Monday, July 10, 2023

Eric Reinhardt - L' Amour Et Les Forêts (Gallimard, 2014) **


Despite the various awards this novel received (Roman des Etudiants France Culture - Télérama 2015, Prix Renaudots des Lycéens 2014, Prix Roman France Télévisions 2014), I did not like it. It's the story of Bénédicte Ombredanne, a young woman, who is physically abused by her husband. In the first chapter she tells her story to Eric Reinhardt himself, as if the situation is taken as a real life testimony. In the following chapters the perspective and narrator change. 

Even if you sympathise with the main character, and even if you agree that household violence is a societal issue that needs to be addressed, you still need the writing skills to bring it to life and make literature with it, which is not the case here. The story is far too wordy, with too many unnecessary details and descriptions, with a pointless voyeurism of sexuality, and too little stylistic and emotional power. 

Enough said.

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