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Anguille sous roche
Quelque part dans l’océan Indien, une jeune femme se noie. Ses forces l’abandonnent mais sa pensée, tel un animal sur le point de mourir, se cambre : dans un ultime sursaut de vie et de révolte, la naufragée nous entraîne dans le récit de sa vie...
Roman aussi étourdissant qu'envoûtant, qui n'est pas sans rappeler L'Art de la joie de Goliarda Sapienza par la beauté de son héroïne et la force de sa langue, Anguille sous roche est un miracle littéraire :
« On entre dans Anguille sous roche comme en eaux troubles. Je l’ai lu debout, gîtant comme un mât dans la houle, ballotté par le flux verbal de la mélopée obsédante et hypnotique d’Anguille, l’héroïne narratrice. Je me suis laissé emporter dans les flots de sa prose organique et vivante, une seule longue phrase rythmée par la nécessité et l’urgence, proche de la tradition orale. Et j’ai glissé sur les lames de sa pensée, avec ses errements, ses certitudes et ses cris de colère. […] Dans cette histoire de jeune fille pas sage, de passage, de traversée et de passeur, la voix ultramarine d’Anguille sous roche ouvre un sillon qui n’est pas près de se refermer. » (Laurent Boscq)
Roman aussi étourdissant qu'envoûtant, qui n'est pas sans rappeler L'Art de la joie de Goliarda Sapienza par la beauté de son héroïne et la force de sa langue, Anguille sous roche est un miracle littéraire :
« On entre dans Anguille sous roche comme en eaux troubles. Je l’ai lu debout, gîtant comme un mât dans la houle, ballotté par le flux verbal de la mélopée obsédante et hypnotique d’Anguille, l’héroïne narratrice. Je me suis laissé emporter dans les flots de sa prose organique et vivante, une seule longue phrase rythmée par la nécessité et l’urgence, proche de la tradition orale. Et j’ai glissé sur les lames de sa pensée, avec ses errements, ses certitudes et ses cris de colère. […] Dans cette histoire de jeune fille pas sage, de passage, de traversée et de passeur, la voix ultramarine d’Anguille sous roche ouvre un sillon qui n’est pas près de se refermer. » (Laurent Boscq)
320 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2016
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About the author
Ali Zamir
4 books7 followersAli Zamir a 27 ans. Il vit dans l’archipel des Comores, sur l’île d’Anjouan. Anguille sous roche est son premier roman.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
December 24, 2024
Eel (anguila) está bajo el agua, en un estado de ensoñación yendo hacia la muerte, mientras reflexiona y nos cuenta sobre sus diecisiete años de vida; con muchos desvíos, que ella misma procura enderezar mientras se reprende a sí misma.
Su vida ha transcurrido en un pueblo pesquero de la isla Anjouan que forma parte del país denominado Unión de las Comoras, en el Océano Índico frente a la costa de Mozambique, y al norte de Madagascar.
Eel se muestra a sí misma como una persona callada y observadora, muy segura de sí misma, que mira con desprecio las contundentes y pretenciosas afirmaciones que suelen hacer los hombres en sus conversaciones, en particular las de su padre llamado Sabelotodo, así como las conductas acomodaticias, reflejo de su debilidad, de sus congéneres.
“… debíamos hacernos responsables de lo que había pasado en nuestras camas y en nuestras cabezas, hay que ser honestos sobre estas cosas, todo el tiempo, quiero decir que no sirve de nada hacerse la víctima como hacen algunas chicas, esas criaturas incoherentes que paladean los placeres de la vida solo para maldecir una vez que han comido la fruta…”
“...me mataría de risa con todo esto si no tuviera tanta presión para terminar con estos recuerdos, tratando de entender qué me pasó, quiero decir, cuando pienso en toda la gente con mierda en el cerebro soltando basura todo el tiempo no sé si reír o llorar, pero ahora no tengo tiempo para eso…”
Su vida va por el carril que ella, consciente, quiere que vaya, hasta que conoce el amor, período en el que debe hacer un mayor esfuerzo mantener la coherencia de su conducta.
“...en el aula, me sentaba allí soñando, mi mente estaba en otro lugar, no podía dejar de soñar, soñar, soñar, no podía sacarme ese beso robado de la mente..."
La narración y los personajes están muy bien construidos. Por momentos, la ansiedad por conocer los motivos de su final, hacen que se lean con impaciencia el detallado relato de su vida.
Una muy buena novela.
Su vida ha transcurrido en un pueblo pesquero de la isla Anjouan que forma parte del país denominado Unión de las Comoras, en el Océano Índico frente a la costa de Mozambique, y al norte de Madagascar.
Eel se muestra a sí misma como una persona callada y observadora, muy segura de sí misma, que mira con desprecio las contundentes y pretenciosas afirmaciones que suelen hacer los hombres en sus conversaciones, en particular las de su padre llamado Sabelotodo, así como las conductas acomodaticias, reflejo de su debilidad, de sus congéneres.
“… debíamos hacernos responsables de lo que había pasado en nuestras camas y en nuestras cabezas, hay que ser honestos sobre estas cosas, todo el tiempo, quiero decir que no sirve de nada hacerse la víctima como hacen algunas chicas, esas criaturas incoherentes que paladean los placeres de la vida solo para maldecir una vez que han comido la fruta…”
“...me mataría de risa con todo esto si no tuviera tanta presión para terminar con estos recuerdos, tratando de entender qué me pasó, quiero decir, cuando pienso en toda la gente con mierda en el cerebro soltando basura todo el tiempo no sé si reír o llorar, pero ahora no tengo tiempo para eso…”
Su vida va por el carril que ella, consciente, quiere que vaya, hasta que conoce el amor, período en el que debe hacer un mayor esfuerzo mantener la coherencia de su conducta.
“...en el aula, me sentaba allí soñando, mi mente estaba en otro lugar, no podía dejar de soñar, soñar, soñar, no podía sacarme ese beso robado de la mente..."
La narración y los personajes están muy bien construidos. Por momentos, la ansiedad por conocer los motivos de su final, hacen que se lean con impaciencia el detallado relato de su vida.
Una muy buena novela.
September 16, 2023
#ReadAroundTheWorld. #Comoros
“life isn’t always a sweet-tasting fruit…most of the time it’s bitter-sweet, it’s acidic, salty and sugary all at once, tasting this mish-mash is what living is all about,”
A Girl Called Eel is a highly unusual book, written by Comorian author Ali Zamir in a single sentence in a stream of consciousness style. It was the Winner of the Prix Senghor 2016 and other awards and has been translated from French. It is set mainly in Mutsamubi on Ndzwani (Anjouan) island.
For those, like me, who don’t know too much about The Comoros, it is an island country in Southeastern Africa which became independent from France in 1975. It is made up of three major islands and many smaller islands, including the volcanic Comoro islands, except Mayotte which remains an overseas department of France. The majority religion is Sunni Islam. Most of the people are ethnically Comorian, which is a mixture of Malagasy, Bantu and Arab. Traditionally, women on Ndzwani wear red and white patterned garments called shiromani, as described in the story. The Comoros is a relatively poor country with over half of the population involved in agriculture, predominantly production of spices.
