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stapsreadsThe advantage of book clubs is that, when one is not slavishly following in the footsteps of Richard, Judy, et al, one occasionally comes across an author of whom one would never otherwise have heard. This book was picked by my French colleague - Anna Gavalda is not, so far as I am aware, a big thing over here.
The problem is that my colleague read this in the original, and the rest of us read it in translation, which is not bad exactly, but very, very American. There's a lot of slang in there, and one finds oneself having to trawl through two layers of foreignness. One alone would be fine, but the combination of French culture and American language is a little disorientating.
It's a book of short stories, some of which are memorable, three weeks down the line, and some of which are not. The one about the vet. Yes. The one about the pregnant woman. The one about the rich kids and the wild boar. And the one about the car accident. And the first one in the book. The rest, obviously are Not Memorable.
Worth a read, but probably more rewarding if you plough through the original with a French dictionary.
The problem is that my colleague read this in the original, and the rest of us read it in translation, which is not bad exactly, but very, very American. There's a lot of slang in there, and one finds oneself having to trawl through two layers of foreignness. One alone would be fine, but the combination of French culture and American language is a little disorientating.
It's a book of short stories, some of which are memorable, three weeks down the line, and some of which are not. The one about the vet. Yes. The one about the pregnant woman. The one about the rich kids and the wild boar. And the one about the car accident. And the first one in the book. The rest, obviously are Not Memorable.
Worth a read, but probably more rewarding if you plough through the original with a French dictionary.
