Jimmy's Reviews > Portrait of a Man Unknown

I wanted to like this more than I actually did. It's French, it's experimental, and it was recommended to me by smart folks. But I just didn't feel it. I thought her prose was enjoyable enough, but a bit tedious. The format of her similes are always the same, i.e. something simple compared to something long drawn out. And I wanted some variation in her technique. The whole "mystery" aspect was interesting for a little bit until I thought I figured it out, which was about 10 pages in. I am still not sure if I am right or not, since no answers are ever revealed (which I don't mind, I actually prefer it this way), but the nagging sense that I was right, and that the book was really about (view spoiler)[the writing of a book, i.e. about a man (the narrator) who has actually imagined the lives of these other people, who couldn't help himself but imagine them, and who depended on these people of his creation (whether or not they really existed, or whether they existed as separate forms) screamed 'metafiction' to me in a way that didn't increase my pleasure. (hide spoiler)]. I know I spent the whole review complaining about this book, but I actually found it generally enjoyable to read. I just didn't like it as much as I wanted to like it, or thought I would like it.