Reviews for Rosie Carpe

The average rating for Rosie Carpe based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-12-04 00:00:00 Jonathan Gehret An endearing and breathless style, bringing to mind Boris Vian's little pearl Heartsnatcher, kept me skating along the thin-ice plot, opaque happenings and wraithlike protagonist for the first two parts. Rosie Carpe is a deliriously enigmatic character, a female receptacle, airily disengaged from her surroundings, who finds herself knocked up by a hotel manager and amateur pornographer, constantly pining for her brother Lazare. NDiaye's narrator is cheek-to-cheek with her characters, yet she offers erudite assessments of their behaviour (don't tell the creative writing tutors)'flighty and profound in Rosie's case, not so strong in Lagrand's narrative. In fact, this position switch disengaged me completely from the text'our microbiological attachment to Rosie, distant even when close, is taxing enough, so when the position swifts to a lesser character, it's near impossible to pass through the opaque fog. So I gave up. Sorry Marie. I'll try harder next time. NDiaye is one of France's top female black writers: this is her only book in English translation.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-08-03 00:00:00 Harry Morton Very depressing although excellent written. Even the positive characters just do not have the will and power to fight the evil. A good portrait of a "no way out" situation and with a lot of in-depth monologues by the main character. Superbly described fears and thought of the characters. Great literature although very hard (and slow) to read.