by Per Olov Enquist
This is one of these books you would never read without recommendation. My recommendation was the series “Great Novels of the 20th Century” published by the German newspaper “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. I love this series as you can see from this blog. I wouldn’t have discovered so many good books in the last couple of years.A nice side effects is that you get to know interesting books from countries and cultures, which are not dominant in the global market. They just do not have the marketing power of a N.Y.T bestseller list.
Superficially, it is a book about Marie Curie – the first person to win two Nobel Prizes – and Blanche Pitman – a person famous for being the public medium for a famous psychologist in the 19th century France. As side note, the famous psychologist was Sigmund Freud’s teacher.
The story of both women is told by Blanche as snippets of fictitious diary entries. The gaps are bridged by comments and additional information of the author himself. These diary snippets trick you into the belief that you read a true story. It is a very subtle play with your imagination. I actually searched their stories to find out what is true. In the course of my search I found out that many readers felt alike.
Deeper, it is a book about love and its infinite assumptions, mis-understandings, hopes, dependencies on your own feelings, on the perceptions of the others, how limitations turn into strengths …. and I could carry on. It is a small book, but writing this summary I realize how complex it is . It is not an easy read, but worth the effort. It won’t leave your thoughts so easy.
Superficially, it is a book about Marie Curie – the first person to win two Nobel Prizes – and Blanche Pitman – a person famous for being the public medium for a famous psychologist in the 19th century France. As side note, the famous psychologist was Sigmund Freud’s teacher.
The story of both women is told by Blanche as snippets of fictitious diary entries. The gaps are bridged by comments and additional information of the author himself. These diary snippets trick you into the belief that you read a true story. It is a very subtle play with your imagination. I actually searched their stories to find out what is true. In the course of my search I found out that many readers felt alike.
Deeper, it is a book about love and its infinite assumptions, mis-understandings, hopes, dependencies on your own feelings, on the perceptions of the others, how limitations turn into strengths …. and I could carry on. It is a small book, but writing this summary I realize how complex it is . It is not an easy read, but worth the effort. It won’t leave your thoughts so easy.
Facts:
English title: The Book about Blanche and Marie
Original title: Boken om Blanche och Marie
Published: 2004
