Whatcha readin'? Week 14
- Le Nerd Librarian
- Apr 7, 2019
- 5 min read
Torrential rain is the best excuse to binge-read, and “do brunch” like a Parisian hipster.
On the menu this week:
[if !supportLists]- [endif]Entrée: An AI going haywire,
[if !supportLists]- [endif]Plat de résistance: A sensible girl falling for the school’s a**hole who is actually hiding a secret,
[if !supportLists]- [endif]Fromage: A family of weirdos fighting zombies, and
[if !supportLists]- [endif]Dessert: …whatever the literary equivalent of a telenovela is.
Let’s get to it before it gets cold!
L’algorithme du cœur
[Fiction (novel/Sci-Fi), Lang.: French]
Jean-Gabriel Causse. Flammarion, 2019. 320 p.
I won this book for my students in a Babelio giveaway. This was promoted as a novel about a young woman teaching an A.I. how to be more humane, or human, or whatever. It caught my eye because the storyline is very similar to that of Ada, one of the shortlisted novels for this year Folio Award (Prix Folio des lycéens), which I am shadowing with a group of Juniors.
I'm going to be honest. I had never heard of Jean-Gabriel Causse until 3 weeks ago, but being the open-minded reader that I am (ahem), I set out to do my homework dutifully. Sidenote: his previous novel has been translated into 15 languages, but not English! Huh!
Unfortunately, the C train being what is it, I was not able to attend the author’s talk and get it signed, but seeing I. ask to borrow it approximately 5 seconds after I showed it to him was reward enough. He even came back after his class to tell me “ouais, c’est trop bien”.
I, on the other hand, am not as enthusiastic. Even though I admit that this novel’s main problem is that it came out shortly after Antoine Bello’s Ada and Neil Shusterman’s Thunderhead.
The only thing it really has in common with Thunderhead, though, is the m@$¤£*%!§ italics. Editors, publishers, whoever, please stop using them, as I’ve stopped reading them! #RiseAgainstTheItalics
Ada vs. Algo du coeur
To me, Ada is a fun, provocative whodunnit that questions the nature of art and literature, and ask uncomfortable questions our relationship to technology, whereas L’algorithme du Coeur is… I don’t really know, to be honest.
The AI trying to figure out its place in the world is interesting at first. But then the protagonist brings in a Autism specialist (what is it with authors and using autism as a cop-out?!) to help with the AI’s éducation sentimentale, and that is where the author lost me.
Also, the characters. I did not buy any of them. And I’m not even talking about bringing Obama and Trump into the mix, which I found unnecessary. But seriously, the female lead is ridiculous, and does not act like a normal person. Her love interest is not much better.
Not much makes sense plot-wise, but le pompom is the awful sex scene, which, unbeknownst to Male-Lead-Whose-Name-I-Forget, she broadcasts worldwide. Apparently, the idea is to test the AI, who considers them to be his parents, and to see whether this will make It uncomfortable and prompt It to act. Need I say more?
Nevertheless, I must say that I did not hate it. Is it ridiculous? Yes. Is it a page-turner? No. But does it entertain? Yes.
I would still recommand watching Ex-machina instead.
Props to the cover artist: the glittery-red symbols are super cute!
Ma famille normale… contre les zombies
[Fiction (graphic novel/a genre in itself), Lang.: French]
Vincent Villeminot. Nathan, 2015. 256 p.
Randomness taken to an extreme. This gave me Monty Python vibes.
It’s funny (scathing, sometimes vulgar), but I don’t really know who the target audience for this is, because:
It is jam-packed with intertextual references that will go over the head of any teenager/anyone who is not French,
The style verges on “mock-intellectual”, sometimes on the lyric
The characters and the story are reminiscent of a children’s book,
The illustrations and the cover art give you 12+.
So… I guess I would recommend this to young-at-heart grown-ups, or to older teens who know their French classics.
Le copain de la fille du tueur
[Fiction (novel/High School Drama/Telenovela), Lang.: French]
Vincent Villeminot. Nathan, 2016. 264 p.
Urgh. I hate this for so many reasons:
[if !supportLists]1) [endif]The style: #Cringe
This reads like a bad translation from English (which it’s not). I know, literary translationese is fascinating as a concept, but it’s super annoying to read! This is why I dropped Brexit Romance after a couple hundred pages.
2) More #Cringe.
I don’t know if the use of the N-word and other such joyful expressions should be attributed to the author’s inadequate knowledge of the English language, but no matter the reason. Fren-glish is never a good idea, unless you’re code-switching with people who understand you. And the N-word, just no.
3) The story: #WTF?
This here is like a bad telenovela (an oxymoron?). A brooding rich kid falls for the daughter of a cartel Moghul. His best friend is the son of an African dictator. They meet at a rich kid’s school in Switzerland and start a football team. But… wait for it… the girl is a mind-reader! So the boy’s inner monologue is actually addressed to her directly in the second half of the book. More ridiculousness ensues, but we’ll stop here.
Needless to say, the characterization is crap, and I couldn't bring myself to care about anyone or anything.
It’s a no!
Holding Up the Universe
[Fiction (novel/High School Drama/Disabilities), Lang.: English]
Jennifer Niven. Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2016. 391 p.
I enjoyed this book. Holding Up the Universe very much fits the canon of the American High School Romance.
The style is relatively fluid, the characters are cute, and the overall, anti-bullying message is positive. Basically, it delivers what is advertised on the cover. But because of this, it is also predictable, and I was never engrossed in the story the way I am when I read Heather Demetrios or Becky Albertalli, for instance.
For a 21st-century American High School Romance, please mix:
[if !supportLists]- A suburban High School
[if !supportLists]- [endif]An awkward meet-“cute” (more like meet-“awful” in this case).
[if !supportLists]- [endif]Alternate focalization
[if !supportLists]- [endif]Simultaneous dialogue and inner monologues
[if !supportLists]- [endif]Two teenagers who despise each other at first but end up falling in love: The boy’s an insecure poser, while the girl is a sensible, beautiful soul.
[if !supportLists]- [endif]A hidden connection between said-teenagers (drama ahead! – not really)
[if !supportLists]- [endif]A positive message: bullying is awful, empathy is the way to go
[if !supportLists]- [endif]A 2nd positive message: do you boo, don’t be afraid to stand out, make up your own rules…
And there you have it, a perfectly pleasant Teen Romance, which gives it audience what it wants!
Special mention to the author for the way she crafted Jack’s inner monologue to make us see through the eyes of a bully (Yes, Jack is a bully, there is no other way to put it). Similarly to the male protagonist in A Silent Voice, Jack’s actions are explained – but no excused – in a convincing way, without using pure evil/autism/etc., as a cop-out. It was interesting to see the main character act like an a**hole to hide his disability, and that he didn’t necessarily think of himself as a bully.
The character of Libby is not as convincing. For someone who was trapped in her house for years due to her weight (she couldn’t fit through the door), and therefore homeschooled throughout Middle School without any interaction with anyone her age, she is unbelievably strong and confident, and always trying to make a statement.
However, a second special mention to the intelligent way in which the obesity issue is dealt with, which is reminiscent of The Upside of Unrequited.
The character keeps coming back to To Kill a Mockingbird, with its message of tolerance, acceptance, and withholding judgement. A quote that comes back again and again is Atticus Finch’s “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
This reminded me of OG Skam’s famous “Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. be kind. always.”
Tolerance seems to be in! Now, who can argue with that!
Aiiight, that’s all for this week! Happy readin’!
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