A French Book Reading Resource

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Carmody
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Wed Mar 15, 2023 11:18 pm

La petite fille de Monsieur Linh by Philippe Claudel

It is not a happy book but then again what French author is. The French of the 20th century celebrate in their food not in their fiction. It is who they are.

The book’s main character is Monsieur Linh is a South-East Asian — probably Vietnamese — refugee to France. His son and daughter-in-law were killed in an unspecified war, and he has fled to France with his infant granddaughter, Sang Diû. Despite the language barrier, he befriends the widower Monsieur Bark, whom he meets on a park bench.

Monsieur Linh is an elderly refugee who arrives in France with other "boat people", clutching a flimsy suitcase and a newborn baby. All those who knew his name are dead. His infant grandchild, Sang diû, became the sole reason for going on, after he found her on the ground beside her doll, whose head was blown off in a bomb blast. He makes his way through the unfamiliar land that will "never be his".

Of course the book is about much more than that and I do like it. Part of the book’s power comes from the author’s ability to describe in such powerful and poignant depth what it is like to be an outsider.

Now I need another week to go through my customary second reading of the book.

It is a good book for me since it has no esoteric vocabulary (see Candide) or slang; just a good read.

I would give it a:

8/10
B1/B2
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby kanewai » Thu Mar 16, 2023 3:41 am

And here's another unhappy French book for everyone: Mohammed Mbougar Sarr, De purs hommes (2018).
Mohamed-mbougar-Sarr-De-purs-hommes-198x300.jpg

It's set in Dakar, where a viral video is being passed around the city showing a mob digging up the grave of a góor-jigéen, a gay man, and throwing his corpse into a field. A burned-out professor of French poetry becomes obsessed with learning who the dead man was, and what triggered the hate.

The novel was strongest when it looked at the origins of hate, and how it spreads in a society, and how religious leaders can nurture the hate. It's definitely a brave book; the author was criticized by the Senegalese press & declared a danger to society for being sympathetic to gays. However, I was hoping for a bit more of an insight into actual gay life in Dakar, but the book doesn't go that deep. There are a few bisexual women, and two short scenes with a transgendered dancer, but that's it. Mostly, the focus is on the religious leaders promoting the violence, and on it's impact on the family of the dead man.

I'd put this novel as "worthy of consideration" rather than a "must read."
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Nogon » Fri Mar 17, 2023 9:21 pm

Recently the International Booker Prize's longlist was announced. 3 of the 13 books were translated from the French:
    Laurent Mauvignier - Histoires de la nuit
    Maryse Condé - L'Évangile du nouveau monde
    Gauz - Debout-paye

The Stockholm library has all three of them. I borrowed the first two and put a hold on the third one.
I guess I won't read Mauvignier's book. While the premise sounds quite good, it's a chunker of 600+ pages and the first sentence ends half-way down the second page :o . I don't think that my French is up to that, and as the library doesn't have any (for me) readable translation and I don't want to buy one, parallel reading is not an option.
Condé's book is much shorter (280 pages), and there is a Swedish translation, so I'll give it a try as soon as I've finished Dumas' Monte-Cristo. I've read several of Condé's books in translation and liked them, so I guess I'll like even this one.
Last edited by Nogon on Sat Mar 18, 2023 8:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Carmody
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Fri Mar 17, 2023 11:14 pm

One thing I definitely don't read is books where
the first sentence ends half-way down the second page :o .


Maybe that is why I had trouble with Proust....
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby rdearman » Sat Mar 18, 2023 10:11 am

Carmody wrote:One thing I definitely don't read is books where
the first sentence ends half-way down the second page :o .


Maybe that is why I had trouble with Proust....

Actually, I think Proust ended his first sentence somewhere on page 4 ...
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Carmody
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Tue Mar 21, 2023 7:49 pm

Book Review Part II of La petite fille de Monsieur Linh by Philippe Claudel

It is always on my second reading that I get so very much out of a book.

This is one very special book that I can not say enough about and do not want to talk too much about for fear of spoiling it for readers. Suffice to say that it is a short beautifully crafted book that many will ignore and I am so lucky to have been given by a neighbor.

I confess one of the joys of the book was that it did not require lots of look ups in the dictionary. It is simply written with a slow pacing and lovely ending that I had not expected. I believe it can be read by readers of all ages and is definitely something to savor.

Not all French 20th century fiction authors are on a downer and this author proves it.

B1/B2
8/10


Image
Last edited by Carmody on Tue Mar 21, 2023 11:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby jeffers » Tue Mar 21, 2023 8:37 pm

Carmody wrote:Book Review Part II of La petite fille de Monsieur Linh by Philippe Claudel


Thank you for this recommendation. I looked it up on Amazon and as the kindle edition was just £1.49 I bought it immediately. I intend to pick this up when I finish my current read (an even shorter book: Le Petit Nicolas, c'est Noël!).

Silly question, but how many pages is the actual book? Looking on different listings about the book I'm getting wildly different page numbering.
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Carmody
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Tue Mar 21, 2023 11:53 pm

jeffers
the actual book
is 184 pages.

I think it is a special book that deserves to be read slowly, which is how I read anyway.

Please tell me what you think of it when finished.

I admire you learning Sanskrit; I have always wanted to but will have to save that for another reincarnation.
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Carmody
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Wed Mar 29, 2023 11:20 pm

Just received this update for suggested readings:

https://www.culturetheque.com/US/lire.aspx
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Carmody
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Mon Apr 03, 2023 7:58 pm

Le suspendu de Conakry is a detective/murder mystery by Jean-Christophe Rufin.

If you want to improve your vocabulary and read a detective/murder mysteries this might be a book for you. However I am not a reader of this genre so I hesitate to criticize too harshly. My big reluctance with this genre comes from the fact that the solving of the crime is never possible with the facts that the author supplies during the story. I believe it should all be possible through deductive reasoning and that to have a plot resolution made possible with extensive additional, extraneous facts is somehow not playing fair. Oh well, no one agrees with me.

Anyway, this story has a crime that in the final chapter has one Very lengthy explanation that goes on and on in a very anticlimactic way that I certainly found tedious.

I will of course, as always, now read this a second time and see what I have missed; who knows I may like it.

Read it if you will.
C1-C2
7/10

NB: I read the books my neighbor gives me free of charge, so I should not quibble with quality.
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