I should say the premise of this book was interesting, but the way it was presented made me lose interest. There's essentially two couples: Ninon and Gino, as well as Ninon's parents, Jean and Zdena. Perspectives are all over the place: it even begins with the story being told by a quasi-omniscient blind man. And the story more or less moves because the reader encounters the characters over and over again, and so it essentially feels like one is given pieces of a puzzle, one by one, and the reader slowly puts them together to see the big picture. However, the emerging big picture is bleak, dim, and not at all crystal clear. I suppose that was the intention, but as I read this in a post-pandemic environment, it feels more like Covid-induced brain fog than literary art.
And speaking of a pandemic, this book actually touches on AIDS. Ninon has AIDS. And part of the story is narrating how she and the people around her are dealing with it. Ninon, upon learning that she has AIDS, actually wanted to cut off everyone from her life. Her partner, Gino, on the other hand, proposed marriage to her. I suppose one lesson this book wants to tell is that there's always two sides to a coin: what might be a difficult moment can also be flipped and seen as something positive.
In any case, I have to say I didn't get hooked. It was too bland and highfalutin at the same time. As I said earlier, in the end, I felt lukewarm ambivalence. Hence I am giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. Funny, the other two books I have read by John Berger also received 3 out of 5 from me. And would this make me want to pick yet another Berger novel? Most probably not.
See my other book reviews here.
