Cuộc sống ở trước mặt

by Romain Gary, Hồ Thanh Vân (Translator)

Bà Rosa, một bà già Do Thái từng bị bắt đến Auschwitz và từng tự vệ (thuật ngữ chú bé Momo mười tuổi – nhân vật tôi – sử dụng chỉ gái điếm) ở phố Blondel, Paris, đã mở một “quán trọ không gia đình dành cho những đứa trẻ sinh ngoài giá thú”, hay nói cách khác là một quán trọ bất hợp pháp nơi các bà các cô làm nghề tự vệ bỏ rơi con cái mình. Cậu bé người Ả rập Momo kể lại cuộc sống của mình ở nhà bà Rosa và tình yêu của cậu dành cho người mẹ duy nhất còn ở lại với mình ấy, một bà già cổ lỗ, to béo, xấu xí và đáng kính mà cậu yêu bằng cả trái tim. Và cậu sẽ ở bên bà cho đến những ngày cuối đời bà.

Mọi thứ đã định sẵn để tạo nên một tình yêu không-thể-có: giữa chú bé Momo và Madame Rosa có hơn nửa thế kỷ tuổi tác và gần một tạ cân nặng, Momo thì nhìn về phía trước cuộc đời còn Madame Rosa chỉ ngoái về quá khứ; thêm vào đó, Momo là người Ả-rập còn Madame Rosa là người Do Thái.

Thế nhưng bạn sẽ nhận ra đây là một câu chuyện tình đẹp như mọi điều không thể khác, một trong những gì kỳ diệu mà chỉ văn chương mới biết cách tạo ra. Nói đúng hơn, chỉ văn chương của một số rất ít nhà văn mới có thể tạo ra. Émile Ajar, tức Romain Gary, ở giai đoạn sáng tạo thứ hai của cuộc đời mình, đã viết nên một kiệt tác nữa không hề thua kém Lời hứa lúc bình minh (1960). Mười năm sau câu chuyện tình yêu giữa hai mẹ con nhà Romain, là câu chuyện về cậu bé Momo với một lời hứa khác khi đứng trước mặt cuộc đời.

Cuộc sống ở trước mặt nhận giải Goncourt năm 1975, đồng thời làm dấy lên một vụ bê bối chưa từng có trong lịch sử giải thưởng danh giá nhất nước Pháp. Bộ phim cùng tên (1977) của đạo diễn Moshé Mizrahi đã đoạt giải Oscar cho phim nước ngoài hay nhất năm 1978, và nữ diễn viên nổi tiếng Simone Signoret trong vai Madame Rosa đã nhận giải César cho diễn xuất năm 1978.

Genres: Fiction, France, Classics, Novels, French Literature, Roman, School

258 pages, Paperback

First published September 14, 1975

About the author

Romain Gary was a Jewish-French novelist, film director, World War II aviator and diplomat. He also wrote under the pen name Émile Ajar .

Born Roman Kacew (Yiddish: קצב, Russian: Кацев), Romain Gary grew up in Vilnius to a family of Lithuanian Jews. He changed his name to Romain Gary when he escaped occupied France to fight with Great Britain against Germany in WWII. His father, Arieh-Leib Kacew, abandoned his family in 1925 and remarried. From this time Gary was raised by his mother, Nina Owczinski. When he was fourteen, he and his mother moved to Nice, France. In his books and interviews, he presented many different versions of his father's origin, parents, occupation and childhood.

He later studied law, first in Aix-en-Provence and then in Paris. He learned to pilot an aircraft in the French Air Force in Salon-de-Provence and in Avord Air Base, near Bourges. Following the Nazi occupation of France in World War II, he fled to England and under Charles de Gaulle served with the Free French Forces in Europe and North Africa. As a pilot, he took part in over 25 successful offensives logging over 65 hours of air time.

He was greatly decorated for his bravery in the war, receiving many medals and honors.

After the war, he worked in the French diplomatic service and in 1945 published his first novel. He would become one of France's most popular and prolific writers, authoring more than thirty novels, essays and memoirs, some of which he wrote under the pseudonym of Émile Ajar. He also wrote one novel under the pseudonym of Fosco Sinibaldi and another as Shatan Bogat.

In 1952, he became secretary of the French Delegation to the United Nations in New York, and later in London (in 1955).

In 1956, he became Consul General of France in Los Angeles.

He is the only person to win the Prix Goncourt twice. This prize for French language literature is awarded only once to an author. Gary, who had already received the prize in 1956 for Les racines du ciel , published La vie devant soi under the pseudonym of Émile Ajar in 1975. The Académie Goncourt awarded the prize to the author of this book without knowing his real identity. A period of literary intrigue followed. Gary's little cousin Paul Pavlowitch posed as the author for a time. Gary later revealed the truth in his posthumous book Vie et mort d'Émile Ajar .

Gary's first wife was the British writer, journalist, and Vogue editor Lesley Blanch (author of The Wilder Shores of Love ). They married in 1944 and divorced in 1961. From 1962 to 1970, Gary was married to the American actress Jean Seberg, with whom he had a son, Alexandre Diego Gary.

He also co-wrote the screenplay for the motion picture, The Longest Day and co-wrote and directed the 1971 film Kill! , starring his now ex-wife Seberg.

Suffering from depression after Seberg's 1979 suicide, Gary died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on December 2, 1980 in Paris, France though he left a note which said specifically that his death had no relation with Seberg's suicide.

Reviews

[Michael Finocchiaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most beautiful and optimistic books I have ever read, The Life Before Us is a masterpiece. Romain Gary wrote it under a pseudonym, Emile Ajar, and thus became to only person to win the French Goncourt Prize twice. In fact, it was only after his tragic death that the identity of the mysterious but astounding write Ajar was revealed to by Romain Gary.

