Loving Sabotage

I just finished reading Le Sabotage Amoureux by Amelie Nothomb (English title: Loving Sabotage). This is the second book I've read by Nothomb. The first was Fear and Trembling. Nothomb's writing is simple and flowing, yet she manages to surprise the reader with deep insights into everyday situations and happenings. In Le Sabotage Amoureux she writes from the perspective of a small girl, daughter to a Belgian diplomat, growing up in the early 70s in Beijing, China. Based on her own experiences as a child, Nothomb succeeds to expose the intricacies of a child's mind and its charming imagination: skirmishes between children become an all-out war, a bicycle becomes a galloping horse and an infatuation with another girl becomes a dramatic love story. Apparently, Nothomb has become somewhat of a cult figure among readers in francophone countries. It's easy to see why. Treat yourself to some enchanting moments with this short and delightful book.

In this autobiographical novel, Amelie Nothomb presents with verve and veracity the world as she sees it at seven years old. While set in China, where she lived from the age of 5 to 8, very little treatment of China itself is possible for her, given her age and isolation (like all foreigners at the time) from the Chinese. "Loving Sabotage" portrays the author, hopelessly "in love" (in the way we know love in childhood, not romantically) with a seemingly distant, unreachable 6-year-old Italian beauty. As she struggles to make sense of the sudden shift of the center of the world from herself to Elena the lovely Italian, we as readers are treated to a look through her own world of imagination, the world of the ghetto and the ongoing "war" between children of rival nationalities, and her humorous yet poignant attempts to be noticed by Elena. This book will bring back that perspective of childhood that most of us lose awareness of, but which Nothomb revives admirably.