The book is the story of a 17 year old girl, Anguille, who calls herself Eel. She is lost at sea, close to death, and recalls the memories of her life. She tells her story as the daughter of a fisherman and describes life in The Comoros. I found the first fifth of the book difficult to engage with, in part due to the unusual style, but as I went on I became captured by Eel’s story and her comments on life and culture. She goes on philosophical tangents with comments such as, “her soul had departed her body, it wasn’t hers to keep in the first place, our soul is like an invisible lamp that’s lent to us for a short time while we play our part on this stage.” She describes her father’s rantings and ravings, who comes out with gems like, “do a donkey a favour and all you get by way of gratitude is farts,” her awkward relationship with her sister Rattler, and the way her life turns upside down when she meets handsome fisherman Voracious. This was an interesting, worthwhile read that I’m glad I chose.
Mutsamudu. Toplist.
“life isn’t always a sweet-tasting fruit…most of the time it’s bitter-sweet, it’s acidic, salty and sugary all at once, tasting this mish-mash is what living is all about,”
A Girl Called Eel is a highly unusual book, written by Comorian author Ali Zamir in a single sentence in a stream of consciousness style. It was the Winner of the Prix Senghor 2016 and other awards and has been translated from French. It is set mainly in Mutsamubi on Ndzwani (Anjouan) island.
For those, like me, who don’t know too much about The Comoros, it is an island country in Southeastern Africa which became independent from France in 1975. It is made up of three major islands and many smaller islands, including the volcanic Comoro islands, except Mayotte which remains an overseas department of France. The majority religion is Sunni Islam. Most of the people are ethnically Comorian, which is a mixture of Malagasy, Bantu and Arab. Traditionally, women on Ndzwani wear red and white patterned garments called shiromani, as described in the story. The Comoros is a relatively poor country with over half of the population involved in agriculture, predominantly production of spices.
The book is the story of a 17 year old girl, Anguille, who calls herself Eel. She is lost at sea, close to death, and recalls the memories of her life. She tells her story as the daughter of a fisherman and describes life in The Comoros. I found the first fifth of the book difficult to engage with, in part due to the unusual style, but as I went on I became captured by Eel’s story and her comments on life and culture. She goes on philosophical tangents with comments such as, “her soul had departed her body, it wasn’t hers to keep in the first place, our soul is like an invisible lamp that’s lent to us for a short time while we play our part on this stage.” She describes her father’s rantings and ravings, who comes out with gems like, “do a donkey a favour and all you get by way of gratitude is farts,” her awkward relationship with her sister Rattler, and the way her life turns upside down when she meets handsome fisherman Voracious. This was an interesting, worthwhile read that I’m glad I chose.
Mutsamudu. Toplist.
February 17, 2021
Thousands of commas, hundreds of line breaks, five chapters, one sentence. Characters named All-Knowing, Eel, Rattler, Voracious, Voila, Survivor and Miraculous living on the Comoros island of Anjouan. A piece of experimental writing that worked well with the narrator Eel relating her 17 year old life and her affair with an older man.
The plot wasn't very original but Eel's voice and the view into Comoros life made for an enjoyable read.
The plot wasn't very original but Eel's voice and the view into Comoros life made for an enjoyable read.
September 21, 2023
Uff. Erstmal ausatmen. 3 Sterne sind sehr großzügig, aber ich mag, was in diesem Roman steckt, kann seine literarische und kulturelle Bedeutung wertschätzen, ich mag einfach nur nicht, wie Zamir diese Geschichte erzählt. Denn er tut es in einem Satz. Auf über 250 Seiten. Es ist zum Schreien. Wer stream of consciousness mag, gib' ihm, ansonsten braucht man wirklich einen langen Atem und viel Geduld, um diesem Roman folgen zu können. Oft hätte ich das Buch gerne einfach in die Ecke gepfeffert und nie wieder aufgehoben, aber die Bücher, die uns von den Komoren, einem kleinen afrikanischen Inselstaat mit gerade mal 800.000 Einwohnern, zur Verfügung stehen sind rar. Das Land hat keine ausschweifende literarische Geschichte oder Tradition und so fiel mir Ali Zamirs Die Schiffbrüchige in die Hände. Und eines muss man Zamir lassen, wenn man etwas über die Komoren erfahren will, ist man hier genau richtig.
Im stürmischen Indischen Ozean ertrinkt die siebzehnjährige Anguille (= Aal), Zwillingsschwester von Crotale (= Klapperschlange) und Tochter von Connaît-tout (= Alleskenner), einem komorischen Fischer, der als Pseudo-Moralist und Philosoph das Leben auf leere Formeln reduziert. In der ihr verbleibenden Zeit "schnappt sie sich die Vergangenheit" und macht sich daran, die Geheimnisse ihres aus dem Meer geborenen und zum Meer zurückkehrenden Aallebens zu erzählen, jene Geheimnisse, die normalerweise unter der Stille und der Dunkelheit des Felsens verborgen sind. Eine Geschichte von enttäuschter Liebe, von betrogener Liebe, die sich endlos wiederholt, eine Illustration der Gier der Menschen, die, von ihrem Geist oder ihrem Körper beherrscht, vergessen, dass zwischen "Kopf und Arsch" ein Herz liegt.
Es geht darum, sich Gehör zu verschaffen, ihre Freiheit und Einzigartigkeit herauszuschreien, zu zeigen, dass sie existiert hat, dass sie "ihr Leben und ihre Taten selbst gewählt hat", dass sie auf der "dunklen Bühne der Welt" die Schauspielerin ihrer eigenen Tragödie war, anstatt diese mit Bitterkeit zu verlassen "wie ein Dummkopf, der seine Rolle schlecht gespielt hat". Denn in dieser Welt, die kein Ende hat, "müssen die Schauspieler zwangsläufig desertieren, indem sie sich hinter die Kulissen schleichen", und das "mit einem süßen Geschmack im Hals". Das zeigt, wie wichtig es für sie ist, die Aufmerksamkeit des Publikums zu gewinnen und sie während der gesamten Erzählung zu behalten. Und wie dringend das Unterfangen ist, wenn sie es zu Ende bringen will, bevor sie "in den [letzten] Schlaf fällt".
Die Geschichte, die Ali Zamir in Anguille sous roche (= etwas ist im Busch) erzählt, indem er seine Fantasie "wie die Bewegung des Meeres" schweifen lässt, ist ein "verbales Abenteuer", das in einem langen Satz von über 250 Seiten abläuft und nur durch wenige Pausen in Form von fünf Kapitel-Titelseiten "aufgelockert" wird. Neben der Schilderung des Alltagslebens von Anguille und ihrer Familie sowie der lokalen Bräuche (Essen, Kleidung und Feiern etc.) geht es in diesem "aaligen" Roman, der in der Stadt Mutsamudu auf der Insel Anjouan spielt, die hauptsächlich von Fischern bevölkert wird, offensichtlich vor allem um Sprache. Daher ist Die Schiffbrüchige wohl von Anfang an, aufgrund seines Anspruchs und seiner Erzählweise, zum Scheitern verurteilt, zumindest wenn es um kommerziellen Erfolg geht. Wer will sich schon auf einen 250 Seiten-langen Schachtelsatz einlassen?
