by Georges Perec
We begin. We turn to the first page, and we find ourselves already placed, not only on location but in the location. We are in one of the public areas. It is not, however, the entrance hall, the first of these areas which would be encountered were we to follow the logic of entering buildings. Then a...
Mr. Perec's "Life: A User's Manual" has no protagonist. Except for, maybe, the building. The 10 story apartment building at 11 Rue Simon-Crubellier, Paris, France. The building and its stairs, elevator, floors, basements, attic, apartments, bedrooms, dining rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, and every fu...
Puckish, intriguing, challenging. Perec bases his narrative on the inhabitants of a Parisian apartment, moving from one room to another, teasing out connections between the people he describes and peppering his prose with little puzzles and anecdotes. In my list of top experimental fiction: http://l...
To that old imponderable question, "If you were going to be stranded on a desert island, and you could only take one book with you...?" I now have my answer. Because I think that it would probably take decades of rereading to completely exhaust this book. It's not that it's full of lofty or difficu...
I heard so many good things about this book but, much as I tried, I couldn't finish it. Maybe I'll pick it up again someday, but it didn't spark for me.
My favourite book of all time... Everything a novel should or ever could be. Big characters, ripping yarns, wonderful descriptions, word play, structural experimentation and a sad truth at its heart... To read and read again and never exhaust its possibilities. RIP, GP.
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