Literature

«Enemy of God»: a promising title

5 reading minutes

written by Le Regard Libre · 02 June 2020 · 0 comment

Tuesday's books - Amélie Wauthier

Generally speaking, I let the cover of a book be my guide when making my choices in a bookshop. An author I like, an attractive image, a tempting title. I never read the back cover, because I hate knowing what I'm getting into. I like to take risks. Throwing myself into the unknown. If the enemy of my enemy is my friend, Enemy of God and I were meant to love each other. In theory. Next time, I'll read the synopsis. Or at least, just a few lines...

A guy, we're not sure who, is in prison, we're not sure why. Well, he was in prison, because now he's not. They set him free, although he's never felt less free than he does now. Who set him free? The guys at the prison. But they're the same guys he finds outside. Outside, this guy, released after TWO THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FOUR days in prison, can't find his wife. She's gone. Abroad. France. His phone is tapped. He decides to find Mina. Mina is the nurse who took care of him in prison. At the same time, he starts seeing the wife of his cellmate - well, ONE of his cellmates. Doctor. Doctor's wife, that is. And then one day, a guy from the prison tells him that if he doesn't want to die - the guy was originally sentenced to death - he's going to have to obey him, the guy from the prison. And the prison guy, he wants the guy released, he wants him to infiltrate a network to provide him, the prison guy, with information. And blah, blah, blah.

Clichés

It's about a guy whose brain has been atomized by his time in solitary. I think that if you approach this novel with that idea firmly in mind, you might stand a chance of enjoying it. That may be. But, of course, no one gave me that advice. As a result, I just found the plot to be shoddy, the characters' psychology crude, the dialogue poorly written, grotesque. I hated all the prejudices I came across, the fact that the main character ogled every woman who crossed his path from head to toe, that the flashbacks mingle with stories of the present.

But also to childhood memories, the whole thing being extremely badly put together. The guy calls himself a «poet», but his references are Baudelaire and Saadi. Excuse the cliché! For an enthusiast, he could at least have mentioned the name of a little-known poet, straight out of the woodwork, the kind only «real» people can know. Baudelaire« is a bit too easy, though. As for Saadi, »one of the greatest Persian poets and storytellers« according to Wikipedia, well, hello complacency!

What an unpleasant character this protagonist is. In prison, he's nicknamed «Gentleman» for ratting everyone out to save his wife. Just released, all he can think about is finding her, but he wouldn't mind banging the wife of his dearest friend and the sister of another inmate, beaten to death because of him. Classy. All this to end up admitting, a few pages later, that he hates all women. How logical. The guy's only got two things on his mind: sex and poetry.

A series of inconsistencies

But on page 56, we learn that he loves Breton and enjoys reciting his verses. André Breton. The guy that anyone in their right mind who's read at least one of his books loathes to death. And the guy, our hero, theorizes about free love whenever it suits him. But when his wife's brother answers the phone, he loses it and, mad with jealousy, rips the phone plug out of the wall.

MY GOD, I hated that novel! But what made the guys at Robert Laffont.., yet often brilliant, When did they decide to publish such a book? At what point did they think it was a good idea to invest time, money and paper in such a thing? Can anyone give me their contact details? I've got some papers I'd like to submit for their perusal - I want to be published too!

And nobody does the proofreading? Since when is it allowed to capitalize ellipsis? Doesn't it bother anyone to read «With my hand on the doorknob, I contemplate the portrait when Mr. Caro arrives»? Can anyone explain to me the meaning of this sentence: «You can't stop progress,» I say to myself, letting my gaze slide over his shoulders, his neck and his unkempt ponytail?

A fascination with conflict

And generally speaking, what is this fascination we have with war and conflict? - Because I haven't told you, but the story takes place in Teheran, and it's not a happy place there every day. Whether in literature, cinema or TV series, we love inflicting ourselves with hours of cruel, bloody combat, seeing men and women with faces contorted by screams and tears, revisiting the drama of the Shoah a thousand times over, watching battered and torn bodies on giant screens.

What a strange idea. Do we have a complex about not having experienced anything as interesting as dictatorships and war? Why do we love talking about something so foreign to us? An experience that all the films, stories and testimonials will never enable us to grasp the full extent of the horror until we've experienced it for ourselves. And if we could, would this understanding make us better, more empathetic and tolerant beings? Human suffering. What strange entertainment.

When I got to the end of those ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR pages, I thought I'd just throw away my copy of’Enemy of God on anibis.ch, with my rather flowery reading notes as a bonus. But now that I'm writing these lines and remembering what I've been through, I'm more inclined to set fire to it and bury its ashes. Full of love and benevolence for my fellow man, I'll see to it that nobody suffers from reading this damned book.

Write to the author: amelie.wauthier@leregardlibre.com