Zamir versucht seine eigene Sprache zu finden. Und das gelingt ihm auch. Ich kann aber sagen, dass es nicht meine Sprache ist. Die Schiffbrüchige ist zwar originell, wortgewaltig und witzig, aber eben auch unglaublich anstrengend, langatmig und um sich selbst kreisend. Sowohl inhaltlich als auch sprachlich wiederholt sich Zamir ständig. Und ich verstehe warum: im Moment des Todes läuft das Leben eben nicht wie ein Spielfilm ab, sondern eher wie in einem Zeitraffer, in dem alles gleichzeitig erscheint. Anguille ertrinkt. Man muss ihren langen Monolog wie in Apnoe lesen, mitgerissen von einem die Zeit aufhebenden Strom von Worten, einem unerbittlichen Strom, der manchmal von Leerstellen durchbrochen wird, die Absätze markieren und deren Fluss durch leichte Kommas angeregt wird. Und die Erzählerin selbst bringt ihr Selbstgespräch immer wieder in Gang, indem sie die stummen Zuhörer, an die sie sich wendet, zum Zeugen macht, sie anspricht und befragt und mit einbezieht, sich selbst geißelt und ermutigt, damit sie es schafft, ihre Erzählung rechtzeitig zu Ende zu bringen.
Leider geht dieser schönen Stilübung, die alles andere als eitel ist, irgendwann die Luft aus. Das liegt vor allem daran, dass die Geschichte (trotz einiger Überraschungen am Ende) zu langatmig ist, da sich der Autor darin erschöpft, sie bis ins kleinste Detail totzuerzählen. Man fragt sich, ob er seine Geschichte nur deshalb so ausufern lässt, um die beeindruckende Menge seiner stereotypen und originellen Ausdrücke unterbringen zu können.
Es ist einiges in diesem Roman zu finden. Eine neue Sprache – die zwar nicht immer funktioniert, aber immer ein Erlebnis ist. Spannende Charaktere, die mal mehr und mal weniger Klischees bedienen. Eine reiche (mir fremde) Landschaft, die zum Leben erwacht. Zwischen den Zeilen finden wir Ausflüge in die Kolonisation der Komoren, die Rolle von Frauen in der komorischen Gesellschaft, den Wunsch nach einem besseren Leben. Vieles kennt man, vieles nicht. Ihr müsst selbst wissen, ob ihr euch auf diese Reise begeben wollt.
Im stürmischen Indischen Ozean ertrinkt die siebzehnjährige Anguille (= Aal), Zwillingsschwester von Crotale (= Klapperschlange) und Tochter von Connaît-tout (= Alleskenner), einem komorischen Fischer, der als Pseudo-Moralist und Philosoph das Leben auf leere Formeln reduziert. In der ihr verbleibenden Zeit "schnappt sie sich die Vergangenheit" und macht sich daran, die Geheimnisse ihres aus dem Meer geborenen und zum Meer zurückkehrenden Aallebens zu erzählen, jene Geheimnisse, die normalerweise unter der Stille und der Dunkelheit des Felsens verborgen sind. Eine Geschichte von enttäuschter Liebe, von betrogener Liebe, die sich endlos wiederholt, eine Illustration der Gier der Menschen, die, von ihrem Geist oder ihrem Körper beherrscht, vergessen, dass zwischen "Kopf und Arsch" ein Herz liegt.
Es geht darum, sich Gehör zu verschaffen, ihre Freiheit und Einzigartigkeit herauszuschreien, zu zeigen, dass sie existiert hat, dass sie "ihr Leben und ihre Taten selbst gewählt hat", dass sie auf der "dunklen Bühne der Welt" die Schauspielerin ihrer eigenen Tragödie war, anstatt diese mit Bitterkeit zu verlassen "wie ein Dummkopf, der seine Rolle schlecht gespielt hat". Denn in dieser Welt, die kein Ende hat, "müssen die Schauspieler zwangsläufig desertieren, indem sie sich hinter die Kulissen schleichen", und das "mit einem süßen Geschmack im Hals". Das zeigt, wie wichtig es für sie ist, die Aufmerksamkeit des Publikums zu gewinnen und sie während der gesamten Erzählung zu behalten. Und wie dringend das Unterfangen ist, wenn sie es zu Ende bringen will, bevor sie "in den [letzten] Schlaf fällt".
Die Geschichte, die Ali Zamir in Anguille sous roche (= etwas ist im Busch) erzählt, indem er seine Fantasie "wie die Bewegung des Meeres" schweifen lässt, ist ein "verbales Abenteuer", das in einem langen Satz von über 250 Seiten abläuft und nur durch wenige Pausen in Form von fünf Kapitel-Titelseiten "aufgelockert" wird. Neben der Schilderung des Alltagslebens von Anguille und ihrer Familie sowie der lokalen Bräuche (Essen, Kleidung und Feiern etc.) geht es in diesem "aaligen" Roman, der in der Stadt Mutsamudu auf der Insel Anjouan spielt, die hauptsächlich von Fischern bevölkert wird, offensichtlich vor allem um Sprache. Daher ist Die Schiffbrüchige wohl von Anfang an, aufgrund seines Anspruchs und seiner Erzählweise, zum Scheitern verurteilt, zumindest wenn es um kommerziellen Erfolg geht. Wer will sich schon auf einen 250 Seiten-langen Schachtelsatz einlassen?
Zamir versucht seine eigene Sprache zu finden. Und das gelingt ihm auch. Ich kann aber sagen, dass es nicht meine Sprache ist. Die Schiffbrüchige ist zwar originell, wortgewaltig und witzig, aber eben auch unglaublich anstrengend, langatmig und um sich selbst kreisend. Sowohl inhaltlich als auch sprachlich wiederholt sich Zamir ständig. Und ich verstehe warum: im Moment des Todes läuft das Leben eben nicht wie ein Spielfilm ab, sondern eher wie in einem Zeitraffer, in dem alles gleichzeitig erscheint. Anguille ertrinkt. Man muss ihren langen Monolog wie in Apnoe lesen, mitgerissen von einem die Zeit aufhebenden Strom von Worten, einem unerbittlichen Strom, der manchmal von Leerstellen durchbrochen wird, die Absätze markieren und deren Fluss durch leichte Kommas angeregt wird. Und die Erzählerin selbst bringt ihr Selbstgespräch immer wieder in Gang, indem sie die stummen Zuhörer, an die sie sich wendet, zum Zeugen macht, sie anspricht und befragt und mit einbezieht, sich selbst geißelt und ermutigt, damit sie es schafft, ihre Erzählung rechtzeitig zu Ende zu bringen.
Leider geht dieser schönen Stilübung, die alles andere als eitel ist, irgendwann die Luft aus. Das liegt vor allem daran, dass die Geschichte (trotz einiger Überraschungen am Ende) zu langatmig ist, da sich der Autor darin erschöpft, sie bis ins kleinste Detail totzuerzählen. Man fragt sich, ob er seine Geschichte nur deshalb so ausufern lässt, um die beeindruckende Menge seiner stereotypen und originellen Ausdrücke unterbringen zu können.
Es ist einiges in diesem Roman zu finden. Eine neue Sprache – die zwar nicht immer funktioniert, aber immer ein Erlebnis ist. Spannende Charaktere, die mal mehr und mal weniger Klischees bedienen. Eine reiche (mir fremde) Landschaft, die zum Leben erwacht. Zwischen den Zeilen finden wir Ausflüge in die Kolonisation der Komoren, die Rolle von Frauen in der komorischen Gesellschaft, den Wunsch nach einem besseren Leben. Vieles kennt man, vieles nicht. Ihr müsst selbst wissen, ob ihr euch auf diese Reise begeben wollt.
March 30, 2021
Teenage girl Eel lives on the Comorian island of Anjouan with her twin sister Rattler and their father All-Knowing. Eel is curious about the world beyond what her overbearing father dictates. When she meets handsome fisherman, Voracious, who offers her the possibility of a life of liberation and love she cannot foresee what it will cost her or the fateful path it will lead her down.
