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Corpus simsi
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
About the author
Chloé Delaume
45 books118 followersChloé Delaume, de son vrai nom Nathalie Dalain, née à Versailles le 10 mars 1973, est une écrivaine et éditrice française. Elle est également performeuse, musicienne, chanteuse, de manière plus anecdotique. Son œuvre littéraire, pour l'essentiel autobiographique, est centrée sur la pratique de la littérature expérimentale et la problématique de l'autofiction.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 15, 2019
Oh boy... This was... not good.
First off, since I steer my reviews of French books towards those learning French, I'm going to start with a massive warning for all those learners out there. If the levels continued past C2, this book falls into E+. Do NOT base your understanding of the language around reading this. It is advanced so just breathe and grab what you can, then move on (if you pick it up in the first place).
But that isn't why I've rated this so low, as that would be an unfair evaluation. I chose the honest rating: "I did not like it".
The premise is the character has reincarnated herself (no context) as a Sim from the video game The Sims (2002 version) and the book reads like a mix of stream of consciousness and narrative. The writer uses a unique method of prose for the book and, at times, it flows smoothly, while at others, the lack of punctuation, use of archaic and advanced vocabulary, and manipulation of word order becomes difficult to follow. I've included an example sentence below to illustrate what I mean. I have copied it verbatim from the physical book in front of me: no edits, no messing with it, this is how it is in the book.
"Tapie au cristallin j'ai observé des mois les rituels et manèges le dé dit un deux trois prison petits chevaux la tour prends garde dragons sans maîtres de te laisser abattre Mademoiselle Rose dans la cuisine avec la clef anglaise entendra l'appel de Cthulhu à défaut d'être forestière." - page 7
The context for this line does not facilitate understanding it. It has the same effect both in and out of context. I wish I could post a picture of this line, but this will have to do. Who is Mademoiselle Rose? Why is Cthulhu there? What dice? Why are we counting? There are no answers. I honestly thought at this point the book was commenting on Sims-speak.
That line leads into my biggest problem with this book: the "narrative". At times, this book serves as a manual for The Sims and at others, it talks down to its reader as inferior to The Sims. When it serves as a manual (giving advice on how to max skills in the most efficient way or asking you to calculate the area and value of Delaume's created house), it isn't an exciting read but at least informational (if you care).
Otherwise, however... this book is painfully melodramatic and ham-fisted with its stale social commentary and the prose admittedly makes it even more of a trudge. Delaume sometimes uses The Sims to illustrate issues in society, such as favoring how we appear to another over our own integrity, or how work isn't life but a means to make money to continue affording to live, and how humans are programmed to not be empathetic whereas Sims are. Humans are programmed to suffer but Sims are not. Humans overvalue emotion whereas Sims just seek to fill their "bars" and then are done (the analogy here is marriage). This book also contradicts itself later by talking about how Sims are suffering (but they are suffering because themselves despite being programmed to want what's best) and that Sims want to interact with humans and can (despite their programming limitations, etc.).
This book is confusing and very cynical. Reading it felt like I was listening to someone on a soap box and I repeatedly asked myself "Why should I care?". If you want a story that delves into social appearance and integrity, I recommend Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev. If you want a story delving into modern day work, there's a lot of non-fiction done in this area but Breaking Bad would be an interesting watch. If you're interested in an emotional story, search "popular emotional books" here on GoodReads (you'll find things like The Fault in Our Stars and The Book Thief). I could continue but the point is this book brings nothing new to the table except its unique manner of prose. Not even its visual aesthetic is interesting. It just contains pictures from the game.
If the prose intrigues you or if what I've said so far peaks your interest, go for it (just beware of its price tag). I did not enjoy it. It was a chore and I would not have finished it were it not for a class. Apparently the writer did several live performances of the contents and hopefully they were more engaging but the melodramatic superiority felt pretentious and haughty and nothing new was touched on that I haven't seen done better elsewhere and in a manner where I cared.
First off, since I steer my reviews of French books towards those learning French, I'm going to start with a massive warning for all those learners out there. If the levels continued past C2, this book falls into E+. Do NOT base your understanding of the language around reading this. It is advanced so just breathe and grab what you can, then move on (if you pick it up in the first place).
But that isn't why I've rated this so low, as that would be an unfair evaluation. I chose the honest rating: "I did not like it".
The premise is the character has reincarnated herself (no context) as a Sim from the video game The Sims (2002 version) and the book reads like a mix of stream of consciousness and narrative. The writer uses a unique method of prose for the book and, at times, it flows smoothly, while at others, the lack of punctuation, use of archaic and advanced vocabulary, and manipulation of word order becomes difficult to follow. I've included an example sentence below to illustrate what I mean. I have copied it verbatim from the physical book in front of me: no edits, no messing with it, this is how it is in the book.
"Tapie au cristallin j'ai observé des mois les rituels et manèges le dé dit un deux trois prison petits chevaux la tour prends garde dragons sans maîtres de te laisser abattre Mademoiselle Rose dans la cuisine avec la clef anglaise entendra l'appel de Cthulhu à défaut d'être forestière." - page 7
The context for this line does not facilitate understanding it. It has the same effect both in and out of context. I wish I could post a picture of this line, but this will have to do. Who is Mademoiselle Rose? Why is Cthulhu there? What dice? Why are we counting? There are no answers. I honestly thought at this point the book was commenting on Sims-speak.
That line leads into my biggest problem with this book: the "narrative". At times, this book serves as a manual for The Sims and at others, it talks down to its reader as inferior to The Sims. When it serves as a manual (giving advice on how to max skills in the most efficient way or asking you to calculate the area and value of Delaume's created house), it isn't an exciting read but at least informational (if you care).
Otherwise, however... this book is painfully melodramatic and ham-fisted with its stale social commentary and the prose admittedly makes it even more of a trudge. Delaume sometimes uses The Sims to illustrate issues in society, such as favoring how we appear to another over our own integrity, or how work isn't life but a means to make money to continue affording to live, and how humans are programmed to not be empathetic whereas Sims are. Humans are programmed to suffer but Sims are not. Humans overvalue emotion whereas Sims just seek to fill their "bars" and then are done (the analogy here is marriage). This book also contradicts itself later by talking about how Sims are suffering (but they are suffering because themselves despite being programmed to want what's best) and that Sims want to interact with humans and can (despite their programming limitations, etc.).
This book is confusing and very cynical. Reading it felt like I was listening to someone on a soap box and I repeatedly asked myself "Why should I care?". If you want a story that delves into social appearance and integrity, I recommend Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev. If you want a story delving into modern day work, there's a lot of non-fiction done in this area but Breaking Bad would be an interesting watch. If you're interested in an emotional story, search "popular emotional books" here on GoodReads (you'll find things like The Fault in Our Stars and The Book Thief). I could continue but the point is this book brings nothing new to the table except its unique manner of prose. Not even its visual aesthetic is interesting. It just contains pictures from the game.
If the prose intrigues you or if what I've said so far peaks your interest, go for it (just beware of its price tag). I did not enjoy it. It was a chore and I would not have finished it were it not for a class. Apparently the writer did several live performances of the contents and hopefully they were more engaging but the melodramatic superiority felt pretentious and haughty and nothing new was touched on that I haven't seen done better elsewhere and in a manner where I cared.
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February 27, 2016« Les Sims sont un reflet fidèle et condensé de l'existence de l'homme dans les sociétés occidentales contemporaines. Une négociation permanente avec le champ des possibles, une succession de situations inéluctablement virussées parce que construites par et sur le capitalisme. »
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews