Reviews

The Collection by Nina Leger

cafeautai's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

sofitoteva's review against another edition

fast-paced

3.0

Maybe I didn’t get it but I didn’t see the brilliance in this book. 

I found it repetitive with no direction to the storyline. It would have been more interesting to me if the book was broken up as a collection of poems where each poem was dedicated to one of Jeane’s experiences. On the other hand, the writing wasn’t bad and there were some good observation about the mundanity of life. 

chillcox15's review against another edition

4.0

Portrait of the Blowjob Artist as a Young/Middle-Aged/Old/Timeless Woman. The Collection is Leger's multitudinous, overlapping portrait of pure sexuality, removed from emotion, from erotics even–What some would call nymphomania. Jeanne, the main character, is something between pure symbol, an aspect underlying humanity (more specifically femininity), and hyperspecific character of her own. Leger's disaffected tone works perfectly, especially in the moments of grandeur when she does connect the universality of Jeanne to and against our readerly assumptions of her character.

jesskuang's review against another edition

lighthearted reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

lizzierose147's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

itisnatal's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

laviskrg's review against another edition

1.0

This is just a huge disappointment. A book about nothing, very badly written or translated. Short, useless, says nothing about no one. Like a bad artsy fartsy movie that is both boring and confused.

elnechnntt's review against another edition

5.0

Unapologetic, curious, contradictory, indulgent, authentic.

A few word thoughts for how I found Leger’s novella. A raw dive into what it means for a modern woman to claim her sexuality. I liked how she danced around the empowered/tragic addict line of Jeanne, a character I couldn’t quite wrap my head around but who had me hooked none-the-less.

Also, kind of enjoying how divisive this book seems to be amongst readers. Personally, I do agree it lost its way a little bit in some places but overall, I felt it a strong piece of writing.

I loved it.

curatoriallyyours's review against another edition

The book didn’t seem to be going anywhere 🤷‍♀️

sirhe's review against another edition

4.0

In its short novela form, the collection manages to reverse hundreds of years of mysogeny and the male gaze in literature. Nina Leger does this masterfully by portraying a sexually hungry femme who uses her photographic memory to store the most vulnerable parts of men.

Overall, the story is an easy read and Leger achieves her goal. There is not a lot of complexity to the story, which might put off some readers.