A Girl Called Eel is a 271-page story that’s told in just one sentence. I wasn’t sure what to make of that to begin with, but it worked well, make it an impactful read and one that was easy to follow. There is still a lot of commas in this one sentence, along with line breaks, so it isn’t just pages and pages of block text. Having the story be told by Eel in one, almost desperate, sentence adds to the feel that it is a long string of conscious thought. Especially as ever now and then she interrupts herself, saying how she’s getting ahead of herself or mentioning what’s happening to her in the present as she recounts her past.
Eel basically tells her life story up to that moment, her and her sisters’ birth, how they got such unusual names, how she met and instantly fell in love with Voracious, and how her life unravelled, though if she hadn’t have been so naïve, she could’ve seen the warning signs miles away. Because that’s the thing about Eel, because she’s so inquisitive and studious and quiet, she believes she’s smarter and more capable than she is. She looks down on her fellow students, believing them to be trying too hard just because they open their textbooks, and she thinks her sister is wasting her life, hanging out with friends all the time, but when Rattler does try to focus more on herself and her future, Eel just scoffs and feels no one can change who they are.
Eel is a fascinating character to me. She’s headstrong and determined and curious, loves Voracious with her whole heart but she’s also incredibly self-centred and unfeeling towards a lot of other people. As she tells her life story, she doesn’t shy away from the cruel thoughts she thought in the moment, or the ones she now thinks with hindsight. She thinks she’s smarter and more aware of the world than she is, which then makes her more naïve and childish. All this doesn’t make her a particularly likeable character, but it does make her interesting.
The format of A Girl Called Eel, along with a compelling, if not likeable narrator, makes an almost typical story of a girl getting taken for a fool by an older man more interesting and engaging.
A Girl Called Eel is a 271-page story that’s told in just one sentence. I wasn’t sure what to make of that to begin with, but it worked well, make it an impactful read and one that was easy to follow. There is still a lot of commas in this one sentence, along with line breaks, so it isn’t just pages and pages of block text. Having the story be told by Eel in one, almost desperate, sentence adds to the feel that it is a long string of conscious thought. Especially as ever now and then she interrupts herself, saying how she’s getting ahead of herself or mentioning what’s happening to her in the present as she recounts her past.
Eel basically tells her life story up to that moment, her and her sisters’ birth, how they got such unusual names, how she met and instantly fell in love with Voracious, and how her life unravelled, though if she hadn’t have been so naïve, she could’ve seen the warning signs miles away. Because that’s the thing about Eel, because she’s so inquisitive and studious and quiet, she believes she’s smarter and more capable than she is. She looks down on her fellow students, believing them to be trying too hard just because they open their textbooks, and she thinks her sister is wasting her life, hanging out with friends all the time, but when Rattler does try to focus more on herself and her future, Eel just scoffs and feels no one can change who they are.
Eel is a fascinating character to me. She’s headstrong and determined and curious, loves Voracious with her whole heart but she’s also incredibly self-centred and unfeeling towards a lot of other people. As she tells her life story, she doesn’t shy away from the cruel thoughts she thought in the moment, or the ones she now thinks with hindsight. She thinks she’s smarter and more aware of the world than she is, which then makes her more naïve and childish. All this doesn’t make her a particularly likeable character, but it does make her interesting.
The format of A Girl Called Eel, along with a compelling, if not likeable narrator, makes an almost typical story of a girl getting taken for a fool by an older man more interesting and engaging.
December 5, 2022
4.5 stars
March 17, 2024
Kept falling asleep.
January 19, 2022
DNF @ 20%
I wanted to like this book, after reading a few reviews I thought it was something I could get into. However, I just found that Eel’s endless stream of thought was off putting. I genuinely read about 3-4 pages about a mosquito and how she let one land on her ear to tell her a secret and ended up with an infection?!
The narrative is distracting from an actual storyline.
I wanted to like this book, after reading a few reviews I thought it was something I could get into. However, I just found that Eel’s endless stream of thought was off putting. I genuinely read about 3-4 pages about a mosquito and how she let one land on her ear to tell her a secret and ended up with an infection?!
The narrative is distracting from an actual storyline.
February 21, 2025
read around the world: comoros
this is a stream of consciousness book from the perspective of a girl who is currently floating after presumably a boat crash and she tells the story of how she got there starting with an unfortunate romance and pregnancy leading to running away from home
this is a stream of consciousness book from the perspective of a girl who is currently floating after presumably a boat crash and she tells the story of how she got there starting with an unfortunate romance and pregnancy leading to running away from home
August 16, 2025
A Girl Called Eel by Ali Zamir is a daring debut from the Comoros, plunging readers into the turbulent life of 17-year-old girl facing death by drowning during an illegal boat journey to the French-occupied island of Mayotte, recounts her story in a breathless, single-sentence stream-of-consciousness, a stylistic choice that, with commas and breaks, mirrors her chaotic mind, weaving memories of her childhood with her twin sister, Rattler, and overbearing fisherman father, All-Knowing, through her reckless love affair with a fisherman promising freedom but delivering betrayal, leading to her expulsion from home, and a desperate attempt to escape, her defiant spirit captured as she declares, "it's all part of my eelness,” embracing her slippery, elusive nature, the ocean a vivid metaphor for hope and peril, swallowing her dreams, Zamir’s vivid portrayal of Comorian fishing culture grounds Eel’s tragic quest for autonomy, her flawed, headstrong character, naive yet determined, insightful yet self-absorbed, making her a compelling, if not always likable narrator, the mythic names and allegorical undertones adding depth, yet the novel skims the harsh realities of illegal immigration, Eel’s perilous journey to Mayotte, a French territory luring Comorians with promises of opportunity felt underexplored, Zamir offering glimpses of the desperation driving such voyages but not delving into the systemic colonial legacies or economic disparities fueling this migration, the translation possibly losing nuances of the award-winning French original, yet the novel’s bold form, blending humor, tragedy, and political undertones, makes it a whirlwind tale that, while demanding, offers an unforgettable dive into a young woman’s defiance and downfall for those drawn to innovative narratives and underrepresented voices, its rhythmic, poetic flow carrying you through Eel’s world, her voice witty, petulant, raw, guiding you, challenging you, haunting you, until the sea claims her story, leaving you breathless, reflective, haunted by her fleeting, fiery existence
dnf
February 9, 2022got this as an arc from netgalley & have tried to read it twice now, only to get miserably stuck at the opening pages. the premise, a novel capturing someone's last moments in a single sentence, is really compelling -- the first time i picked it up, i wanted to read it alongside moon tiger, which is also an end-of-life narrative but with a much older main character & a much more sedate death, & i was interested in the Brain Texture of reading one after the other. and then i tried, and failed, and decided i would come back to this one on its own terms.
a month and a bit later, i am declaring how Absolutely this has defeated me. i promised myself that i would try & read half & once again, after a handful of pages, the idea of carrying on is so overwhelmingly unappealing that i simply cannot bring myself to do it. fr context, this is the first book, maybe ever, that i have really and truly committed to Not Finishing ! i have even had to make a whole new shelf to accommodate it !
am going to put it down to 1) the style of the prose, the way it addressed itself to the reader, the way it wandered, the way it didn't at all read like a single breath, the way i'd imagine the final flicker of a consciousness remembering itself would read, 2) how contrived the structure felt, the way the book itself felt like it struggled with the structure, didn't entirely Want to be a single sentence and 3) that even the first page couldn't convince me of the urgency of someone dying & i didn't want to read another almost three hundred of them. onwards & upwards, i guess.
a month and a bit later, i am declaring how Absolutely this has defeated me. i promised myself that i would try & read half & once again, after a handful of pages, the idea of carrying on is so overwhelmingly unappealing that i simply cannot bring myself to do it. fr context, this is the first book, maybe ever, that i have really and truly committed to Not Finishing ! i have even had to make a whole new shelf to accommodate it !
am going to put it down to 1) the style of the prose, the way it addressed itself to the reader, the way it wandered, the way it didn't at all read like a single breath, the way i'd imagine the final flicker of a consciousness remembering itself would read, 2) how contrived the structure felt, the way the book itself felt like it struggled with the structure, didn't entirely Want to be a single sentence and 3) that even the first page couldn't convince me of the urgency of someone dying & i didn't want to read another almost three hundred of them. onwards & upwards, i guess.