The story is told by Momo, an infant of prostitution in an illegal boarding house run by the aging Madame Rosa, well past her prime but who still "defended herself" from time to time. Momo lives with other children of prostitutes and is a fount of wisdom and consciousness that - despite his hilarious vocabulary of words used in the wrong sense but which reveal even more about his sensibility - surprises and amuses us at every turn of the page:

"The first thing I can tell you is that we lived on the 6th floor without an elevator and for Madame Rosa with all those pounds she carried on only two legs, it was a real source of daily life, with all its worried and pains." (p.1)

"i believe that the injust sleep the best because they don't give a shit, while the righteous cannot close their eyes and feel guilty about everything." (p. 39)

"'It is not necessary to have reasons to be scared, Momo'
That is something I never forgot because it is the truest thing i ever heard." (p.63)

"I think that to live, you need to start young, because later you lose all your value and nobody will give you a break." (p.88)

"I was so happy that I wanted to die because you must seize happiness when it is there before you" (p. 96)

I could not possibly render justice to the story of Momo and Madame Rosa with Momo's friends Monsieur Hamil and his book of Victor Hugo (which in his dementia he confuses with the Qu'ran), Madame Lolo (the Senegalese ex-boxer transvestite who works the Bois de Boulogne) or the wonderful Nadine...I encourage you - particularly in this dark moment for world politics at the eve of the Drumpftastrophe- to take refuge with Momo and Madame Rosa. Like Momo says in closing the book, "We must love."


(All translations are mine from the Folio Classics edition in the original French)

[KamRun · Rating 4 out of 5]

رومن گاری در این اثر، ماجرایی را روایت می‌کند که انگار در آن هیچ چیزی در جای خودش قرار ندارد: پسری نامشروع، مسلمان، از مادری تن‌فروش که نزد پیرزنی یهودی زندگی می‌کند، بازمانده‌ای از اردوگاه مرگ آشویتش. قهرمان داستان، کودکی ظاهرا ده‌ساله‌‌ست که ماجراهای خود و روزهای رو به زوال پیرزن را با صداقتی مثال زدنی تعریف می‌کند. عموما شیوه‌ی روایت داستان‌هایی که قهرمانانش کودکان هستند، بزرگترین عامل جذابیت آن اثر محسوب می‌شود، بخصوص وقتی که نویسنده چنین چیره‌دست باشد. چیزی که در این کتاب هم یافت می‌شود، یعنی: صداقت، شفافیت احساس و معصومیت کودکانه‌ راوی که هنوز نابود نشده. کاراکتر مومو (محمد، راوی داستان) بسیار جذاب و دوست‌داشتنی از آب درآمده. او یک کودک معمولی نیست. دوستانش پیرمردها هستند ،روسپیان، جاکش‌ها، شخصیت‌های خیالی و یک چتر که به تن او لباس پوشانده و نامش را آرتور گذاشته و او را همه جا همراه خود می‌برد. مومو باکی ندارد که اعلام کند مادرش یک فاحشه بوده و به پایین‌تنه‌ی مادرش هم افتخار می‌کند که تا این حد در خدمت بشریت بوده و حتی این را سبب رحمت و آمرزش روح او می‌داند.

داستان برای من دو پیام مهم داشت. نخست، آنکه در درهم‌ترین اوضاع و وخیم‌ترین شرایط، در زیرزمینی‌ترین جاها هم ممکن است روزی خورشید دوباره بتابد و به انسان نور و گرما ببخشد، چنانکه برای مومو اینچنین شد. این‌ها یعنی پاس‌داشت امید و زندگی. یعنی تا زمانی که در درون شکست نخورده باشی، پیروز این بازی هستی
پیام دوم کتاب، همان عنوان کتاب بود، یعنی "زندگی‌ِ در پیش رو" که دو مفهوم مهم اگزیستانسیالیستی - آزادی و مسئولیت انتخاب - را تداعی می‌کند. زندگی همیشه پیش روی ماست و ما محکوم به انتخاب هستیم که آن را در همین نقطه به پایان برسانیم یا زنده بمانیم و زندگی کنیم و عشق بورزیم. مهم نیست پیرزنی 68 ساله و رو به موت باشی یا کودکی بی‌کس و غرق در بیچارگی. انتخاب با توست، همان سرزمین موعودت، این است زندگیِ همیشه پیشِ رویِ تو

نکته‌ی جالب و تکان‌دهنده‌ی کتاب، ارتباط میان زندگی شخصی نویسنده و حوادث و کاراکتر‌های داستان‌هایش است. محتوای داستان‌های او ملغمه‌ای از حوادث و تجربیات شخصی خودش است و میان آنچه او خلق کرده و آنچه بر او گذشته پیوستگی عجیب و روشنی وجود دارد. ولی سوالی که با خواندن این اثرش در ذهنم ایجاد شد، این بود که او نیز مانند براتیگان برای مرگ خودخواسته‌ی خود از مدت‌ها قبل برنامه ریزی کرده بود؟ آنچه که مومو و رزا خانم بر سر آن به توافق می‌رسند - حق مرگ (یا به قول مومو حق سَقَط کردن) - تنها پنج سال بعد برای نویسنده جامه‌ی عمل می‌پوشد و این چنین آخرین پازل ارتباط رازآمیز میان داستان‌ها و وقایع زندگی‌اش کامل می‌شود

در مورد ترجمه و سانسور

خانم گلستان در ترجمه‌ این اثر، تلاش زیادی برای امانت‌داری و وفاداری به متن اصلی و مقاومت در برابر سانسور انجام داده (و همین امر هم باعث ممنوع‌الانتشار شدن کتاب گشته). با این وجود در چند قسمت نسبتا جزیی هم با حذفیاتی روبرو شدم (شاید این تنها مختص به نسخه‌ی افست من و اقدام نشر پیشگام باشد). حتی تصویر کنایی روی جلد هم در اقدامی عجیب دست‌کاری شده و قلب سرخ رنگ از روی آن حذف شده

#کتاب‌خوانی_در_مترو

[Gypsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

اول یه دمِ شما گرم به خانم گلستان می‌گم. چقدر برای این ترجمه جسارت و وفاداری به خرج داده بودن.

