Zazie in the Metro - First Reading

Zazie in the Metro was the fifth book I've read of Queneau. On GoodReads I gave one five stars (The Flight of Icarus); three I gave four stars, (We Always Treat Women too Well, The Blue Flowers and Exercises in Style); Zazie, I gave only three. As mentioned elsewhere, I love Queneau's rambling works as they meander through side streets of his work only to find themselves in the last paragraph to come to a tidy, if somewhat random ending. Somehow, improbably all the loose ends are tied up or at least left me to feel like they were not worth exploring any more in the stories I gave four stars or more. Exercises in Style wasn't one of them - it's four star rating was based on pure wordplay alone.

Queneau wrote in French. Je suis désole je ne parle pas français. (Thanks google). Obviously, I'm reading the translations and thus, I find it odd that the wordplay is one of the pillars as to why I love Queneau's work. But, he explores language so well (and his translators are very intent on bringing that out in the translations) that even one pace removed from him I feel his message coming through loud and clear. "Howcanaystinksotho, wondered Gabriel" is how the novel opens. The colloquialisms and text written to mirror dialect, slang and speech as written word is fascinating to read. Exercises in Style is delving directly into this process over and over and over again. Zazie wades Queneau's toes into the water while dunking us in upside down. It's that dunking that makes Zazie enjoyable. Unfortunately, I found the story lacking.

I read somewhere on GoodReads somebody who has similar books read as I do reviewed either The Blue Flowers or We Always Treat Women Too Well as something that needn't have been translated to English. He waxed poetic about Zazie, but said one of the aforementioned titles was a lackluster work not worthy of translation to English by an otherwise fantastic author. I wholeheartedly disagree - but, I titled this blog post as Zazie In The Metro - First Reading as the First Reading for a reason...

Reading any kind of Queneau the first time demands a second reading. Zazie on the Metro is no exception. There's a whole lot in this book to unpack. At the end of the day though, if you asked me what this book has done to me, I would say, that it has aged me.

We Always Treat Women Too Well

I really enjoy Raymond Queneau and We Always Treat Women Too Well is no exception. I gave it four stars on GoodReads, noting, "Not my favorite Queneau book; but, it has all the familiar trappings of his work. I love his style and the way he plays with words. The humor and absurdity is good and his pace is astounding to behold. As I said before, it's not my favorite one of his so far (The Flight of Icarus), but it's still an enjoyable read".

It's such a farce of a pulp novel that if you had never read Queneua you might've never known that it was satirizing the genre, while celebrating it. It's basically a play on Stockholm Syndrome where the captured woman turns the tables on her captors (the IRA). Sex plays a big part in the book and there are some disturbing imagery. But, much of it is done in the shroud of absurd humor. I like the absurdity and I find it fascinating to read. I think Queneau's pace is really good to read and in this one, like in The Flight of Icarus and The Blue Flowers all the weirdness gets wrapped up rather quickly into a neat little, albeit confusing, ending. Zazie In The Metro, one of Queneau's more celebrated novels doesn't wrap up as well as the other three mentioned in this post. It's probably why I didn't rate it as highly as his others.