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macaronoui's review against another edition
challenging
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
(English translation)
This is a very odd book. I started reading it because it seemed like a pretty mellow book set in Paris. The book has several narrators, Josephine a drab mother and wife, who’s husband (Antoine) leaves her, her superficial sister Iris who is a housewife and her step father Marcel.
In the book everyone is cheating on or with somebody.
Josephine is a very meek woman who just keeps on taking hits. I just want to hug her and get her a therapist.
She has a 14 y old daughter, Hortense who apparently is beautiful but truly horrible and stuck up and has a lot of internalized misogyny going on. The things she thinks and says in this book are aweful, sometimes racist and mostly internalized misogyny.
Iris is an annoying know it all, but suspects her husband of cheating and starts crumbling as she doesn’t have a job or hobbies.
Marcel at least has a company, where he is cheating on his wife (a shrill woman and mother to Jo and Iris) with his much younger secretary (shocker).
The book is a lil slow, but picks up after about 60%. I will say the book is not predictable, which I liked.
And without spoiling it, something happens in chapter 21 that I was delighted by.
There is a historical inconsistency, twice Rollo the viking is mentioned who lived 9th century, while in the book Josephine is a 12th century scholar.
Now there is a line in the book, which I don’t know is just in the translation or the original
“A macaroon to go with your coffee, monsieur?"”
A macaroon is a coconut and egg white and sugar dessert, not that well known in France. I’m guessing this was meant to be a macaron, a French small round fancy pastry.
Then this quote is of a 40 year old father seeing his teenage daughter:
“When Hortense took off her T-shirt and pareo, Antoine got a shock. She had the body of a woman: long legs, a slim waist, nice round buttocks, a taut stomach, and breasts that her bathing suit barely contained. The way she lifted her long hair and pulled it back, the way she rubbed sunscreen on her thighs, shoulders, and neck, unnerved him. Antoine looked away,”
There are SO many things wrong with this bit, I’m sure I dont have to explain why.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Death of parent
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