دوم، اجازه بدین بگم این کتاب به ناطوردشت می‌چربید. *طرفدارهای هولدن کالفیلد با لنگ کفش دنبالش می‌کنند.* من خودم از عاشقان سینه‌چاک سلینجرم، اما
رومن گاری هم الان حسابی توی قلبم جا وا کرده. ما با یه شخصیتی طرفیم که خعلی بدبخته! به‌معنای واقعی کلمه! و توی این همه بدبختی، درنهایتِ طنز و با نگاه ظریف و ریزبین و نابی داستانشو تعریف می‌کنه! یه جاهایی اون‌قد این نگاه طنز و خاص و جدیده که از فرط قرابت دیدش خنده‌ت می‌گیره!

ریویوهای بچه‌ها اون‌قد خوب بودن که نیازی نیست من پُرحرفی کنم. فقط بگم پایان‌بندی عالی بود. دغل‌بازی‌هایی که سر مرگ رزا درمی‌آره تا بازم کنارش باشه، قشنگ نشون می‌ده این آدم زیر دست چه کسی تربیت شده و چقد روش تأثیر گذاشته. در عین حال هوش و ذکاوت مومو رو هم نشون می‌ده. اون تیکه‌ای هم که باباش بعد یازده سال پیدا می‌شه و می‌آد دنبالش و دغل‌بازی‌های رزا معرکه‌ست! این‌قد خوب بود که می‌خواستم از این صفحات عکس بگیرم، اما می‌ترسیدم جزییات یادم بره و برگردم بخونمش اون‌قد مثل بار اول باهاش حال نکنم. رومن گاری عجب شخصیت دنیادیده و عمیقیه. این پیوندی که بین رزای یهودی و موموی مسلمون بود، با همۀ حواشی‌ داستان خیلی خوشگل نشسته بود. نویسنده اون‌قد جسارت داره که داستانو به هر سمتی ببره، ما می‌پذیریم.

یه عالم قلب برات، رومن گاری‌جان. خوش بخوابی.

[Orsodimondo · Rating 4 out of 5]

FIGLIO DI PUTTANA


Foto di Patrcik Zachmann.

Queste cose ve le dico subito per risparmiarvi delle emozioni dopo. Da vivo aveva i migliori venticinque metri di marciapiede a Pigalle…

Mohammed, meglio noto come Momò, è un figlio di puttana.
O almeno così crede, e lo crede perché gli hanno fatto credere che sua madre esercitasse la professione, cioè, la madre di tutti i mestieri, quello più antico, la prostituta. Come poi avrà modo di appurare.
Non ha mai conosciuto sua madre. E se è per questo, neppure suo padre.
Vive da Madame Rosa, che viene dalla Polonia via Auschwitz, è ebrea, ma mangia il prosciutto, però si ricorda sempre di far rispettare il ramadan al piccolo Momò, che invece di religione non s’interessa e preferirebbe di gran lunga continuare a mangiare anche durante il digiuno musulmano, invece di andare a rubacchiare qualcosa nei negozi della zona.


Foto di Patrcik Zachmann.

Zona che è il XX arrondissement, Belleville, ben noto melting pot. Anche nel 1975 quando è uscito questo magnifico romanzo ambientato nel 1970.
Ma per tornare a Madame Rosa, che ha un cuore grande come i suoi novantacinque chili, che sono faticosi da trascinare su per le scale per sei piani senza ascensore con solo due gambe, anche lei, Madame Rosa, ha fatto la professione, nel senso che è stata una puttana, prima e dopo Auschwitz, luogo nel quale è finita in quanto ebrea e non perché puttana.
Madame Rosa gestisce una pensione senza famiglia per bambini nati per sbaglio, e cioè tiene in casa - beh, forse, ‘casa’ è una parola grossa, in quanto si tratta di una soffitta con una stanza o poco più - tiene alcuni bambini abbandonati, tra cui anche quelli che le affidano le prostitute che fanno il mestiere e non possono accudire un figlietto. Momò è tra questi sette otto nove dieci, forse meno forse più, ma più spesso meno: e per Momò Madame Rosa riceve un contributo economico dalla Stato francese di trecento euro al mese, che le fa molto comodo e al quale non vuole proprio rinunciare: quindi è ben contenta quando arriva il ramadan perché così lascia Momò a digiuno e risparmia franchi.
In ogni caso, mangiato o digiunato, Momò resta in forma olimpica.
È una gran bella storia d’amore quella tra il piccolo Momò e Madame Rosa, di quelle che durano per sempre.

”Non c’è bisogno di motivi per avere paura, Momò”. Questa non me la sono mai dimenticata, perché è la cosa più vera che ho mai sentito dire.


Momò e Madame Rosa nel primo film basato sul romanzo, stesso titolo, diretto da Moshé Mizrahi nel 1977 vinse l’Oscar come miglior film straniero e Simone Signoret fu premiata col César per la migliore attrice.

In questo bel libro la prima magia che mi ha conquistato senza se e senza ma è la lingua che Gary mette in bocca al suo protagonista io narrante, Momò l’arabo che parla anche ebraico, questo bambino che non è mai stato bambino, di età incerta, forse otto o nove o dieci ma magari quattordici, che a scuola non hanno voluto, che non sa chi siano i suoi genitori, mai visto né conosciuto né mamma né papà, che cresce per lo più per strada e vive in una Parigi multietnica multicolore multiconfessionale e multi tante altre cose come ho già avuto l’onore. Una lingua nata mischiando e incrociando e adattando e storpiando, quel che sente, che afferra, che percepisce e che trattiene. Una lingua che esprime i suoi pensieri e il suo grande cuoricino intelligente in frasi galoppanti e fantasiose che fanno ridere anche quando fanno piangere.


Momò diventa nero nel secondo e recente adattamento (2020) per Netflix, firmato dal figlio di Sophia Loren che interpreta Madame Rosa.

Mi sono sentito subito a casa leggendo questo bel romanzo. Non tanto perché è una rilettura, quanto perché ho sentito suonare un campanellino, e un nome a me molto caro s’è acceso come una candela e davanti agli occhi rivedevo il suo primo capolavoro, I quattrocento colpi.
Aria di famiglia che va oltre l’essere sia Gary che Truffaut innamorati di cinema, letteratura e critica; l’avere entrambi lo stesso schema familiare (padre assente e sconosciuto, figura materna determinante); l’essere entrambi figli di padre ebreo, ma per entrambi l’anima ebrea rappresentava soprattutto attenzione e interesse per la vita ai margini, l’umanità non integrata, quella diversa; l’essere tutti e due spiriti liberi, “teneri e crudeli”, critici del proprio lavoro, tormentati, con una sensibilità tendente alla malinconia, un'indipendenza al limite della solitudine e paradossalmente instancabili curiosi della natura umana; il ricorso di entrambi a pseudonimi, come se una personalità sola non bastasse, una vita sola non fosse sufficiente (Roman Kacew si è firmato come Romain Gary, come Émile Ajar, tra l’altro proprio per questo bel romanzo, come Shatan Bogat e come Fosco Sinibaldi, che sarebbe un omaggio a Garibaldi. Dall’altra parte non si può dimenticare il magnifico alter ego cinematografico di Truffaut, l’Antoine Doinel magistralmente interpretato quattro volte di Jean-Pierre Léaud); l’essere entrambi uomini che amavano le donne, per usare il titolo di un altro eccellente film di Truffaut. Oltre tutto ciò, si tratta di aria di famiglia, di tono e sensibilità simile.

Ma bisogna capirla, perché la vita era l’unica cosa che le restava. La gente tiene alla vita più che a tutto il resto, è anche buffo se si pensa a tutte le belle cose che ci sono al mondo.



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[Shayan Foroozesh · Rating 3 out of 5]

تکه ای حذف شده از کتاب

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یک روز وقتی آقای والومبا همراه قبیله اش آمدند تا جلوی رزا خانم معرکه بگیرند تا از حالت بهت درش بیاورند آقای شایان هم پشت سرشان وارد شد. لابد شنیده بود که رزا خانم دارد میمیرد و آمده بود تا مردنش را ببیند. پیش از این برایتان ازش حرفی نزده بودم چون آدم نچسبی بود و من و رزا خانم زیاد باهاش جور نبودیم. تنها ایرانی منطقه بل ویل بود و طبقه سوم ساختمان ما زندگی میکرد. کسی نمیدانست چه شده که از اینجا سر در آورده. شغل اش هم معلوم نبود، حتی جاکیش هم نبود. فرانسوی هم درست و حسابی بلد نبود حرف بزند. از من دل خوشی نداشت ولی بعضی وقت ها که از دست بچه ج... ها کلافه میشدم و آقای هامیل خرفت میشد ومرا به جای مومو، ویکتور صدا میکرد و رزا خانم هم از آن حالات "غیبت" بهش دست میداد از روی بی حوصلگی دم در آقای شایان می پلکیدم و گاهی اوقات به خاطر این کارم بهم فحش میداد و بعضی وقت ها هم اجازه میداد وارد خانه اش بشوم و کتابهایش را نگاه کنم. کتاب های به درد نخوری داشت و این را هر دفعه بهش می گفتم. گفتن این حرفم بستگی به این داشت که کی میخواهم از آن جا بیرون بروم چون هر دفعه که این حرف را بهش میزدم از عصبانیت سرخ میشد و با اردنگی بیرونم میکرد و با لهجه ی فرانسوی متمایل به ترکی مرا مادر ج... صدایم میکرد و این تنها نقطه اشتراک آقای شایان با رزا خانم بود چون هر دویشان وقتی عصبانی میشدند مادر ج... بودنم را به رخم میکشیدند. ولی قبل اینکه بیرونم کند به خیال خودش میخواست چیز یادم دهد. فقط در مورد بیگ بنگ و کیهان و تکامل و سلول و مولکول و سرشت انسانیت و چرندیات دیگری شبیه اینها حرف میزد. دکتر کاتز میگفت که این نوع انسان ها از دست رفته اند و باید به حال خودشان رهایشان کرد تا تلف شوند چون به هیچ دردی نمیخورند. البته حرفای دکتر کاتز را به آقای شایان نمیگفتم چون آدم طفلکی بود و دلم برایش میسوخت. هر وقت او را میدیدم یاد آقای هامیل می افتادم آنقدر که با هم تفاوت داشتند. آقای هامیل میگفت که او یک کافر تمام عیار است و من نباید جورم را با او جور کنم. اه گهش بگیرند. الان که فکرش را میکنم میبینم آقای هامیل با آن همه خرفتی اش درست میگفته و حالا کفرم میگیرد که چرا دلم برای آقای شایان میسوخت. باید همان موقع به آقای ندا آمده میگفتم تا ادبش کند آنقدر که آقای شایان مغز من را پر از چرندیاتی کرده بود که بعد این همه سال هنوزم یادم مانده اند. بعضی وقتا کنار پیاده رو با چترم آرتور مینشینم و به این فکر میکنم که اگر روزی پلیس یا تروریست بشم اول از همه حساب آقای شایان را میرسم چون که چرند گفتن بزرگترین جرم است. به قول آقای هامیل، تجربه کهنه ام را باور کنید.

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[Candi · Rating 5 out of 5]

“People seem to care more about life than anything else, which is funny when you think of all the wonderful things there are in this world.”

How does one live a life and make the most of it? Are joy and optimism even possible for those who live in poverty and harsh living conditions? What about those without family? The young narrator of this book, Momo, teaches us a bit about how it is possible to survive and experience happiness even given an unconventional sort of life. Momo lives with Madame Rosa in a seedy section of Paris. She’s a former prostitute and an Auschwitz survivor who now takes care of the children of prostitutes. Momo adores her and will do anything for her in return for the love and home she’s given him. Some of the children see a parent on occasion, between tricks. Not so with Momo. He has no memory of a mother or father, except for a story that hints at sadness and violence. Madame Rosa is overweight and no longer able to make it up the stairs. Her mental health is also in decline; she seems to be suffering from some form of dementia. Momo, still only a child, takes on the role of caretaker. He begins to wonder what life would be like without Madame Rosa. He knows that day can come at any time; that fateful day when someone is snatched from our lives, never to return.

“Monsieur Hamil, can somebody live without love?”

Besides Madame Rosa, Momo lives amongst a wonderfully eclectic bunch of characters. Monsieur Hamil, the widowed carpet seller who worships the words of Victor Hugo: “Monsieur Hamil keeps saying the word is louder than the sword.” Madame Lola, a Senegalese transvestite and former heavyweight champion: “Madame Lola is very beautiful for a man except her voice, which dates from the day when she was a heavyweight champion. She couldn’t help it because the voice is connected with the balls, which were the great tragedy of her life.” Doctor Katz, the physician who tirelessly treats the people of the neighborhood, regardless of religious standing or background: “I often thought when I looked at Dr. Katz that if somebody had offered me a father it’s him I’d have chosen.” There are also pimps, a beautiful woman named Nadine and her family, and a jovial group of African tribesmen who brought the picnic to Madame Rosa when she could no longer move from her chair. And like many other young children that dream up imaginary friends, Momo’s fondness was towards the inanimate: “My best friend at that time was an umbrella by the name of Arthur. I dressed him from top to toe.” Such a vibrant cast of human beings that became family to Momo, showing us how love and friendship have no boundaries, despite those imposed on us by geography, politics and religion.

The story is told from Momo’s point of view, and the author skillfully conveys the voice of a young adolescent boy. It’s funny despite the current of underlying sadness. Momo often uses words that he’s clearly heard from the mouths of adults but doesn’t quite understand. I often laughed at some of his linguistic mishaps. The love between Madame Rosa and Momo is straightforward and unsentimental. No mushy, dramatic fluff here. There’s actually quite a lot to take in, including the treatment of marginalized communities. Immigrants, the elderly, the very young, and those living unconventional lives are all at risk of being overlooked or abused. How they band together and take care of one another despite the odds was hopeful and beautiful. The idea of what it means to both live and die with dignity is also examined with a great sense of irony and compassion.

“If Madame Rosa had been a dog, she’d already have been put out of her misery, but people are much nicer to dogs than to human beings, who aren’t allowed to die without suffering.”

I highly recommend this slim novel, alternately titled Madame Rosa, if you can get your hands on a copy. I felt a sense of dread throughout, yet was uplifted at the same time. What could have been a thoroughly depressing topic was handled with such humor and honesty that you are never thrown too far into the murky waters of misery. I had heard there was a film adaptation – two, in fact. I went for the most recent version, which was well done, but seemed to veer away from the true character of Momo a bit too much for my taste. But Sophia Loren played a marvelous Madame Rosa, though she certainly didn’t fit the description I had in my head given Momo’s sketch of her: “She had more ass and bosom than anybody you ever heard of, and when she looked at herself in the glass, she always made a big smile, like she was trying to vamp herself.” I’m going to look for the 1977 film which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and see if the character of Momo is handled with more care.

“Life isn’t for everybody, only for the chosen few.”

[سـارا · Rating 4 out of 5]

راوی داستان به حدی دوست داشتنی و شیرین همه چیز رو توصیف میکنه که از وسط اون‌همه تاریکی و فقر و بدبختی میشه باز هم امیدوار بود...
محمد ده ساله فرزند یک روسپیه و در کنار پیرزنی زندگی میکنه که شغلش نگهداری از بچه‌ های زن‌های فاحشه است. داستان تو یکی از محله های فقیرنشین و بدنام فرانسه انفاق میفته، جایی که فقر و سیاهی نمایان‌ترین چیزه، اما نگاه محمد پر از جریان زندگی و امیده و همین داستان و جذاب کرده.
از سمت دیگه قرار دادن دین‌ها (اسلام و یهود) کنار هم یک ساختار بی نظیر رو برای داستان بوجود آورده. پایان بندی هم در راستای خط اصلی روایت کاملا به جا و فوق العاده بود.
و نقطه قوت اصلی هم ترجمه تمیز لیلی گلستانه که بدون ضربه زدن به متن اصلی (همونطور که خودش هم در پیشگفتار کتاب اشاره کرده) اینقدر روون و صریح ارائه شده.

[Fionnuala]

I may have a new favourite character: Momo, aged ten/going on fifty, the narrator of this book. His child's point of view underlaid with age-old wisdom has charmed me completely.

To think that Momo has been hiding among my books for years and years, carted across countries, shelved high and low, but always ignored in favour of some more grown-up narrator.
He might have continued to be ignored but for a recent review by Goodreads friend Jeroen which made me realise that I had a neglected treasure right under my nose!
And indeed noses are not irrelevant to Momo's story.
Momo has an Arab nose. His foster mother, Madame Rosa, sixty-nine going on ninety, has a Jewish nose. Rarely in history have two such noses cared so much for each other.

Momo, named Mohammed by the Algerian man who claimed to be his father, was handed over to Madame Rosa's care after his mother's violent death, and he's lived ever since in Madame Rosa's over-perfumed apartment in a stinky run-down building that houses people from many different countries with one thing in common: they may live in France but they are all undocumented just like Momo and his foster-mother, and all living in fear of the authorities. And not only is Momo undocumented, he is also 'undated', "j'étais pas encore daté", as he likes to phrase it. One of the reasons I love Momo so much is his very creative use of adult language though he has never been to school.

Momo being 'undated' means he doesn't know when he was born, neither the day nor the year. His birthdays are simply the anniversary of the day he began living with Madame Rosa.
The day of his supposed tenth birthday takes up a big part of this book.
On that day, we get to follow Momo around the streets and avenues of 1970s Paris where he picks up cigarettes and bottle tops,
hangs out with women who work the same backstreets his mother and Madame Rosa did,
plays chess in a café with a blind Muslim who carries his holy book everywhere unaware that it is actually a copy of Les Misérables,
is offered drink and drugs down some alleyway,
takes shelter from the rain in a venue where actors are dubbing a scene from a film,
becomes fascinated by the way the film is wound backwards as each actor adds their voice,
begins to rewind his own life in an effort to get a glimpse of his mother,
gets as far as a pair of high heeled boots and a short skirt,
can't can't can't see her face no matter how hard he rewinds,
returns to Madame Rosa's apartment where the doctor tells him she hasn't long to live,
considers how how how to say goodbye goodbye goodbye to Madame Rosa...

Now I've made you all sad?
Time for a song perhaps?
Who knows Van Morrison's Madame George?
https://youtu.be/xrOgYjp20j0?si=h5U36...

Down on Cyprus Avenue
With a childlike vision sweeping into view
The click- and clacking of the high heeled shoes
Ford and Fitzroy, Madame George

Marching with the soldier boy behind
He's much older now, with hat on, drinking wine
And the smell of sweet perfume comes drifting through
On the cool night air like Shalimar

Outside they're making all the stops
Kids out in the street collecting bottle-tops
Goin' for cigarettes and matches in the shops
Happy taking Madame George
Oh, that's when you fall
Wo-wo-wo-wo-wo-wo, that's when you fall
Yeah, that's when you fall

When you fall into a trance
Sitting on a sofa playing games of chance
With your folded arms and history books you glance
Into the eyes of Madame George

And you think you'll buy the bag
You're getting weaker and your knees begin to sag
In a corner playing dominoes in drag
The one and only Madame George

And then from outside the frosty window raps
She jumps up and says, "Lord have mercy, I think that it's the cops!"
And immediately drops everything she gots
Down into the street below

And you know you gotta go
On that train from Dublin up to Sandy Row
Throwing pennies at the bridges down below
In the rain, hail, sleet, and snow

Say goodbye to Madame George
Dry your eye for Madame George
Wonder why for Madame George
Say goodbye goodbye goodbye to Madame George

[Fergus, Weaver of Autistic Webs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many of those of us with a thinly veiled past have a Daemon, which demands to be fed. That fact is also the shadow that drives mental illness. “Feed me! Feed me,” it screams at me: and a chance circumstance offers me the option of releasing it in a book review.

Otherwise I’d be eaten alive.

Percy Shelley, like most creative writers or artists, knew it too. And it called out to him to be released as well. It was the advent of the Romantic Era. Even romance novels have a thinly veiled past!

This book is Romain Gary’s daemon unleashed, too. It was do or die time. He even published it under his Real name, for a change. It was a hit in France, of course. It won the Goncourt.

It’s a pity you can’t see an English version, though you can watch a sanitized - without Gary’s rude argot - French version on YouTube. The complete film may be viewed there! Its title is Madame Rosa.

Hate to tell you, but this review will be another “in progress” one. You see, I’m forced to periodically EXORCISE the evil of that foul daemon within me. Or else be poisoned by it! So the review is destined to morph.

As the doomed reporter, Howard, on the seventies film Network screamed: now I’m mad as heck and can’t take it anymore.

***

This novel is just SO touching!

Madame Rosa runs a home for traumatized orphans in the Jewish quarter, like the young Arab narrator - ‘Momo,’ short for Mohammed - for whom brute trauma has blanked out whole sections of his past. I live with that every day. My trauma in the Royally Awful Hospital, similarly, is now largely a void.

And the tell-all sessions in isolation were likewise chemically blanked out in my head.

But the young orphan in the novel has no other life than his destroyed one. He even gets ugly. When he receives a hug from a neighbouring stranger, his shocked gratitude knows no bounds.

What is this thing called Love? It lives beneath the surface of our destroyed self.

Our adoptive Collie/Shepherd Brandy (RIP, old amigo) was a rescue pet. Get one like her and you will see a remarkable acceleration of your wellness quotient! She was SO grateful to us for taking her in from the storm.

I sense the author was a ‘rescue’, too.

***

And I was rescued as well. My rescuer’s name is Common Sense.

Mr. Sense lives secretly (and so ordinarily that we often miss him) in an Aspie’s soul, hidden - unless that handicapped kid sees him clearly and as he really is. And he can only see him if that kid reveals himself to himself through others.

That was my alchemical method on Goodreads - revealing myself to myself in ever more telling reviews. And taking to heart the comments!

“J’ai percé un trou dans la voile de toile’ - in the chemical blitz of my meds…

Just as Gary digs the dirt on himself here! And thus finds his self, formerly lost in a void.

The bottom line is to no longer be afraid of one’s self, or of what that self may say or do - until it's time to show your left hand that the right one (common sense) knows what it's up to.

Then it’s the final coup de Grace -

In reviews which fully display “le coeur mis à nu…”

Of stunning Neverwhere books like THIS!

[Guille · Rating 5 out of 5]

Émile Ajar, seudónimo de Romain Gary, seudónimo de Romain Kacew, eligió para escribir esta novela la opción más agradecida cuando se quiere escribir una historia en la voz de un niño o una niña: el relato humorístico. El humor surge del contraste entre aquello que el niño presencia o escucha y la inesperada interpretación que bajo su corta experiencia hace de ello, de la inocencia de su mirada, de su capacidad para la sorpresa y su inmaculado sentido común, instrumentos todos ellos inmejorables para la denuncia de un mundo adulto acostumbrado a no cuestionarse mucho el estado de las cosas.

“Yo tenía nueve o diez años y, como todo el mundo, ya necesitaba tener alguien a quien odiar”

“La vida ante sí” tiene como protagonista a Momo, un niño musulmán que vive con Madame Rosa, una antigua prostituta judía que, al retirarse, montó en el barrio parisino de Belleville algo así como una guardería para los hijos de las putas que no se pueden hacer cargo de ellos.

