When objects bear witness to a separation

The first novel by’Odile Cornuz, Rifle, traces the’history of’a couple by evoking the objects that marked their daily lives, from their beginnings to their break-up. An attractive, engaging book describing a universal phenomenon. In bookshops since this 1^er September.

The scene is familiar: boy meets girl. In film circles, particularly in the English-speaking world, the expression «boy meets girl" is often used.«boy meets girl»This is the type of scenario that invokes a love story with a relatively predictable outcome. But in Rifle, Odile Cornuz's first novel, the story unfolds in reverse. A bit like Citizen Kane, The story is told in flashbacks - or rather, fragments of memories. And, above all, we begin with the end, the «after» love, once the romance has come to an end.

«When does it end? How do you know when it ends? Anything that's thrown into space and looks like a bond between two beings. It weaves threads. It tangles. How it tangles! And you have to spend your life untangling? Or at least the part after? The part that follows the moment when the balls are lying all over the place? Resuming the thread, yes.»

Objects, precious witnesses

The novel begins with a phone call from a man to a woman. He would like his rifle back. This unexpected call from his former companion shakes the protagonist to the core. Fragments of memories follow. In the manner of Eugène, who retraced his life in The Valley of Youth (La Joie de Lire, 2009) through twenty objects, Odile Cornuz reveals the intimate story of this couple through thirty objects. The thirty-first, on which the plot opens and closes, and which gives the book its title, is a rifle. Each chapter is built around an object, the drawing of which is reproduced at the beginning of the chapter. With the exception of the prologue and epilogue, which are based on the rifle - illustrated on the cover.

«She was there in his story, in his life - but no longer at all for this man. With a push, she silenced the untimely. She put down the phone and rested both hands on the table in front of her. Her head weighed triple the weight of her years. The ringing sounded.

- We were cut off.
- I don't want to talk to you
- And my rifle?
- Liquidated with the household goods. Fifteen years ago. Don't call back.»

What better witnesses to tell a story than objects? These silent, static witnesses are present at the warmest, most distressing and saddest moments of a relationship. Through this aesthetic choice, the author takes us back to an event that everyone can experience: the separation and the need to go and collect one's belongings from one's former partner. These diverse objects, ranging from shovels and bracelets to VHS tapes and scooters, are things that any couple - especially those with children - might have on hand. Each of these things is a motif, a door that opens a memory of the couple's history. Rifle is not a fantastic story; the objects don't speak, they evoke.

A trio of’anonymous

The two main characters, the man and the woman, will forever remain anonymous. The book doesn't give much information about them, just a few details. Only a few details... In the chapter devoted to the «tape measure», the woman, who is taking a teacher training course to obtain her diploma, cuts the tape measure as the days of training go by, under the reproachful eyes of the man, a qualified teacher. The latter, an avid hunter, often displays inappropriate behavior and, by dint of little gestures such as chasing fifty-cent coins for his coffee, contributes to the disintegration of the relationship.

As the story progresses, an asymmetry develops between the man and the woman. The former takes up more and more space to the detriment of the latter. A way of highlighting the relationship imbalances that sometimes plague couples.

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Another witness (and player) in this story is the woman's daughter. A small child at the beginning of the story, she becomes a teenager whose greed earns her the nickname «Oschner» (the name of a brand of garbage) from the man. A child who gradually goes from being the man's «ally», relatively passive, to opposing this surrogate father.

By using common objects to tell a story, Odile Cornuz has written an original and entertaining first novel. As the book contains relatively few details about the characters, the story is easily transposable to many situations encountered by everyone in everyday life.

Write to the author: ivan.garcia@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: © PxHere

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Odile Cornuz 
Rifle 
Editions d'en bas 
2022 
160 pages 

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