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Content snapshot
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Violence
Barely any
Minimal violence
Language
Barely any
Mild language in the literary register
Sexual Content
Very heavy
Explicit sexual content between a fifteen-year-old and an adult man — central to the novel
Substance Use
None
No substance use
Emotional Intensity
A lot
Strong psychological content: the psychology of a precocious adolescent in a colonial power structure, the asymmetry of the relationship, and what desire and power mean at fifteen
What this book is about
Marguerite Duras's autobiographical novel depicts a French girl's sexual relationship with a wealthy Chinese man in colonial Indochina when she is fifteen. The prose is fragmented, impressionistic, and exquisitely crafted — one of the 20th century's most admired works of literary fiction. The explicit sexual content and the age of the protagonist make this distinctly adult literary fiction; the power imbalance of colonialism, class, and age is not softened.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Explicit sexual content between a fifteen-year-old and an adult man
Colonial power dynamics are part of the novel's substance, not softened
Adult literary fiction despite its youthful-seeming subject
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