A review by sunilsinghx
In the Absence of Men by Philippe Besson

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

As I've said before every sentence in this novel was worthy of being annotated. In which did annotate.. yes i did the unthinkable and marked the book with aesthetically pleasing lines. Back to the novel, It was a depiction of love, life and loss. One of the first striking points about the book was it's first person storytelling, they set the scenario in first person which don't see many books do. The book had a lot of provoking depictions for example whether being in love and being happy is the same? And even an exploration of the world war in Paris. The book was split into three parts. Being Offering, Loss and Separation. The first part was my favourite as the tone was much lighter. The second part is where felt lost it set the story betweena series of letters between the characters (which I didn't love) the ending also felt short and focused too much on the wrong point for me. I wanted to see more of an interaction between Marcel and Vincent. Or at least Vincent's feelings.