Péplum (original 1996; edition 1998)

Amelie Nothomb has a discussion with a friend about her theory that the city Pompei was destroyed on purpose to freeze the beauty of the city in time for generations to come. The friend dismisses her theory as absurd but lo and behold, waking up after surgery at hospital she finds herself in year 2580. Why? Because the future fears the fact that she has discovered the secret of Pompei. She has been kidnapped by Celsius, a Great of 2580, and the innovator of the Pompei lava burial. What follows is a 150 page discussion on the ins and outs of how and why and what has changed and been done leading up to the year 2580.

I was worried about this one because when my mom read it she said she didn't like it and usually we have pretty much the same taste. However, I read this in one day as I was fairly enraptured by Amelie Nothomb's little book. Her humor and wit were on point and I found myself smiling and laughing more than a few times out loud. She is just so clever with dialogue and her self-deprecating humor was so in touch with her critics. It was interesting to see her attack herself and to see her defense. Although full of some plot holes (after all, we are dealing with time travel basically) and some questionable parts of back and forth conversations (ie. Nothomb suddenly using the same reasoning as Celsius as if she came up with herself) and perhaps a slight loss in luster in 20 or so pages towards the end, I found myself highly engaged in this book. It was definitely a good reading cleanse, like ginger on a sushi plate.

But, you'll either like or hate it. I feel like there is no in between. ( )

original, easy to whip through, light-hearted pseudo-philosophical meanderings.

http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/nothomba/peplum.htm, ( )