“… la señora Rosa era una antigua puta que había vuelto deportada de los hornos judíos de Alemania y que había abierto un clandé para hijos de puta a las que se puede hacer cantar con lo de la inhabilitación paterna por prostitución ilícita…”

No se sabe a ciencia cierta la edad de Momo, quizás tenga diez años, quizás más, lo que sí es indudable es su gran inteligencia y sensibilidad. Momo es un niño diferente, algo que le dicen muy a menudo los vecinos del barrio, quizás para justificar ante el lector la injustificable sabiduría y sagacidad de sus reflexiones, y la gracia, siempre involuntaria, con la que las expresa en el largo monólogo, que se termina haciendo corto, que es la novela (no permitan que esta inverosimilitud les estropee su hermosa lectura).

“La naturaleza puede hacerle cualquier cosa a cualquiera y ni siquiera sabe lo que hace, unas veces son flores y pájaros y otras una vieja judía que vive en un sexto piso y que ya no puede ni bajar a la calle”

Rosa es una vieja judía “en estado muy avanzado”, con graves problemas de obesidad y múltiples achaques, a la que ya le es imposible subir diariamente los seis pisos hasta el cuchitril en el que convive con los pocos niños que le van quedando: la competencia con las guarderías de otras putas más jóvenes se está haciendo insoportable. Momo es su gran y casi único apoyo. Momo quiere mucho a Madame Rosa, se preocupa mucho de ella, y ahora espera apesadumbrado el momento en el que tendrán que separarse.

“No comprendo cómo puede haber personas que lo tiene todo, que son feas, viejas, pobres y enfermas, y otras que no tienen nada de nada…”

Estamos pues ante un relato conmovedor sobre unas vidas duras y difíciles que el humor a veces suaviza y otras intensifica. Momo muestra todos los tics humorísticos posibles en la voz de un niño, su inocente ignorancia (“Siento haber nacido demasiado tarde para conocer a los nazis y a las SS con armas y bagajes. Y es que entonces, por lo menos, se sabía por qué. Ahora no se sabe”), el uso de expresiones tan mal utilizadas como elocuentes (“Estaba afectada en sus órganos principales, que ya no eran de utilidad pública”), la confusión de palabras (amnistía por amnesia) o de expresiones (“plena forma olímpica”), las explicaciones fruto de un sentido común precoz (“una judía vieja en un sexto piso sin ascensor y que ha sufrido lo suyo no interesa, con eso no se va a ninguna parte. La gente necesita millones y millones para sentirse interesada”), el desorden de causas y efectos que quizás no es tal (“Los psiquiátricos son tipos a los que siempre se les está diciendo que no tienen lo que tienen y que no ven lo que ven y eso acaba por ponerles majaretas”), el chiste involuntario (“No tenía pelo como muchos calvos”) …

Momo en su infantil madurez es consciente de lo mal que funciona el mundo, tanto por la cruel indiferencia de la naturaleza por el ser humano, el drama de la enfermedad, de la vejez (“Al tiempo hay que buscarle entre los ladrones”), como por la falta de humanidad de la sociedad con los más débiles, la soledad, el racismo (“Durante mucho tiempo no supe que era árabe porque nadie me había insultado todavía”), las contradicciones (“…tiene gracia pensar en las cosas que no son aptas para menores y en las que les están permitidas”), la estupidez de unos dirigentes que no facilitan una muerte digna a quién la requiere (“El sagrado derecho de los pueblos a disponer de sí mismos”)…

“Para tener miedo no hacen falta motivos”

Una novela inolvidable, no se la pierdan.

[Mohammad Hrabal · Rating 4 out of 5]

یکی از علایق من خواندن کتاب و دیدن فیلم اقتباسی آن است (در صورتی که فیلم اقتباسی آن ساخته شده باشد و البته اقتباس متوسط رو به بالا). از این کتاب هم یک فیلم اقتباسی ساخته شده است که برنده‌ی جایزه‌ی اسکار بهترین فیلم خارجی و نامزد بهترین فیلم خارجی گلدن گلوب شده است. در صورتی که علاقه مند بودید اول کتاب را بخوانید و بعد فیلم را ببینید.
Madame Rosa (1977) 7.2
********************************************************************************
اگر چیزی را خوب بلد باشم، همین دویدن است. بدون دویدن در زندگی هیچ کاری نمی‌شود کرد. ص 21 کتاب
رزا خانم می‌گفت پایین تنه و لویی چهاردهم مهم‌ترین چیزهایی هستند که فرانسوی‌ها دارند. ص 24 کتاب
فکر می‌کنم این گناه‌کارانند که راحت می‌خوابند، چون چیزی حالیشان نیست و برعکس، بی‌گناهان نمی‌توانند حتی یک لحظه چشم روی هم بگذارند، چون نگران همه چیز هستند. اگر غیر از این بود، بی‌گناه نمی‌شدند. ص 34 کتاب
بدترین چیزها همیشه در درون آدم اتفاق می‌افتد. اگر اتفاق، در بیرون بیفتد، مثل وقتی که اردنگی می‌خوریم، می‌شود زد به چاک. اما از درون غیر ممکن است. وقتی به این حالت دچار می‌شوم، می‌خواهم بروم بیرون و دیگر به هیچ کجا برنگردم. ص 47 کتاب
چیزی که همیشه برایم عجیب بوده، این است که اصولا اشک در برنامه‌ی خلقت پیش بینی شده. یعنی آدم بناست گریه کند. باید پیش‌بینی شده باشد. واقعا که هیچ سازنده‌ی محترمی همچه کاری نمی‌کند. ص 67 کتاب
فکر می‌کنم که وقتی در این باره با دکتر کاتز صحبت کردم، حق داشت بگوید که ج... دیدن‌ کسی، فقط به دید بیننده مربوط می‌شود. ص 68 کتاب
بچه‌هایی که هرویین می‌زنند به خوشبختی همیشگی عادت می‌کنند، کارشان تمام است، چون خوشبختی وقتی حس می‌شود که کم بودنش را حس کنیم. ص 73 کتاب
آقای هامیل می‌گوید که بشریت ویرگولی است در کتاب قطور زندگی. ص 82 کتاب
روی زمین دراز کشیدم. چشم‌هایم را بستم و تمرین مردن کردم. اما سیمان سرد بود و ترسیدم مریض بشوم. ص 83 کتاب
در سینما آن لحظه‌ای را دوست دارم که آدمی که بناست بمیرد، قبل از مرگ می‌گوید: "باشد آقایان، وظیفه‌تان را انجام دهید." ص 96 کتاب
فکر می‌کنم هیچ چیزی کریه‌تر از این نیست که به زور زندگی را توی حلق آدم‌هایی بچپانند که نمی‌توانند از خودشان دفاع کنند و نمی‌خواهند به زندگی کردن ادامه دهند. ص 209 کتاب

