Les Pays

roman

202 pages

French language

Published Oct. 16, 2012 by Buchet-Chastel.

ISBN:
978-2-283-02477-5
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OCLC Number:
798406363

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3 stars (1 review)

Claire, the daughter of Cantal farmers, was born into a world that was disappearing. Her father has been saying it since she was a child: they are the last. From an early age, she understood that her salvation lay in her studies and books. So she committed herself to her studies with energy and determination. Thanks to her scholarship, she moved to Paris to study at the Sorbonne. She would forget nothing of her first country, while learning about the city where she would make her life. Les Pays recounts these years of passage.

1 edition

Moderately enjoyable

3 stars

Marie-Hélène Lafon's style is dense, a jungle to plough through. A story reminiscent of those told by Annie Ernaux, Didier Éribon and Édouard Louis; Lafon's novel is more descriptive and somewhat flat. Its flowery prose is revealing of Claire's inner world but I missed more introspection, typical of the novels of Éribon, Ernaux and Louis. The last fifty pages are the best because more depth is given to the character of the father, but why I wonder? The book is after all about Claire... why not learn more about Claire?

Subjects

  • Roman
  • Französisch