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Indlæser... The Diver's Clothes Lie Emptyaf Vendela Vida
Indlæser...
Bliv medlem af LibraryThing for at finde ud af, om du vil kunne lide denne bog. Der er ingen diskussionstråde på Snak om denne bog. 4.5/5 ( ) A divorced woman traveling alone in Morocco has her wallet and passport stolen in the lobby of a hotel, the nightmare of any person abroad. She tries to work with hotel security and the local police, but finds it difficult, and when one officer suggests he has found her possessions but gives her someone else’s, on a whim she assumes the other person’s identity, leading to a series of misadventures. It was a little hard for me to swallow the premise initially, but as the book wore on, playing with identity, a critique of the filmmaking industry, and its revelations of both past and present betrayal, I was mesmerized. Vida uses a second person narrative style that fits this story perfectly. I also loved the tie to the Rumi poem which was drawn upon for the title. Light and breezy, enjoyable ChickLit to read with some laugh out loud moments yet it didn’t stay with me. The characters remain two-dimensional, although many people do as well, so perhaps that wasn’t the issue. It was like experiencing someone’s dream, after they had read the Rumi poem, where everything made sense at the time, with no resolution. A great beach book but oddly unsatisfying despite some good lines and descriptive elements. I picked this up randomly at the library.....A quick, fairly light, but entertaining read about a woman stranded on her own in Morocco. Her ID and money is stolen and she ends up stuck and not knowing what to do - a series of unbelievable (but mildly entertaining) events happen that keep the story moving along. The odd writing "technique" used was disconcerting at first, but I eventually got used to it. Told entirely in 2nd person, "I" certainly got tired of reading "you". The end was abrupt and unfulfilling - it's like the author ran out of ridiculous scenarios so just .... stopped. Certainly not my favorite book. This book is built on the idea that your identity can be 'stolen' from you when cards/passport/etc are stolen. How can you prove who you are when your identity documents are stolen? Vida starts with this issue but then goes through a seemingly endless series of events in which the central character chooses a different identity or role. She pretends to be a mother, a wife, an actress, a press photographer, etc etc. The basic idea here is interesting, but I thought Vida took it much further than necessary, to the point where the exploration started to wear a bit thin. I felt the book was rescued, however, by Vida's clever characterisations and the way she describes interactions between people. Another interesting style factor is the second person perspective of the narration. I'm not sure why Vida uses it, and what it adds, but I suppose it's something to do with the theoretical basis of her identity exploration . . . which was lost on me. I think Vida is an intellectual at heart, and although I'm not intellectual at any level, her writing can be enjoyed at multiple levels, including mine.
We may brayingly announce ourselves to the world and crave its notice, but we desire freedom from the self too, the freedom to be someone else or perhaps to be no one at all. Distinctions
After being robbed of her wallet and passport while on a mysterious trip to Morocco, a woman feels a strange freedom of being stripped of her identity and soon begins pretending to be a well-known film star. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Indlæser... GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC-klassificeringVurderingGennemsnit:
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