Tintin! So when I happened across it, knowing nothing about it, I picked it up. It started out well, with Snowy having thoughtful asides and Tintin not knowing what to make of James N. Cain. That amused me because Camus called Cain an influence, which baffles me.

If there are cultural references besides Tintin that would help it make sense, I didn't get them. Also I was sure it was in translation and I just wasn't getting the frainchness of the style. The copyright page doesn't cite a translation, however, so I'm letting the book go (far, far away, I hope) with a dismissal of boring and baffling.

Crumbs. This is a deeply philosophical and surreal novel. Did I enjoy it, yes, I think so, I certainly will be thinking about the issues raised for some time to come. Did I understand it, not sure. ( )

Maybe the worst book ever written. It is terrible and I can understand, that Hergé has allowed these character killings. ( )

A postmodern romance in which the author imagines what would happen if Tintin, the detective boy hero of comic fame, grew up, fell in love, had deep and lasting friendships that went beyond what we see in the adventure comics. I personally have never liked the original Tintin, I've always felt the comics to be a little racist and a little sexist, but I have some familiarity with them and I do think that's necessary for any reader of this work. Tuten (does anyone think his name is so like Tintin's that must have drawn him to the work from the beginning? I wonder...) refers back to the comic like an exegesis, placing itself in contrast to the comic with nonlinear plotlines, extended dinner conversations and musings on art, class war, and the environment. I was surprised not to see some of the familiar characters like Thomson and Thompson, who I would have thought would be a natural for a romantic postmodern work, with their disguises and ambiguous twinness. Instead, the star of the book in my opinion is Herr Peeperkorn, sometimes friend, sometimes enemy, learned and captivating. Madame Clavdia is another wonderfully ambiguous and complex character, sometimes loving, sometimes betraying. They nearly steal the show from hapless Tintin, who is self-conscious and awkward in his newfound adult masculinity, searching for love and answers as he used to search for criminals. Only at the very end does he emerge from the Amazon a fully realized, almost godlike character. ( )