Amélie Nothomb's portrait

Amélie from Belgium

Let's face the truth: Amélie became quite famous because she was a weirdo. She was invited on French television cause she claimed to eat rotten fruits and all. Fortunately, this light provocation was just here to make her career even greater, in my humble opinion...

So what about Amélie? Yes, she is Belgian, but she was born and raised in Japan till she was five (her father was a diplomat for the Belgian government), and remained Japanese addicted since then. She moved to several countries afterwards (China, Bangladesh, the US), but she fell in love with Japan, and no other countries could make her more talkative!

She became popular at age 23, when she released Hygiène de l'assassin, a novel about a vicious writer and a female journalist.

Fictional... not!

Although she's been quite good at writing novels and other fictions (except her previous book, Journal d'une Hirondelle, which is crappy), I'm especially keen on her autobiographic novels. Amélie's most famous book is probably Stupeur et Tremblements (Fear and Trembling), where she depicts her own life as an office lady in a German company based in Tokyo. Her light style when describing very serious or terrible topics and the way she has to philosophy about anything make her readings pleasant.

An interesting thing about most of her fiction novels is the whole story takes place at the same place: the two characters are stuck into the writer's filthy and dark flat in Hygiène de l'assassin, the two old persons and their neighbors are isolated and only go from their house to their neighbors' in Les Catilinaires, Amélie and the Scientist from the Future stay in the same room while talking about Pompeii in Peplum, and the heroes of the latest Trash TV program are locked in their concentration camp in Acide Sulfurique (the story of this one is quite "borderline", I admit).

On the other hand, when she starts writing about real events of her life, it's always in huge and populated spaces. She sticks her face on the windows of the huge skyscraper in order to contemplate Tokyo by night in Stupeur et Tremblements, she starves as a child in beautiful Southeastern Asian countries landscapes, and she runs alone like a madman in the mountain covered with snow in Ni d'Ève ni d'Adam. Strange, isn't it?

Her last book's cover

About her last book

Ni d'Ève ni d'Adam takes place in Tokyo back to 1989, when Amélie is still a student. She decided to go back to Japan in order to keep learning Japanese, and to work there. These events take place just before Fear and Trembling ones... In a way to enhance her Japanese skills, she gives French tutoring to a Japanese student. A very peculiar Japanese guy. And that's how everything starts...

Actually, I can't tell you more about it! You must read it by yourself... but I really enjoyed Amélie's style. As usual, she has a very cynical way to talk about death (not as cynical as in Biographie de la Faim - Life of Hunger - though, where she depicts herself as an anorexic child). And as usual, she explains Japanese weird details better than anyone.

The only problem with her books (especially the autobiographic ones) is that you finish it in two hours... and then you ask more!

My own little Top 5

Miss Nothomb released 15 novels, including five autobiographies. If you had to read only five of them, here are my favorites:

  1. Biographie de la Faim (Life of Hunger), where Amélie travels with her family as a child, and becomes anorexic (I know, it doesn't sound exciting, but trust me! it worths it);
  2. Stupeur et Tremblements (Fear and Trembling), where she works as an OL for almost one year in a huge company in Tokyo, and discover the horror of Japanese bureaucratic life... an exquisite piece of writing!
  3. Métaphysique des Tubes (The Character of Rain), aka Amélie's biography between age 0 and 5... where you learn she was completely still and mute for the two first years of existence, until her grandmother brings her white chocolate from Belgium...
  4. Petit Robert des Noms Propres (The Book of Proper Names), the amazing story of Plectrude, a little girl willing to become a ballet dancer. This book is really linked to Amélie's experiences (hunger obsession, etc.);
  5. Ni d'Ève ni d'Adam, just because it's the perfect prequel to Stupeur et Tremblements. Same style, same country, same author... great!