April 27, 2024
on a une protagoniste fidèle à elle-même du début jusqu’à la fin qui, parfois, s’adresse directement au lecteur donc à nous pour nous concocter une sorte de morale ou nous indiquer qu’il y a un lien entre personnage-lecteur, à la manière d’un acteur qui voudrait briser le 4ème mur
outre la forme, l’histoire en elle-même est simple, avec un fil conducteur allant d’un point A à un point B, je me permets de préciser que les hommes dans cette histoire sont très exaspérants et que le maître mot du récit est « les apparences sont trompeuses », des hommes et femmes mariés qui trompent et qui se font tromper 😃
je suis un peu restée sur ma faim concernant quelques personnages, mais la lecture en général n’a pas été désagréable, j’aime beaucoup l’honnêteté et la manière de penser d’Anguille
outre la forme, l’histoire en elle-même est simple, avec un fil conducteur allant d’un point A à un point B, je me permets de préciser que les hommes dans cette histoire sont très exaspérants et que le maître mot du récit est « les apparences sont trompeuses », des hommes et femmes mariés qui trompent et qui se font tromper 😃
je suis un peu restée sur ma faim concernant quelques personnages, mais la lecture en général n’a pas été désagréable, j’aime beaucoup l’honnêteté et la manière de penser d’Anguille
November 5, 2025
Chosen for the "Read Around the World" challenge: COMOROS. The book’s written as 1 long sentence - the stream-of consciousness thoughts of a woman who’s tossed overboard by a horrific storm and is contemplating the end of her life.
The “1 long sentence” structure (punctuated by commas, not periods) started off as clever and quickly became tedious. So did the naming structure and symbolism of calling herself “Eel,” which was soon overdone.
I did like the background of the Comorian islands, but the story slithered too slowly to keep my interest.
The “1 long sentence” structure (punctuated by commas, not periods) started off as clever and quickly became tedious. So did the naming structure and symbolism of calling herself “Eel,” which was soon overdone.
I did like the background of the Comorian islands, but the story slithered too slowly to keep my interest.
December 21, 2016
La meilleure image qui me vienne à l’esprit pour résumer ce roman qui est composé d’une seule phrase de plus de 300 pages est celui du filet de pêche. Sauf que celui-ci est tissé d’une manière bien particulière. Les mailles y sont quelquefois très serrées afin de pouvoir attraper le plus petit des poissons – des souvenirs très précis – et quelquefois elles sont très lâches, laissant passer de gros poissons – des épisodes dont il vaut mieux ne pas s’encombrer. Dans ce filet, on va trouver tous les personnages du roman, puisqu’ils ont tous leur équivalent dans la mer « un cachalot comme Vorace, une daurade comme cette garce qui était dans sa chambre, un thon comme Connaît-Tout, un dauphin comme Tranquille et son mari, un cœlacanthe comme Crotale, un requin comme Cobra ». Et s’il y a aussi des langoustes, des crevettes, des tortues, des crabes. Il ne manque que la mère de la narratrice, décédée au moment de mettre au monde des jumelles, l’anguille du titre et sa sœur Crotale.
Si Ali Zamir a jeté son filet dans la mer, c’est qu’il y a urgence. Anguille lance sa longue phrase parce qu’elle est en train de sombrer. C’est pour elle une nécessité de témoigner, de laisser une trace, comme un dernier souffle. « Quand on perd son antre on perd aussi son silence, donc sa vraie vie, avec tous ses secrets, cela est une évidence criante, je n’ai pas à vous faire une leçon de morale là-dessus, me voici devenue une minable apatride pour avoir été un sordide foutriquet, laisse-moi donc me déboutonner jusqu’au vertige du sommeil éternel ».
Voici, après le drame originel, l’histoire de sa famille. Autour de Connaît-Tout, le père, on va voir s’agiter les souvenirs scolaires, les différences se creuser avec Crotale, une sœur plutôt dissipée. Mais les premiers émois amoureux et l’arrivée de Vorace, le beau pêcheur, vont changer la donne. Anguille entend vivre pleinement sa passion, quitte à sacrifier son avenir.
Là voilà fuyant vers Mayotte, ballottée entre colère et espoir. Plus que l’exercice de style et cette longue phrase ponctuée de virgules et de points-virgules, c’est la langue qui vous emporte.
http://urlz.fr/4rH9
Si Ali Zamir a jeté son filet dans la mer, c’est qu’il y a urgence. Anguille lance sa longue phrase parce qu’elle est en train de sombrer. C’est pour elle une nécessité de témoigner, de laisser une trace, comme un dernier souffle. « Quand on perd son antre on perd aussi son silence, donc sa vraie vie, avec tous ses secrets, cela est une évidence criante, je n’ai pas à vous faire une leçon de morale là-dessus, me voici devenue une minable apatride pour avoir été un sordide foutriquet, laisse-moi donc me déboutonner jusqu’au vertige du sommeil éternel ».
Voici, après le drame originel, l’histoire de sa famille. Autour de Connaît-Tout, le père, on va voir s’agiter les souvenirs scolaires, les différences se creuser avec Crotale, une sœur plutôt dissipée. Mais les premiers émois amoureux et l’arrivée de Vorace, le beau pêcheur, vont changer la donne. Anguille entend vivre pleinement sa passion, quitte à sacrifier son avenir.
Là voilà fuyant vers Mayotte, ballottée entre colère et espoir. Plus que l’exercice de style et cette longue phrase ponctuée de virgules et de points-virgules, c’est la langue qui vous emporte.
