Ma vie n’est pas derrière moi

ni avant

ni maintenant

Elle est dedans

Jacques Prévert

10 February 2007

Nina Berberova

I’m writing this mostly because I wouldn’t want to forget, as time goes by, my comments on this book… The book of happiness was not at all what I expected, maybe that’s what I did wrong… expecting something can end up very disappointing. What I didn’t like? Besides de russian atmosphere (that definetly is not for me), the pursue of happiness didn’t came out as it should have in my opinion… Her point is to illustrate the many faces of this complex feeling of “happiness”, but after a brief chapter in which Vera is happy –her childhood- she faces poverty, the faith of living by the side of a very sick husband who depended on her, than chasing an illusion of happiness in Southern France where she meets her last stop… The man who apparently makes her happy, they love each other, but honestly, it wasn’t that convincing… She(Nina Berberova) made the character too sad and hopeless, so that she could suddenly be happy again… I’ve read so many reviews about how profound and psychological this book is, and I can’t say I find it so. I’m sorry if I seam harsh or insensitive, it’s only my opinion… not my type of book.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I liked this book. It's not one of my favourite books, but I think it's a well-written book. It made me feel very strange reading it... I can't actually describe the state of mind I had while reading it, but it made a powerful impression on me :)

Alexandra Popescu said...

I think we all have a sensitive spot for books, and because we are so different they touch us in different ways... But it's nice to share these impressions and always see other points of view, in order to keep an open mind :)