Product Description

"It's the women who upset the applecart. Between themselves they talk only about the practicalities of life," declares Duras in this collection of her transcribed conversations with friend Jerome Beaujour. Some of her free-ranging meditations are short and deceptively simple, while many are autobiographical and reveal her most intimate thoughts about motherhood, her struggle with alcohol, her love for a young man, and more.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #760122 in Books
• Published on: 1993-10-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 143 pages

From Publishers Weekly
This loosely knit collection of intensely personal pieces captures the wide-ranging interests and sharp-eyed intellectual focus of France's grande dame of letters.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Target Reader
I really don't think I was the target audience for this book. I had a very hard time getting through it, mostly because Duras has this infuriating habit of saying general, encompassing statements without any real facts to back them up.

Case in point: "All men are homosexual."

No. No, Marguerite, I strongly disagree with you. If you would offer some concrete reasons as to why you feel this way, that would be fine, but in the book, no strong reasons are really offered. You just say things and continue onward in the book.

This is not to say that the book is entirely without merit. There are several short sections in the book that I thought were worth thinking about. She has some interesting things to say... I just wish they were phrased in a way that didn't make me grit my teeth.

If you're new to Duras, I would suggest starting with "The Lover." It is a much less frustrating book to get through. It's also fairly interesting.

Apologies to those who loved this book. Perhaps you were more her target audience than I was.

¿Martini?
Creo que Duras es una de aquellas escritoras como Anais Nin (preferiblemente con sus diarios) o Sylvia Palth, con la "sharpiada" inteligencia de lograr que sus historias personales se conviertan también en las historias del lector. Mujeres que analizan la vida, la desgarran y luego operan de nuevo para reparar los tejidos abiertos. Este libro son varias historias sobre varios temas. Son cortas y intensamente deliciciosas de leer.

I do believe Duras is one of those writters like Anais Nin or Sylvia Plath, with a sharp intelligence of achiving the task of transforming their own stories into stories also for the reader. Women analizing life, to rip it and then been able to repair the open wounds. This books is about many stories of many topics. The stories are short and intensly delicious to read.