http://urlz.fr/4rH9
December 23, 2022
Citaat : (-) wat is het fijn om je gewoon jezelf te voelen ook al ga je dood, voorlopig ben ik tevreden met die twee prooien die ik heb gevangen, want bij de jacht moet je nooit vergeten dat één prooi in de hand beter is dan tien in de lucht, anders ben je alles kwijt en blijf je zitten met een lege maag, (-)
Review : In de Indische Oceaan verdrinkt een jonge vrouw. De golven slaan wild over haar heen en haar krachten laten haar in de steek. Maar in het aangezicht van de dood verzamelt Aal nog één keer al haar levenslust en energie om het verhaal van haar leven te vertellen. Aal is de zeventienjarige dochter van Weetal, een visser en onverbeterlijke kletsmajoor op Anjouan, een van de vier eilanden van de Comoren, in de Indische Oceaan. Aal was altijd eenijverige leerling, tot ze smoorverliefd werd op de knappe visser Veelvraat, en begon te spijbelen, te roken en te drinken. En ze raakte zwanger. Uit huis gejaagd belandt ze met 84 anderen op zoek naar een beter leven in het gammele bootje dat door de storm overvallen wordt en omslaat. Dit debuut, 'Anguille sous roche' -Aal onder water van de Comorese auteur Ali Zamir maakte diepe indruk in Frankrijk, vanwege de virtuoze taal en compositie. Want Aal onder water is geschreven in één lange zin, als de laatste ademtocht van de heldin Aal. De heldin en verteller, deelt weinig met de heldin van Sagan, Cecile. Ze hebben hun 17 jaar gemeen, het verlangen om vrij te zijn en wees te zijn . De spontaniteit van Aal brengt haar dichter bij Zazie de Queneau, maar de verschillen zijn opnieuw te sterk om te kunnen vergelijken. Op zichzelf opgerold als een spiraal, is de tekst zowel een lang prozagedicht als een universele formatieroman die de lezer vasthoudt en hem volledig bij het schrijfproces betrekt. Het eerste hoofdstuk van het verhaal richt zich vooral op een familie die getroffen is door het ongeluk, en ook op de stad waar ze woont, Mutsamudu, op het eiland Anjouan in de archipel van de Comoren, en precies op de buurt ervan, Mjihari. Hoewel het verhaal in één enkele zin is geschreven, bestaat het verhaal uit paragrafen en hoofdstukken, het eerste, zonder titel, wat plaatsing en verhaal en taal mogelijk maakt. Persoonlijk denk ik dat alle uitstraling van deze roman duidelijk het werk is van het schrijven van Ali Zamir, gevoed met meerdere invloeden, het produceren van een enkelvoudige taal, bijna exotisch.
Review : In de Indische Oceaan verdrinkt een jonge vrouw. De golven slaan wild over haar heen en haar krachten laten haar in de steek. Maar in het aangezicht van de dood verzamelt Aal nog één keer al haar levenslust en energie om het verhaal van haar leven te vertellen. Aal is de zeventienjarige dochter van Weetal, een visser en onverbeterlijke kletsmajoor op Anjouan, een van de vier eilanden van de Comoren, in de Indische Oceaan. Aal was altijd eenijverige leerling, tot ze smoorverliefd werd op de knappe visser Veelvraat, en begon te spijbelen, te roken en te drinken. En ze raakte zwanger. Uit huis gejaagd belandt ze met 84 anderen op zoek naar een beter leven in het gammele bootje dat door de storm overvallen wordt en omslaat. Dit debuut, 'Anguille sous roche' -Aal onder water van de Comorese auteur Ali Zamir maakte diepe indruk in Frankrijk, vanwege de virtuoze taal en compositie. Want Aal onder water is geschreven in één lange zin, als de laatste ademtocht van de heldin Aal. De heldin en verteller, deelt weinig met de heldin van Sagan, Cecile. Ze hebben hun 17 jaar gemeen, het verlangen om vrij te zijn en wees te zijn . De spontaniteit van Aal brengt haar dichter bij Zazie de Queneau, maar de verschillen zijn opnieuw te sterk om te kunnen vergelijken. Op zichzelf opgerold als een spiraal, is de tekst zowel een lang prozagedicht als een universele formatieroman die de lezer vasthoudt en hem volledig bij het schrijfproces betrekt. Het eerste hoofdstuk van het verhaal richt zich vooral op een familie die getroffen is door het ongeluk, en ook op de stad waar ze woont, Mutsamudu, op het eiland Anjouan in de archipel van de Comoren, en precies op de buurt ervan, Mjihari. Hoewel het verhaal in één enkele zin is geschreven, bestaat het verhaal uit paragrafen en hoofdstukken, het eerste, zonder titel, wat plaatsing en verhaal en taal mogelijk maakt. Persoonlijk denk ik dat alle uitstraling van deze roman duidelijk het werk is van het schrijven van Ali Zamir, gevoed met meerdere invloeden, het produceren van een enkelvoudige taal, bijna exotisch.
December 13, 2023
I was intrigued by the fact that the book was one sentence - I expected to slog through this, but it was a surprisingly easy read once I got used to the overabundance of commas! I am a fast reader, and it was actually easier to read it fast than slow - my internal voice did do the inflection like a run-on sentence, which was a bit annoying, but the writing style was well-suited to a quick reading pace.
At any rate, it was a fascinating permise. Eel, a girl with an unusual name, is drowning in the sea, and tells us her life's story in her last sentence. She does like to digress, her personality is a bit questionable (in her defence she's 17) and the core story is very basic, so the book is mostly carried by the writing style.
[spoiler below]
Girl is well-behaved, girl falls in love with A Guy, guy corrupts her to drink and smoke and skive off school, guy gets her pregnant, guy is notorious and cheats on her, her father finds out and throws her out of the house. It handles similar themes to other books from surrounding countries - but I think this take was quite refreshing. Instead of suffering with her fate, Eel is not really bothered by the pregnancy, and decides to make her way to the coast to charter an illegal boat to emigrate to Mayotte. She's successful in doing so, though her twin sister catches up to her and they find out that their father killed himself, but Eel stays determined to leave. Leave she does, and then she is thrown overboard in a storm and hence ends up drowning in the sea.
Therefore, Eel retained her agency all throughout the story and was focused on herself and what's best for herself (instead of for the baby, her father or twin sister, or the father. she didn't even try to contact him!). This aligns very well with her personality - she is a bit self-centred.
Long story short, I enjoyed it, even though the content itself wasn't overwhelmingly interesting. I was a tiny bit disappointed by the end - somehow I had hoped for a twist to come about with the end of the sentence, but it just ends on: "... I bid farewell to earth and all its delights, the raging seas have claimed me, I'm dying, with the black heavens thundering down on me and now that I'm, phew!"
At any rate, it was a fascinating permise. Eel, a girl with an unusual name, is drowning in the sea, and tells us her life's story in her last sentence. She does like to digress, her personality is a bit questionable (in her defence she's 17) and the core story is very basic, so the book is mostly carried by the writing style.
[spoiler below]
Girl is well-behaved, girl falls in love with A Guy, guy corrupts her to drink and smoke and skive off school, guy gets her pregnant, guy is notorious and cheats on her, her father finds out and throws her out of the house. It handles similar themes to other books from surrounding countries - but I think this take was quite refreshing. Instead of suffering with her fate, Eel is not really bothered by the pregnancy, and decides to make her way to the coast to charter an illegal boat to emigrate to Mayotte. She's successful in doing so, though her twin sister catches up to her and they find out that their father killed himself, but Eel stays determined to leave. Leave she does, and then she is thrown overboard in a storm and hence ends up drowning in the sea.
Therefore, Eel retained her agency all throughout the story and was focused on herself and what's best for herself (instead of for the baby, her father or twin sister, or the father. she didn't even try to contact him!). This aligns very well with her personality - she is a bit self-centred.
Long story short, I enjoyed it, even though the content itself wasn't overwhelmingly interesting. I was a tiny bit disappointed by the end - somehow I had hoped for a twist to come about with the end of the sentence, but it just ends on: "... I bid farewell to earth and all its delights, the raging seas have claimed me, I'm dying, with the black heavens thundering down on me and now that I'm, phew!"
February 25, 2022
Quote “People talk about having a good name, as if a name could be bad or ugly in some way, or they say they were born under a lucky star, as if that was all it took to have the world as your feet.”
Welcome to my journey around the world through books. Today we are visiting country number 64 Comoros Islands, with the book A girl Called Eel by Ali Zamir.
A huge shout out to Jacaranda Books (link in the description below) for donating this book.
It is rather unusual to read two books back to back that have unique writing styles. The previous book was Transparent City by Ondjaki, you can see that review here.
