Stupeur et tremblements (English and French Edition) (original 1999; edition 1999)

by Amélie Nothomb (Author)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
2,582	71	6,158	(3.65)	132
According to ancient Japanese protocol, foreigners deigning to approach the emperor did so only with fear and trembling. Terror and self-abasement conveyed respect. Amélie, our well-intentioned and eager young Western heroine, goes to Japan to spend a year working at the Yumimoto Corporation. Returning to the land where she was born is the fulfillment of a dream for Amélie; working there turns into comic nightmare. Alternately disturbing and hilarious, unbelievable and shatteringly convincing,Fear and Trembling will keep readers clutching tight to the pages of this taut little novel, caught up in the throes of fear, trembling, and, ultimately, delight.… (more)

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Member:	annelari
Title:	Stupeur et tremblements (English and French Edition)
Authors:	Amélie Nothomb (Author)
Info:	Albin Michel (1999), 174 pages
Collections:	Your library
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Work Information

Fear and Trembling by Amélie Nothomb (1999)

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10
Hell by Yasutaka Tsutsui (SqueakyChu)
SqueakyChu: Satire of certain aspects of the Japanese psyche. In addition, a fun read!

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English (43) French (8) Dutch (7) Spanish (6) Italian (2) Catalan (2) Latvian (1) Finnish (1) German (1) Russian (1) All languages (72)

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Showing 1-5 of 43 (next | show all)

Good, witty, writing, but after a while I got tired of it and all the negative descriptions of Japanese culture. Was it meant to be funny? I found it gloomy. It was one of those books that when you put it down, you later have to force yourself to pick it up again. Happily, it's a short book -- a novella. (

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dvoratreis | May 22, 2024 |

Belgian 22-year-old woman, raised in Japan and speaking Japanese, achieves her dream working for a Japanese company only to spend a humiliating but amusing year cleaning toilets. Well written and novel. (

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featherbooks | May 7, 2024 |

It was easy enough to read and has a consistent tone... but it's so racist. I guess some of it must be true? Like a lot of japanese companies really do have a noxious work culture... but nothomb's characterization of a lot of japanese culture rings completely false to me.

she's also really wapanese - there are bits in this book where she talks about having been born in japan and wanting to rediscover the culture, but i've heard they're absolutely false. (

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finlaaaay | Aug 1, 2023 |

In Nothom’s caricature of Japanese corporate life, Belgian national Amelie begins by taking a new job at the import-export division of the Yomimoto Corporation. In almost no time, she finds herself slipping down the corporate ladder. Using an exaggerated sense of humor to poke fun at some of the absurdities of the Japanese work ethic, the author enlightens its readers to a Western mind’s reaction to such a situation. What could be thought of by some as a scathing attack on Japanese corporate life seems to be just the author’s examination of culture clash presented in a very entertaining manner. (

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SqueakyChu | May 26, 2022 |

Very sweet and very funny. (

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Estragon1958 | May 23, 2022 |

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▾Published reviews

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thingScore 75

Die Mischung aus leichten Dialogen und Hintergrundwissen, aus Sprachwitz und kritischen Reflexionen, aus komischen Episoden und traurigen Wahrheiten macht dieses Buch lesenswert.

added by Indy133 | editliteraturkritik.de, Anne Stresing (Nov 1, 2000)

▾Other authors

» Add other authors (7 possible)

Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Nothomb, Amélie	—	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Arijs, Marijke	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Hunter, Adriana	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Krege, Wolfgang	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Publisher Series

detebe (23325)

Le fenici tascabili [Guanda] (156)

Le livre de poche (15071)

Is contained in

Coffret Amélie Nothomb : Cosmétique - Catilinaires - Stupeurs et tremblements by Amélie Nothomb

El sabotaje amoroso / Estupor y temblores

Maxi by Amélie Nothomb

▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Grand Prix du Roman de l'Académie française (1999)

Premi Internet del Llibre

Prix de La Nuit du Livre ([Coffret Noël, 2007] Poche - Manga, 2008)

Prix des Lecteurs du Livre de Poche (2001)

Prix des libraires du Québec (Roman hors Québéc – 2000)

Yasnaya Polyana Literary Award - Foreign Literature (2015)

Столицы мира от Officiel Voyage (Токио)

Notable Lists

1001 boeken die je gelezen moet hebben! (editie 2017)

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006/2008/2010/2012 Edition)

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▾Common Knowledge

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Canonical title

Fear and Trembling

Original title

Stupeur et tremblements

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Stupeur et tremblements (2003 | IMDb)

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

Mister Haneda was senior to Mister Omochi, who was senior to Mister Saito, who was senior to Miss Mori, who was senior to me.

Monsieur Haneda était le supérieur de monsieur Omochi, qui était le supérieur de monsieur Saito, qui était le supérieur de mademoiselle Mori, qui était ma supérieure.

Quotations

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Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

French

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (3)

Amélie Nothomb

Fear and Trembling (novel)

Wolfgang Krege

▾Book descriptions

According to ancient Japanese protocol, foreigners deigning to approach the emperor did so only with fear and trembling. Terror and self-abasement conveyed respect. Amélie, our well-intentioned and eager young Western heroine, goes to Japan to spend a year working at the Yumimoto Corporation. Returning to the land where she was born is the fulfillment of a dream for Amélie; working there turns into comic nightmare. Alternately disturbing and hilarious, unbelievable and shatteringly convincing,Fear and Trembling will keep readers clutching tight to the pages of this taut little novel, caught up in the throes of fear, trembling, and, ultimately, delight.

▾Library descriptions

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Book description

Nuori, akateemisesti koulutettu belgialainen Amélie on saanut työpaikan suuryrityksestä Japanissa, lapsuutensa idyllissä. Hän hallitsee täydellisesti japanin kielen, mutta kulttuurien kuilu on ylittämätön. Väärinkäsitykset takaavat, että ura on jyrkästi laskujohteinen.

Haiku summary