It is considered a forerunner of the Nouveau Roman.

[1][2] Jean Genet, Marguerite Duras and Jean-Paul Sartre all described it as a masterpiece.

[3][4][5] The title refers to tropisms, stimuli to plant growth; in the human sense, Sarraute imagined tropisms as "interior movements that precede and prepare our words and actions, at the limits of our consciousness.

"[6][7][8] It was ranked #73 in Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century.

[9] Tropisms consists of twenty-four short vignettes, capturing brief scenes in minute detail.