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A review by tessyoung
Maigret and the Man on the Boulevard by Georges Simenon
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This moved up my to-read list after reading and enjoying The Madman of Bergerac so much, and because I want to donate it to the library for a feature on novels for language learners - Simenon purposefully wrote short books with a limited vocabulary for people with limited schooling in the postwar Europe.
In this novel we meet the corpse of Louis Thouret in the first few pages and spend the rest of the novel working out who he was. His wife identifies the body but believes his shoes and tie had been swapped because she would never allow him to wear light brown shoes and an almost red tie. This is the first insight into the life of our corpse who despite everything we consequently learn about him, comes across as a much more sympathetic character than his living relatives and acquaintances. I enjoyed it as an interesting exploration of aspiration, striving, greed and deception that seems as relevant today as it may have in the 1950s.
In this novel we meet the corpse of Louis Thouret in the first few pages and spend the rest of the novel working out who he was. His wife identifies the body but believes his shoes and tie had been swapped because she would never allow him to wear light brown shoes and an almost red tie. This is the first insight into the life of our corpse who despite everything we consequently learn about him, comes across as a much more sympathetic character than his living relatives and acquaintances. I enjoyed it as an interesting exploration of aspiration, striving, greed and deception that seems as relevant today as it may have in the 1950s.