Reading in Progress: Life A User’s Manual #1

I preordered this new edition of Life A User’s Manual. I don’t remember how I first learned about the book, only my surprise at how large it was once it arrived. After learning that Perec delights in wordplay and puzzles, I deliberately resisted the urge to look anything up. When I finished Brief Notes on the Art and Manner of Arranging One’s Books, I thought: what better time to start?

Sixty-five pages in. I’ve met a handful of residents at 11 Rue Simon-Crubellier, in the Plaine Monceau district. I started sketching a grid of the building, placing different residents inside their apartments as I read. At first, I thought the sixth floor was the top floor, only to realize later that there were seventh and eighth floors as well. I did accidentally flip to the epilogue and realized there’s a drawing provided there, but I haven’t looked closely, and I’m planning not to, at least not yet.

The most interesting characters so far are definitely Winckler (6R) and Bartlebooth (3L). Bartlebooth spent nearly twenty years, from 1935 to 1954, traveling around the world with his factotum, Smautf, painting 500 watercolors at different ports. These paintings were then sent back to Winckler, who had been making 500 puzzles for Bartlebooth. I’m not yet sure how or if these two projects are meant to come together.

The story of Lady Forthright and her coachman also stood out. They aren’t residents of the building, but appear in the story behind a painting hanging in 4R, A Rat Behind the Arras. I felt terrible for the old coachman, for how madly in love he is with Lady Forthright, for being sent away, and for returning only to hang himself in the room after her death.

I have no idea where the story is going yet. Reading this book reminds me of reading J. J. Abrams and Doug Dorst's S., peeling back layers slowly, without a clear sense of what waits at the center. For now, the process itself feels like the point.