> Belgian author, read in original French
> Autobiographical, from author at age 9 to age 21.....
> Amelie, the daughter of a Belgian diplomat is obsessed with the idea of hunger and the role it plays in our lives.....hunger for food, for material goods, for connection, for despair
> Starts with description of culture of the island culture of Vanuatu where there is no hunger, food is aplenty for the taking, so the inhabitants want nothing
> Author herself goes through phases including anorexia....not clear how much is true
> p.19 - "Le reve des physiciens est de parvenir a expliquer l'univers a partir d'une seule loi. Il parait que c'est tres difficile. A supposer que je sois un univers, je tiens en cette force unique: la faim."
> at a young age she was scandalized by fairy tales and the message they sent
> p.25 - "Trop sucre: l'expression me parait aussi absurde que "trop beau" ou "trop amoureux"."
> At one point she wants "more" love from her mother and her mother implies that there is a limit, and also that one must earn love...."J'etais comme la famille royale anglaise apprenant qu'elle allait devoir payer des impots: Quoi? Tout ne m'etait-il pas du?"
> While in Bangladesh she must write weekly to her Belgian grandparents and she and her beloved sister, Juliette, write almost word for word the same letters. Amelie overhears her parents laughing about the similarity between the letters...."Sans le savoir, nous produisions peut-etre ainsi une explication au mystere journalistique du Bangladesh: si deux etres distincts tentaient de commenter l'actualite de ce pays, une fatalite verbale leur faisait ecrire des textes d'une identite confrondante."
> p.150 - "Nous allions sans cesse a la plage. Le golfe du Bengale etait d'une beaute apocalyptique: jamais je n'ai vu meer aussi agitee. Je ne pouvais resister a l'appel des vagues immense: j'etais dans l'eau du matin au soir."
> p.179 - De tous les pays ou j'ai vecu, la Belgique est celui que j'ai le moins compris. C'est peut-etre cela, etre de quelque part: ne pas voir de quoi il s'agit. Sans doute est-ce pour cette raison que j'y commencai a ecrire. Ne pas comprendre est un sacre ferment pour l'ecriture. Mes roman mettaient en forme une incomprehension qui croissait."
> LibraryThing Review: Amelie Nothomb is a fascinating writer! In this book she recounts her thoughts and experiences from the age of nine through the age of twenty-one. She is the daughter of a Belgian diplomat, so she and her family lived in New York, Bangladesh, Japan, and more. There is no aspect of Nothomb's surroundings or experience which is spared her quite profound scrutiny and philosophizing. She is witty and also a bit scary in her self-awareness and a delight to read.
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