Profil

This novel has pretty much everything: an alternate history setting that is at times omnipresent and a detail at others ; a mysterious contemporary artist ; many LGBTQ+ characters ; drama and love. It weaves brilliantly facts and fiction, real artists and writers (oh hello David Bowie & Susan Sontag) and completely imaginary characters (or are they?), and manages to be serious with obvious satirical elements. Very enjoyable.

Une stupéfiante enquête sur un groupuscule maoïste, son fonctionnement et l'emprise de son leader charismatique. On voit comment l'emprise fonctionne, et la plongée idéologique, la radicalité qui en ont découlé. Vraiment fascinant.

A gorgeous book, I hadn't annotated a book so much in a while. It's thoughtful, imaginative and highly political.

I loved the idea of playing with the trope of "the chosen one" and putting an elderly woman instead. But the execution wasn't as good as the pitch: the main idea and character felt under-exploited (a teenager takes over mostly), and I could see no real evolution in her. Some characters weren't very useful and some lacked depth, being just a bit more than a name, while becoming important in the end. The writing was good enough, but there's only so many "fidgeting with the hem of their t-shirt" or "hugged herself" or "her hip hurt badly" that I can take. All in all, some nice and fun ideas, but maybe it could have gone really into parodying the genre, or on the contrary, be more serious about it all, avoiding cliches, repetitions etc.

I'm simultaneously jealous of this whole Caucasus mountain trek, and grateful that the author described the scenery, the people he meets and their history in such a generous and humble way. This is not an ethno-study, an adventure book full of swagger or a historical essay, it's journalism in the purest form, with genuine curiosity and a real attachment to a region and its inhabitants.