Aaron Schmid’s Reviews > Life: a Users Manual: Fictions > Status Update

Non frustra vixi. Perec is insane. Something tells me he'd be an insufferable dinner guest, but his ability to pull an intricately detailed story out of nowhere is pretty impressive. The fake Mephistopheles was quite a little tale. At times this really does seem like it's just a collection of short stories, but every once in a while I feel like see how they connect to the larger narrative. Other times is very hard.

Really good so far, and feels like it's getting better. It's one of those books where people will probably say, "it could be much shorter"... but I don't know. I'm sure it could be, if you only care about the plot, but if you care about the life of it, the characters, and their lives, the lives of their possessions, their rooms, their building, it could be even longer. Chapter 51 is unlike anything I've seen before.

It's incredibly charming. Mundane and ordinary at times, truly a slice of life, it's often filled with small, unobserved moments or inconsequential details and lists. Sometimes it's even less than that - the mere aftermath of a quiet event unseen by human eyes. But scattered throughout are a few sharp details, mysteries, tragedies, comedies, events that readers crave, to supply meaning to the normalcy of life.

Some great segments here. Part 2 started off with what felt like a Sherlock Holmes plot focused on unica-lovers, and then moved into a moody retrospective of wealth, success, and spectacle. It made me thankful for the life I have. Perec seems to hold the reader responsible for their own choices, even (or especially) if the choice is to let another decide for you... even if you're satisfied with said absconsion.

This is a very odd book. It's like a collection of short stories, but you get to see how they all sort of weave together... Or at least how they all come to share a stairwell. It fluctuates so rapidly though. I have my favorite characters, but I feel like it takes a long time for the story to circle back around to what I feel is the main plot. Maybe part two will evolve a bit.

And just like that, Agatha Christie emerges, haha - U. N. Owen (a reference I'm happy to pick up on). It's funny how quickly it's shifting, in just a few pages, into what seems like it might become quite a nice mystery novel. The devices are assembling, and I appreciate the time jumps, and the bits in the stairwell. It's definitely growing on me. The short chapters are also convenient. Good to pick up and put down.

I'd bet Wes Anderson is familiar with this book, haha. It's deeply French, playfully formal, and highly structured (morphologically). I imagine Anderson doing a cross-section of the 10x10 matrix of this building and using a chess knight to move from vignette to vignette. It's wonderful in that way, listening to Midnight in Paris soundtrack while reading... but I do hope a broader narrative is advanced further soon.