This style is similar, but in this case there is one very, very long sentence that uses many commas, there are no full stops, there are no breaks or chapters. Even so, it is not too hard to understand.
Ali Zamir, the author writes about a 17 year old teenager who lives with her twin and her father, with some very unusual names, All-Knowing, Eel, Rattler, Voracious, Voila, Miraculous all living on the isolated island of Anjouan on the Comoro Islands. Eel is an interesting character, she knows what she wants, but this does not always turn out to be the best or the right thing.
The beginning of the book makes you feel like you are drowning which is a little suffocating which illustrates how good the writing is. Written in first person, from the point of view of Eel, we get to know her and her past, her family, her desires and woes. The interesting parts are how they twins for their names, along with small details of the history of the island. There is little dialogue, lots of descriptions and narrative.
It is not easy to review this book as there is little similar to it, but this book is well worth reading, even more so as it is a debut novel written by a relatively young male author who hit it on the nail writing about a 17 year old female teenager
This is a good solid young adult or coming of age book.
I give this book 4 stars.
Next we are travelling all the way to Haiti in the next book, See you in the next country.
Welcome to my journey around the world through books. Today we are visiting country number 64 Comoros Islands, with the book A girl Called Eel by Ali Zamir.
A huge shout out to Jacaranda Books (link in the description below) for donating this book.
It is rather unusual to read two books back to back that have unique writing styles. The previous book was Transparent City by Ondjaki, you can see that review here.
This style is similar, but in this case there is one very, very long sentence that uses many commas, there are no full stops, there are no breaks or chapters. Even so, it is not too hard to understand.
Ali Zamir, the author writes about a 17 year old teenager who lives with her twin and her father, with some very unusual names, All-Knowing, Eel, Rattler, Voracious, Voila, Miraculous all living on the isolated island of Anjouan on the Comoro Islands. Eel is an interesting character, she knows what she wants, but this does not always turn out to be the best or the right thing.
The beginning of the book makes you feel like you are drowning which is a little suffocating which illustrates how good the writing is. Written in first person, from the point of view of Eel, we get to know her and her past, her family, her desires and woes. The interesting parts are how they twins for their names, along with small details of the history of the island. There is little dialogue, lots of descriptions and narrative.
It is not easy to review this book as there is little similar to it, but this book is well worth reading, even more so as it is a debut novel written by a relatively young male author who hit it on the nail writing about a 17 year old female teenager
This is a good solid young adult or coming of age book.
I give this book 4 stars.
Next we are travelling all the way to Haiti in the next book, See you in the next country.
January 17, 2023
In this novel we follow the narrative of Eel in her dying breath as she recounts the story of her life. I enjoyed the writing style of this book – Eel narrates conversationally, addresses the reader directly, comments on the way she is telling the story and goes on tangents throughout the narrative.
Her story feels both disappointing and predictable, she gets led on by a man and abandons herself, then gains new strength and makes her final attempt at agency. She is not a likeable character, she harbours a lot of prejudice and dislike toward other women, her father and society at large. At times this is amusing, at other exhausting. Overall I immensely enjoyed the set up of the story and the narrative style, but felt like the climax was lukewarm and fizzled out. Perhaps this was the intention?
Throughout we have a running motif of water and the ocean, with the main characters name being eel and often describing herself as behaving in an eel like fashion. She uses this to separate herself from other land dwellers, while at the same time having snatched up the most predictable motif for a group of people living on an Island (Comoros). This novel has themes of coming of age, isolation, love vs. lust, betrayal, family, progeny and power.
Her story feels both disappointing and predictable, she gets led on by a man and abandons herself, then gains new strength and makes her final attempt at agency. She is not a likeable character, she harbours a lot of prejudice and dislike toward other women, her father and society at large. At times this is amusing, at other exhausting. Overall I immensely enjoyed the set up of the story and the narrative style, but felt like the climax was lukewarm and fizzled out. Perhaps this was the intention?
Throughout we have a running motif of water and the ocean, with the main characters name being eel and often describing herself as behaving in an eel like fashion. She uses this to separate herself from other land dwellers, while at the same time having snatched up the most predictable motif for a group of people living on an Island (Comoros). This novel has themes of coming of age, isolation, love vs. lust, betrayal, family, progeny and power.
June 3, 2020
" Anguille sous roche " d'Ali Zamir (266p)
Ed. Le tripode
Bonjour les fous de lectures ....
Voici un livre "lu" (une moitié normalement et l'autre en méga grosses diagonales) dans le cadre du défi " Je noirci mon planisphère'
J'étais partie à la découverte d'un écrivain des Comores.
Ouille quelle déception !!!
Ce livre a pourtant reçu de bonnes critiques de la part des lecteurs et groupes de partages et même le prix Senghor
Chez moi, rien n'est passé ...
Ni l'histoire... insipide
Ni, et surtout pas , la narration: le genre de livre ou il n'y a aucuns points, que des virgules et des suites de mots formant de petits paragraphes ... c'est rebutant.
De plus la manie qu'a eu l'auteur de faire dire à son personnage principal " je reviens à ..." montre le nombre de digressions dans la narration, ce qui rend la lecture poussive.
En quelques mots...
Anguille ( nom de l'héroïne), se noie, ses forces l'abandonne , mais elle se souvient...
Voilà
Moi aussi, comme Anguille, j'ai perdu pied, coulé, sombré
Ed. Le tripode
Bonjour les fous de lectures ....
Voici un livre "lu" (une moitié normalement et l'autre en méga grosses diagonales) dans le cadre du défi " Je noirci mon planisphère'
J'étais partie à la découverte d'un écrivain des Comores.
Ouille quelle déception !!!
Ce livre a pourtant reçu de bonnes critiques de la part des lecteurs et groupes de partages et même le prix Senghor
Chez moi, rien n'est passé ...
Ni l'histoire... insipide
Ni, et surtout pas , la narration: le genre de livre ou il n'y a aucuns points, que des virgules et des suites de mots formant de petits paragraphes ... c'est rebutant.
De plus la manie qu'a eu l'auteur de faire dire à son personnage principal " je reviens à ..." montre le nombre de digressions dans la narration, ce qui rend la lecture poussive.
En quelques mots...
Anguille ( nom de l'héroïne), se noie, ses forces l'abandonne , mais elle se souvient...
Voilà
Moi aussi, comme Anguille, j'ai perdu pied, coulé, sombré
June 11, 2024
Een roman die echt voor een kleine niche is geschreven. Ik las dit boek uit de Comoren voor mijn ReadTheWorld Challenge, maar anders had ik het nooit uitgelezen.
In een lange zin, die het hele boek doorloopt, vertelt hoofdpersoon Aal, terwijl ze verdrinkt, hoe ze bezwangerd en in de steek gelaten is door een oudere man. Daarbij gebruikt Ali Zamir de Stream Of Consciousnessverhaaltechniek, waarbij je al Aals mijmeringen volgt alsof je in haar hoofd zit. Deze verhaaltechniek, de ene lange zin en de eilandsetting maken dat er een soort deinende cadans in het verhaal zit, als de zee. Als je van dat type poëzie houdt, ga je erg goed op dit verhaal. Voor mij gold dat niet. Daarnaast is de plot behoorlijk vlak en het hoofdpersonage onsympathiek.
