Loving Sabotage

“Loving Sabotage” by Amélie Nothomb (Belgium) Synopsis The daughter of diplomats posted to Peking in the mid-seventies, our unnamed narrator charges about her tightly enclosed world on her ‘horse’ (bicycle) with the dictatorial clarity and loneliness of a warrior-philosopher. ‘From puberty onwards’, she announces at one point, ‘life is just an epilogue’. There, on the asphalt-playground-battlefield, she discovers her first love: six-year-old Elena, her very … Continue reading Loving Sabotage

The Book of Proper Names

“The Book of Proper Names” by Amélie Nothomb (Belgium) Synopsis and Review “The Book of Proper Names”: a Modern Fairy Tale for Adults “The Book of Proper Names” by Amélie Nothombe is a modern fairy tale for adults complete with an orphan girl, a wicked stepmother, a prince charming, and a happy ending. But like all fairy tales, beneath the surface is a story which … Continue reading The Book of Proper Names