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A review by bashsbooks
You Will Not Have My Hate by Sam Taylor, Antoine Leiris
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
You Will Not Have My Hate is a poetic reflection on a violent, sudden, and tragic loss. Leiris invites the reader in to his world (and his son's) after losing beloved wife and mother Hélène to the November 2013 terrorist attacks. Leiris has such a fine and visceral way of describing grief, of showing how he felt it so acutely. I was most taken by the part where he asks if he will have the right to be a complex and nuanced person after this tragedy and the subsequent popularity of his Facebook post addressed to the culprits.
If I had one criticism, it would be that at times, Leiris seems to refer to his wife as if she were a lost possession of his and Melvil, or to suggest that his grief was somehow greater than that of her other close loved ones, like her mother. I don't know if that's a translation thing or what. But it struck me as awkward, and it happened more than once.
If I had one criticism, it would be that at times, Leiris seems to refer to his wife as if she were a lost possession of his and Melvil, or to suggest that his grief was somehow greater than that of her other close loved ones, like her mother. I don't know if that's a translation thing or what. But it struck me as awkward, and it happened more than once.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Gun violence and Mass/school shootings
-Terrorism