In een lange zin, die het hele boek doorloopt, vertelt hoofdpersoon Aal, terwijl ze verdrinkt, hoe ze bezwangerd en in de steek gelaten is door een oudere man. Daarbij gebruikt Ali Zamir de Stream Of Consciousnessverhaaltechniek, waarbij je al Aals mijmeringen volgt alsof je in haar hoofd zit. Deze verhaaltechniek, de ene lange zin en de eilandsetting maken dat er een soort deinende cadans in het verhaal zit, als de zee. Als je van dat type poëzie houdt, ga je erg goed op dit verhaal. Voor mij gold dat niet. Daarnaast is de plot behoorlijk vlak en het hoofdpersonage onsympathiek.
April 7, 2025
Si Anguille sous Roche n'est pas un livre pour moi, je ne doute pas pour autant de sa capacité à trouver son public.
La plume est audacieuse, un flux de conscience d'une unique phrase de près de 300 pages, et mérite d'être célébrée. C'est littéralement d'un seul et dernier souffle que la narratrice retrace toute sa vie. L'effet choisi est déroutant, pas toujours facile à suivre, mais il épouse parfaitement l'urgence et la confusion du personnage, son besoin viscéral de témoigner de sa brève existence avant de mourir. J'aime toujours les auteurices qui osent, testent, s'amusent en écrivant. Ici, l'espièglerie d'Ali Zamir est totale, d'une part à travers cette technique, d'autre part au vu des noms de personnages. Mises en garde transparentes et taquines, elles rappellent le conte ou la fable et annoncent dès l'introduction le destin de chacun. Pourtant, le flot des parole d'Anguille nous fait oublier ces avertissements et créé un double-jeu : le lecteur a toutes les cartes en main, mais se laisse surprendre par le récit, pris au piège des filets de l'auteur à l'image de la protagoniste. Personnages comme public sont moqués par une fatalité évidente, pas si éloignée de la tragédie grecque.
Ces effets de styles, quasi-mise en abime m'ont beaucoup plus. En revanche, je n'ai jamais apprécié les récits qui traverse toute la vie d'un ou plusieurs personnages, ce qui explique ma note timide.
2,5/5
La plume est audacieuse, un flux de conscience d'une unique phrase de près de 300 pages, et mérite d'être célébrée. C'est littéralement d'un seul et dernier souffle que la narratrice retrace toute sa vie. L'effet choisi est déroutant, pas toujours facile à suivre, mais il épouse parfaitement l'urgence et la confusion du personnage, son besoin viscéral de témoigner de sa brève existence avant de mourir. J'aime toujours les auteurices qui osent, testent, s'amusent en écrivant. Ici, l'espièglerie d'Ali Zamir est totale, d'une part à travers cette technique, d'autre part au vu des noms de personnages. Mises en garde transparentes et taquines, elles rappellent le conte ou la fable et annoncent dès l'introduction le destin de chacun. Pourtant, le flot des parole d'Anguille nous fait oublier ces avertissements et créé un double-jeu : le lecteur a toutes les cartes en main, mais se laisse surprendre par le récit, pris au piège des filets de l'auteur à l'image de la protagoniste. Personnages comme public sont moqués par une fatalité évidente, pas si éloignée de la tragédie grecque.
Ces effets de styles, quasi-mise en abime m'ont beaucoup plus. En revanche, je n'ai jamais apprécié les récits qui traverse toute la vie d'un ou plusieurs personnages, ce qui explique ma note timide.
2,5/5
July 4, 2022
Stylistically this book is written as one long sentence, which I quite enjoyed. Eel is the story of a lonely, melancholy girl raised in a fishing village in Comoros. She refers to herself and her immediate community by their primary traits instead of their names which further reinforces the distant, detached feeling you get from this story. The story begins with Eel falling deep into the sea following a shipwreck - the eel returning to the sea. Throughout the book Zamir provides vivid details of life in a small Muslim fishing village, and a man (All Knowing) who struggles to connect with his two daughters : Eel, the good daughter; and Rattler, the wild one.
April 24, 2025
A novel about a young woman who – on the point of drowning at sea – uses her last breath to recount the story of her life. She tells us of her upbringing on the island of Anjouan in the Comoros and of the people who make up the fabric of her life: schoolgirls, fishermen, indigent bums, and others. Her fateful attraction to a young man – dubbed Vorace – sets in motion the rest of the narrative, with the choices of the main character Anguille contrasting those of her more perspicacious sister Crotale. Paradoxically, their distant relationship makes room for a new sense of intimacy as secrets are exposed and old certainties are shaken up.
March 17, 2024
To me, this book was a perfect example of something that is just ok. There was nothing that I hated about it, but at the same time there was nothing that I loved. The omission of full stops felt like a lazy way of conveying the mindset of the character. The same effect could have been accomplished more successfully, I believe, by experimenting with the prose rather than making the text unnecessarily difficult to read.
Past this, the characters all felt very two dimensional and I found myself unable to care about where the story was going.
Past this, the characters all felt very two dimensional and I found myself unable to care about where the story was going.
December 4, 2023
Around-the-world #177: Comoros 🇰🇲.
Told in one breath, this is the story of a girl called Eel who gets into classic trouble with her family and her lover. The one-sentence setup is a bit gimmicky, but works well to give the book speed. It also turns her story into a rant sometimes.
At least I now know that the Comoros are off the coast of Mozambique and close to the French colony of Mayotte. This was a pleasant novel to read.
Told in one breath, this is the story of a girl called Eel who gets into classic trouble with her family and her lover. The one-sentence setup is a bit gimmicky, but works well to give the book speed. It also turns her story into a rant sometimes.
At least I now know that the Comoros are off the coast of Mozambique and close to the French colony of Mayotte. This was a pleasant novel to read.
March 20, 2024
an entire life shared in one breath, bathed me in blueeee blue blue
“. . i’ve been given a reprieve and i have to put my back into it and make the most out of the time i have been allotted to take stock of my life, because my life is worth taking stock of, i am an entire world, every organ in my body is a continent and every moment of my life an ocean, i’ve told you i want to explore all four corners of my mind, if i can just have some more time . . “
“. . i’ve been given a reprieve and i have to put my back into it and make the most out of the time i have been allotted to take stock of my life, because my life is worth taking stock of, i am an entire world, every organ in my body is a continent and every moment of my life an ocean, i’ve told you i want to explore all four corners of my mind, if i can just have some more time . . “
December 18, 2019
I have to admit I picked this novel because it is by an author from Comoros and hence a great find for my long term reading the world goal. But it turned out to be really rather good experimental fiction. I suppose a lengthy flashback whilst drowning is a familiar device but the language sparkles even in translation and Eel the protagonist is a fresh creation.
August 5, 2024
Stream-of-consciousness with no beginning or apparent end - Eel tells her story, while drowning at sea. It's not badly wriiten, but A) I hate this type of story - see: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, which I never finished either... And B) this is just toooooo long - the eternal digressions into uninteresting details is killing me!
The story of refugees dying at sea trying to make it to promised land(s) is an important one though.
The story of refugees dying at sea trying to make it to promised land(s) is an important one though.
February 13, 2025
Buddy read where a lot of my thoughts part-by-part are.
This was a good story, though very meandering. It was much easier to consume in large chunks rather than small bits at a time like I was doing near the beginning of the book.
This was a good story, though very meandering. It was much easier to consume in large chunks rather than small bits at a time like I was doing near the beginning of the book.
April 21, 2025
Eel tells the story of her life in one long, drawn-out breathe as she is drowning in the Indian Ocean. Stylistically this takes a lot of getting used to, I settled for a few paragraphs a day until the last 60 pages which became easier to read. If you are looking for a book from the Comores to add to your country list, then this would be a solid option.
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