As I have read this book in English and in the UK I think I better write a rewiew in English.
The book won a Nero Book Award and was longlisted for Booker Prize.
The book was just how I expected it to be. It was kind of sentimental and to be frank it was a bit heartbreaking.
Thomas lives with his mother who has a complete control over him. He doesn't know his father. Pop grows him up he is dead now like his father.
One day a man shows up who claims to be a renowned director and offers him a job. But in the end everything turns out to be a kind of disaster.
I adored this book.
3/5 Stars (%55/100)
Though I've found the book interesting sometimes, it was difficult to go through because she was heavily inspired by Sartre's ideas. Here's a brief synopsis/analysis:
Simone de Beauvoir visited the US in 1947, the same year Sartre published his own essay, and recorded her experiences in America Day by Day. Because de Beauvoir and Sartre had a rather complicated relationship, their writing style has lots of similarities. For instance, de Beavoir’s book has an existentialist tone which was Sartre’s specialty. She stayed in the US for four months and from her writing, it can be said that she was very much fascinated by the people and American way of life in general. However, similar to Sartre, and perhaps Max Weber, she also talked about the contrasting values of Americans. First few entries are mostly about her fascination with New York and she thinks that the city “belongs to the future” (De Beauvoir 3). She continuously compares New York with Paris and believes that the two “do not exist together” (7). She feels like she is in an entirely different world and finds many things strange.
In her January 26 entry, she compares the day and night life New York and thinks that in time, she will find her place here. The comparison between America and Europe continues as the views the architecture of the city. Here, she calls New York the “city of contrasts” (10) and explains the difference between small alleys with huge skyscrapers. Still, like Max Weber, she is astonished by the city, and the US in general. She continues to meet Americans and some French people and compares their different behaviors. She explains that when she visited other cities, Paris remained in her heart. However, in America, she thinks that she has “landed not only in a foreign
