A review by undercoverreads
Lea by Pascal Mercier

3.0

I bought this book, because I started reading it in a bookshop and thought the writing was beautiful, almost poetic and the message seemed quite deep, profound and philosophical - definitely something different, that appeared to be thought provoking. The pace of the book was very slow and is essentially a novel about a young girl who becomes “closed off” after the passing of her mother. She then has a re-awakening of sorts when she becomes passionately interested in learning to play the violin. This soon turns into an unhealthy obsession for fame and adoration, no matter the cost and we gradually see Leah’s disturbing unravelling. The story unfolds, as we get glimpses of Leah’s life, as told to a stranger by her father. The novel has been translated from German but I found it frustrating that it was peppered with some French phrases that were not translated or explained in English. Although I don’t think this affected the understanding of the novel, it would have still been nice to know what was being said. I really wanted to give this novel a higher star rating because of the philosophical almost poetic way in which it was written and it was a thought provoking book, but the pace was just too slow.