Goncourt 2017 readings (episode 1/2)

On September 5, the members of the prestigious Goncourt Academy selected fifteen novels published during the year. Of these, eight were shortlisted on October 11. The third selection on October 30 further reduced the number of novels in the running, and it's not until November 6 that the overall winner will be announced. Here are reviews and previews of five novels from the first selection, all as rich as they are different.

Our Lives, Marie-Hélène Lafon

«This book doesn’t tell a story. It ties together, unravels, and weaves stories,» the author says in introducing his novel. It all begins with a portrait of Gordana, a young woman from Eastern Europe who works «at checkout four at the Franprix at 93 Rue du Rendez-Vous in Paris’s 12th arrondissement.» The narrator wants to get to know her. To do so, she imagines her life.

Another life is woven into this quest—that of a man named Horacio, who goes to the Franprix every Friday morning. Apparently smitten with the cashier, he wants to meet her. Through the use of the conditional tense, the narrator herself becomes part of the story of Our Lives: «I could be Horacio Fortunato’s mother. Even more so Gordana’s, but I can’t picture myself as Gordana’s mother in the suburbs of Kraków, Sofia, Bratislava, or Brno; I can’t picture myself burdened by that stunted child—shut away at such a young age, yet still rosy-cheeked and blonde—that Gordana must have been.»

Recounting the regrets, failures, and loneliness shared by all the characters, Our Lives refers above all to the lives that pass by. «They had often left the region; they had jobs, husbands, children; a divorce here, an illness there—nothing out of the ordinary. Our lives have flowed by—theirs and mine.»

Marie-Hélène Lafon’s vocabulary is undoubtedly rich, and her language is sensual and vivid. Nevertheless, a sense of emptiness sets in as you read, because the autobiographical elements overshadow Gordana’s fictional story, whose fascinating ordinariness would have deserved more attention. The novel shows great promise in its opening pages. Unfortunately, as the story progresses, it gradually turns into a disappointment.

Summer, Monica Sabolo

Summer is a stunning nineteen-year-old girl. Just as she was enjoying a cheerful picnic with her friends on the shores of Lake Geneva, she suddenly disappeared. Benjamin, her fifteen-year-old brother, was also there that day. More than twenty-four years later, he still hasn’t come to terms with her disappearance—which left no trace and no answers. Psychoanalysis and women seem like nothing more than a futile remedy for this tragedy. Benjamin must nevertheless free himself from the obsessive memory of his sister. Thinking about her—without knowing whether she is dead or alive—eventually prevents him from even going to work. He then resumes his investigation, delving deep into his own history.

Read also | Summer, in the limbo of the lake and memories

Monica Sabolo’s plot is simple, and that’s not a flaw. She doesn’t disappoint her readers. The writing, which many consider poetic, tends to be a bit heavy at times. While the philosophical and naive-sounding sentences tend to bore rather than captivate, the fresh and colorful descriptions of Summer and her friends leap off the page, sparking a sense of longing.

The Disappearance of Joseph Mengele, Olivier Guez

Dr. Joseph Mengele was at the height of his career during the Holocaust. As the chief physician of the gas chambers at Auschwitz, he sent people to their deaths without hesitation and subjected innocent people to experiments that were as absurd as they were cruel. The Reich fell, and from that point on, Joseph Mengele was forced to flee. In 1949, he arrived in Argentina—which, incidentally, served as a refuge for many Nazis. His life was unstable; he wandered ceaselessly until his death in 1979. Drawing partly on real events and partly on his imagination, Olivier Guez plunges the reader into the repulsive and pitiful story of this torturer.

The novel certainly offers an interesting perspective on Joseph Mengele. However, the writing style reduces the book almost to the level of an encyclopedic reference work. Yet the book presents itself as an opportunity to delve into history—the history of the postwar world, of Germany, Argentina, Israel, the secret services, and so on. The Disappearance of Joseph Mengele would win the Goncourt Prize for Education, if such a prize existed. Moreover, the relationship between the reader and Joseph Mengele is sure to hold some surprises.

Our Treasures, Kaouther Adimi

The novel is dedicated «To those on Hamani Street.» This street in Algiers is the setting for two stories: that of Edmond Charlot and that of Ryad. Two men connected by a bookstore that actually existed and still exists today: «Les Vraies Richesses,» at 2 bis Rue Hamani. Edmond, a young lover of literature, founded this place in 1935—«a bookstore that would sell new and used books, lend out books, and be not just a business but a place for people to meet and read.» A place of friendship, in a way, with an added Mediterranean dimension: to bring together writers and readers from all the countries of the Mediterranean, regardless of language or religion—people from here, from this land, from this sea—and, above all, to stand in opposition to the “Algerianists.” Go beyond that!”

The second person is tasked—as part of an internship—with clearing out the space in 2017 to turn it into a doughnut shop. Written in the form of a diary, interspersed with a contemporary narrative, Our Treasures tells the story of the dedication of Edmond Charlot—Camus’s first publisher—who published the great literature of his time. Given the era, attention also turns to the war and the postwar Algerian independence movement.

Without ideological compromises, Kaouther Adimi offers a genuine perspective on politics and its connection to culture, as well as on human passions and ambitions. The style lives up to the tribute: rich in imagery, scents, and the atmosphere of Algeria. As for the message, it flows like smooth oil: books and places of friendship are «our treasures.» The young writer is undoubtedly part of that.

Hold on to your crown, Yannick Haenel

«Back then, I was crazy.» The narrator is indeed crazy, but it is an innocent kind of madness driven by a search for the absolute. He is writing a lengthy screenplay about the American writer Herman Melville. The Great Melville. Expressing his love for the novelist through cinema, he dreams that the film’s director will be the fallen yet legendary Michael Cimino. A producer named Pointel manages to get his phone number. It’s more than he could have hoped for. Just as the project seems poised to come to fruition, a flurry of misadventures—as funny as they are farcical—befalls him.

Hold on to your crown is the most accomplished novel of the five. The book reveals its completeness as you read, because no detail is left to chance. It is, in fact, brimming with literary and—above all—cinematic references; without arrogance, Yannick carves out a specific place for them within the narrator’s wild yet intelligent story.

At various points, the reader either feels as though they are witnessing a display of self-importance—only to finally appreciate the generous style—or feels lost, only to find their bearings again a few pages later. Laughter also plays its part. This stems from the absurdity of the narrator’s carefree, heady existence. However, the tragic element is not sidestepped, thanks to the profound questions raised about the meaning of life—and the witty allusions. Although drawn from’Apocalypse Now – watched on repeat by the antihero – or other films, works of art, or even biographies of authors, they draw their inspiration from the most mystical sacred text: the Book of Revelation. The title itself is taken from it.

Write to the author: loris.musumeci@leregardlibre.com

Cover photo: Kaouther Adimi