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A French Translation

The Guardian says:

From his earliest childhood, Eddy exhibits all the classic symptoms of his stigmatised condition; his hands over-gesture, his voice is too high and he instinctively loathes the food, sexuality and clothes of his peers. In consequence, he is beaten, abused and terrorised. As a “faggot” or “homo” he is the lowest of the low; lower than women, lower than even an Arab, Jew or Algerian – everyone in the book, young Eddy included, is casually racist. Nothing equips him to protect himself from the shame and terror that are his constant companions, and – not surprisingly – he lives and breathes unqualified self-loathing. He makes repeated attempts to assume the proper masculine role that his culture requires of him, and every time he fails, he assumes the fault is entirely his.

The author is a 28 year old French man who has based this book on his own experiences. It is sometimes a difficult read because Eddy just puts up with so much.

I loved this book. I really loved it. I think it is the best book I have read this year. This boy has such a miserable family and school life and there is absolutely nothing he can do about it but survive. But Eddy does more than survive. He eventually escapes this life but his childhood makes one wonder what on earth is wrong with people. Why can’t they just open their eyes and their mind and quit being so damn ignorant all the time . This book will create rage in the reader. I think it should be required reading in every high school in the world.

The book is extremely well written. A point is never belaboured, the facts are simply told. It is interesting to see how he copes with everything. I don’t think I could watch a film of this book. The reader is always on the side of Eddy and we always want what is best for him. I am not going to say anything else about him.

If you want more information about this book before you read it you can read the
Guardian’s review of it here.   I think this is what literature is all about. Suspending ignorance in the name of love for the character. The real boy who exists behind the story and others like him.

I really enjoyed this book. It was not really a thriller but the suspense kept me turning pages. David Kelsey is a scientist. He used to date Annabelle but he moved in order to get a higher paying job and she married someone else. But…David is obsessed with Annabelle. Although she is now married he completely ignores that tiny fact and behaves as if they are engaged.

I don’t want to say too much about this book because I don’t want to spoil it.  David keeps a house outside of the town he works in. He tells people at the boarding house he is visiting his mother in a nursing home each weekend but he is really going to the house he built for Annabelle. He takes on another name and lives as another who is married to Annabelle. His fantasies and conversations with her in his weekend house keep him going. It is beginning to tell she has little interest in him.

The entire story is how he becomes more and more obsessed with her, the conflicts with several people that arise from his obsession and how it is all resolved at the end.

He becomes sicker and sicker with this obsession. The suspenseful part of the book is how other people, namely his friends, Wes (who has a wife he can’t stand to be with) and Effie ()who is completely in love with David) interfere in his plans. Every time he plans something one of them seems to crop up.  David begins with his fantasy life with Annabelle and then a particular event happens. This changes the entire direction of the story and the continued interference of those around him cause the suspense. You are always wondering, ‘how in the world is this going to end?’.

I think Patricia Highsmith is a brilliant story teller and I have not yet come across another author who can weave a story into the knots that she does. Last year I saw the play The Talented Mr. Ripley but have not read the book. I also saw the film Carol but have not read the corresponding book Ms. Highsmith wrote. Mr. Penguin read Strangers on a Train and I have yet to read that but I do remember the Alfred Hitchcock film. I wish this was a movie because I would love to see how they do it.

I would love to know what others thing of this book. I really enjoyed it.

This week has been a lovely movie going and reading week with a bit of other stuff thrown in. I have seen two movies since I last wrote. Hidden Figures, the story of the three African-American mathematicians who worked at NASA at the time of Alan Shepherd’s first orbit around the earth.  I remember those days so well. They were exciting times and I enjoyed this movie very much. I thought it was well done and I loved the actors who played the main characters.Though Kevin Costner looked so old.

I went to hear Rosalie Martin, Tasmania’s Australian of the Year speak on International Women’s day about her voluntary project she has been doing at Risdon Prison teaching literacy skills. As a speech pathologist I have known Rosie for many years as a colleague and she spoke of ways to establish ‘kind communication’ when speaking to others or teaching her autism students and prisoners. Speech pathologists have a great deal of knowledge of phonological awareness and meta-linguistics related to literacy development. Many teachers have yet to realise this and I remember my own struggles with teachers over the years about their students who weren’t developing communication skills or literacy developments.  The speech was motivational and inspiring. Rosie has now completed a criminology degree and combines the two areas very successful. Most interesting.

Saturday I took myself to the State Cinema in North Hobart to see the film, David Stratton, A Cinematic Life. If you are an Australian you will most likely have followed film reviews by David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz  over the years on SBS and later ABC. David Stratton has viewed over 42, 800 plus movies since he was 12 years old and has card catalogue files and notebooks with reviews and comments about everyone. His personal archive in his home was stunning. I could have watched an entire film about that. If you are a follower of Australian film then run, don’t walk to see this film. I could easily sit through it again and the clips of so many Australian films were wonderful. I was also proud to know that Australia produced the first feature length film in the world in 1906. It was about the bushranger Ned Kelly.  Hollywood did not exist at the time and the clip was shown at the film. Just so interesting.

Books I am reading or have finished:

I finished the End of Eddy by Edouard Louis. It is a French translation of his growing up in poverty in France as a gay boy and having no idea what is actually happening and why he is the way he is. I will write separately about this book. I loved it very much and so far it is the best book I have read this year. It should be required reading in every high school in the world.

I finished Patricia Highsmith’s book This Sweet Sickness which I also loved. I will do a separate review on this book quite soon also. I  loved it. She writes very well of one man’s obsession with a woman he loves and how he descends into complete madnes. A very complex love story.

Today I am off in our 31 C degree heat to my play reading class where we continue to read Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. 

I am enjoying the story very much. One of my classmates taught at Sydney University and he is very experienced in literature and drama. He supplied us a wonderful introduction to this play. I hadn’t realised it was part of the plays of the absurd. It really is very funny. So many truths in it also told in a very circular fashion.

Last week was most comforting with books and films. I always get a great deal of satisfaction from these two areas of my life. I didn’t follow the world news anymore than to listen to the headlines each morning on the ABC radio just to see if our seven continents continue to exist. They do, so I continue to distract myself with more pleasant things.

I’ll be back soon with another Tuesday trivia and the book reviews of the previously mentioned books.

What do you do for comfort in these politically turbulent times?