward and fascinating one. She awakes at the taste of chocolate, oh Amelie, I think I understand what you are trying to say. Chocolate is a most exquisite food, is it not? :)
When the "tube" finally awakens we get to see her experience in the beautiful Japan. I do think I loved Japan more through her eye. Every-time I hear about this country I fall in love again, they are ...more
I have to say, Nothomb's books fascinate me. It's best not to read them as memoirs, though she draws from her life, as she freely admits she loves to lie and doesn't care if she's believed. That said, this is the story of a child/God/tube from day one to shortly after her third birthday. From scrupulously debating within herself what should be her third spoken word to finally confessing to her parents she knows how to speak (complex thoughts in complex sentences), Nothomb's little creation bears
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In Japanese , the character used for Rain is the same as the character used for Amelie.
Amelie is a Belgian who lived her toddler days in Kobe Japan when her diplomat parents were stationed there .This little novella encapsulates her memories from age Two to Three.
‘What a load of crock ?’ would be the first response from anyone after reading that statement. But, let me tell you it’s a delightful read.
It plays like a studio Ghibli movie , where you feel kinship with the animation.
Amelie describes ...more
Amelie is a Belgian who lived her toddler days in Kobe Japan when her diplomat parents were stationed there .This little novella encapsulates her memories from age Two to Three.
‘What a load of crock ?’ would be the first response from anyone after reading that statement. But, let me tell you it’s a delightful read.
It plays like a studio Ghibli movie , where you feel kinship with the animation.
Amelie describes ...more
Already the one-line description "an autobiography from age 0-3" had me intrigued, but I wasn't prepared for the amount and level of philosophical thought, not to mention wit, which could be incorporated into what is essentially a 150-page toddler's internal monologue. Tweeness is avoided by having the child reason and express herself (in her own mind, if not to others) like an adult (a fairly sophisticated adult at that), which makes the contrast with her infantile emotional states and physical
...more
Wow--the most original work of fiction in 100 years of fiction. I usually don't review more than "a good beat, and I can dance to it," but this exploration of mind, self, and whether we are part of the world or separate from it makes the old existentialists seem like the children. The narrator/god explains her perception, from birth to age three. Will she have desires, or just be whole? The universe (Japan) embraces her, and those in tune with the universe understand that an act as simple as sav
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Amelie Nothomb retold her life experiences when she was two and a half years old living in Kobe, Japan with her family. I couldn't believe a two and a half years old would have such mature thinking processes and life interpretation. She was a precocious little girl for sure.
(I myself did not remember anything when I was at that age :-))
Like many other works of hers, The Character of Rain blends facts and fiction together, and the result is a hilarious and original novella.
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(I myself did not remember anything when I was at that age :-))
Like many other works of hers, The Character of Rain blends facts and fiction together, and the result is a hilarious and original novella.
...more
A very interesting, flawed book. It's hard to pull off a far out, philosophical, west meets east narrative like this. High concept reading, for sure. But a distinct voice, and a fearless one. Though it didn't work as a whole, the ideas and vision were strong enough that it sustained this reader, for one. I do recommend it as a departure from the ordinary.
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I had a totally different idea of what the book was supposed to be about at the beginning, then slowly and surely understood the irony in her voice. Cute book, interesting cultural notations as well.
The book is one of its kind. while i was reading the book it was like i was also living it in my daily life. I didnt want it to be over. Her way of writing is very distinctive. She makes her criticsm on patriarchal society is the part I mostly enjoy reading
A wonderful novella about the workings of the mind of a three-year old. A sterling example of magical realism where Nothomb attempts to answer a great deal of philosophical questions through the innocence and curiosity of a toddler.
It´s a big nothing. I did´nt like it. Maybe Amelie writes a lot of books, but... Books are not shits. You don´t produce them every day... Sorry, I think this was just a waste of time.
Lovely little novel - funny and insightful.
Mar 25, 2020
MissFede
rated it
it was ok
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
owned,
fiction-narrativa
Underwhelming. I really liked the beginning, I thought it was original and very interesting but then the story went flat. Luckily it was a very short book otherwise it would have been a dnf for me.
this is so much fun, would recommend if you want something fairly easy to read in French which is full of wit and charm
Early childhood in a Belgian family living in Japan. Some funny observations.
This is the author's second book in which she talks about eating Shrimp Okonomiyaki with Hiroshima Sauce. I need to try this.
WSU library ...more
This is the author's second book in which she talks about eating Shrimp Okonomiyaki with Hiroshima Sauce. I need to try this.
WSU library ...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| Amélie Nothomb | 9 | 62 | Dec 29, 2020 05:44AM |
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Amélie Nothomb, born Fabienne Claire Nothomb, was born in Etterbeek, Belgium on 9 July 1966, to Belgian diplomats. Although Nothomb claims to have been born in Japan, she actually began living in Japan at the age of two until she was five years old. Subsequently, she lived in China, New York, Bangladesh, Burma, the United Kingdom (Coventry) and Laos.
She is from a distinguished Belgian political fa ...more
She is from a distinguished Belgian political fa ...more
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