A review by juanluisgarciaa
Astragal by Albertine Sarrazin

2.0

There are certain books you pick up, based on the cover and blurb alone, with the belief that you will absolutely love them. Unfortunately with 'Astragal' this was the case, which added to my disappointment. You would think that a book about a prison escapee would be a lot more entertaining than this was. Instead, Astragal was quite boring, with the protagonist being constrained to a bed with a broken ankle for most of the book. If I knew this is how it was going to be I would not have picked up the book in the first place... I don't know, I expected something of substance to still happen despite her immobilisation. I really hate when books feel like a waste of time, yet I am not sure if that is how I feel about this one just yet... Astragal has some very interesting and beautifully written prose, at times the narration seemed to switch its audience, with Anne going from speaking to her readers to smoothly transitioning to her beloved Julien. I wasn't a fan of Julien, but I still enjoyed her infatuation with him. However, I don't know if this was enough to make up for the boring plot. Here are two of my favourite quotes:

'I decide, on the spot, never to say a word that isn't absolutely necessary, to be as dumb as I am immobilised, to let my leg do the howling.'

'My name, here, is the name of my fracture... an astragalus, did the doctor say? Not an anatomical chart in sight... my face, it too is an astragalus, that's what they'll be looking at.'