[Sana · Rating 5 out of 5]

این کتاب رو سال‌هاست که دارمش ولی هیچوقت فرصت نمیکردم برم سراغش و کتابای دیگه ای چشممو میگرفتن🥲
اما چه اشتباه بزرگی واقعا عاشق این کتاب شدم
خط به خط این کتاب رو دوست داشتم.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely stunning narrator voice!

Romain Gary has so many different nuances (and pseudonyms!) that each book is a complete surprise. This one is no exception, and it manages the impossible balance of being incredibly brutal and heartbreakingly sweet and amazingly funny.

What is the brutal part?

A young boy grows up with an old lady in Belleville, a poor and crime-ridden part of Paris. He learns far too early to navigate a world of whores and pimps and drug addicts.

What is the sweet part?

Despite the hopelessness of the situation, there is friendship and love and tolerance in the story, where an ex-boxer and champion from Sénégal can become a caring woman ("except for some natural limitations") who works as a transvestite prostitute but knocks out the dangerous maniacs ... where a Jewish obese ex-prostitute who survived Auschwitz can raise children according to the religion their prostitute/pimp parents wish for them ... where illness and weakness is dealt with because life doesn't forgive ...

What is the funny part?

The voice of the boy is unbelievable. He is so clever and yet so uneducated. He knows things most grown-ups have never heard of, and yet he misunderstands the words and mixes up the concepts. He analyses the world according to Belleville code, and the reader follows in bafflement.

In the end, there is brutally funny sweetness!

[Farnoosh Farahbakht · Rating 3 out of 5]

این کتاب رو دقیقا بعد از کتاب درخت زیبای من خوندم و واقعا تا مدت ها نمی خوام هیچ کتابی در مورد بی رحمی های دنیا مخصوصا با بچه ها بخونم.شاید این کتاب رو میشه در همین جمله از خودش خلاصه کرد:
"هیچ چیز کریه تر از این نیست که به زور زندگی را توی حلق آدم هایی بچپانند که نمی توانند از خودشان دفاع کنند و نمی خواهند به زندگی کردن ادامه بدهند."

[Jeffrey Keeten · Rating 5 out of 5]

”I had fun for a while scaring cars by crossing in front of them at the last minute. People don’t like to run children over, and it gave me a kick to know I was making them nervous. They’d step on the brake like a ton of bricks to keep from hurting you, which isn’t much, but it’s better than nothing. I’d have liked to scare them even worse, but I wasn’t up to it yet. I hadn’t quite decided whether to join up with the police or the terrorists, all in good time. I’d see.”

This passage reminded me of when I was a kid and my younger brother and I would stand out on either side of #9 Highway at dusk and act like we were holding a rope across the road. We always thought it was a victory when we got someone to stop. We would laugh until we cried whenever someone would fling an expletive at us as they roared onward.

Momo is for all intents and purposes an orphan. He is one of a number of kids being taken care of by a fat Jewish woman named Madame Rosa, a woman who peddled her ass until she became too fat and ugly to be of interest to her clients anymore. To make ends meet, she starts taking in the offspring of whores to raise. They will send her money when they can, and she will keep their kids out of the hands of the government. ”Minors are wonderfully protected in France, and when there’s nobody to look after them the government throws them in jail for safekeeping.” One of the biggest fears of Momo and Madame Rosa is a visit from social services. They will certainly sweep in and kidnap these kids to be hauled off to abusive institutions.

Romain Gary came back on my radar when I watched the movie Seberg (2019), starring Kristen Stewart. Gary was married to Jean Seberg from 1962-1970, though they remained confidants for the rest of their lives. When the actor playing Gary showed up on screen, it was one of those moments that still happens to me too often...why haven’t I ever read this guy? Finally, I’ve rectified that, and there is now a checkmark next to Gary’s name on my lifetime reading list.

This book certainly has an identity crisis. It was titled The Life Before Us and later, when the movie came out based on the book, called Madame Rosa (1978). The book also briefly changed its name as well. To make things even more confusing, this book was originally published under the pen name Emile Ajar. Gary was so successful at hiding his identity with this name that he won the Prix Goncourt twice, once under his real name and as Ajar. A writer can only win this award once, so he had his cousin, who was publicly playing Emile Ajar, refuse the award. He and his cousin eventually had a major falling out over money, and Gary was decidedly cruel during the ongoing argument. Nothing like an angry writer letting loose his quiver of barbed words. Though, telling his cousin that he fucked his mother, even if it was true, was certainly a talented writer resorting to vulgarity to win a point. There is this point in the story when Momo says: ”I have always been someone else.” That might be Romain Gary telling us why he felt so compelled to have another identity.

Seberg was hounded by the FBI for the last years of her life because of her association and sympathy for the Black Panthers. She died from an apparant suicide in her car in 1979. A little over a year later, Romain Gary also committed suicide and insisted in his note that his decision had nothing to do with Seberg’s death. I can still remember the first time I saw Seberg in the Godard movie Breathless (1960). She will forever be running down a Paris street in my mind.

Madame Rosa was in Auschwitz, and to remind herself that life can always be worse, she keeps a picture of Hitler under her bed. Whenever she becomes too depressed, Momo will grab that picture and thrust it under her nose to bring a smile to her face. She is deathly afraid of landing in the hands of doctors. ”Momo, I don’t want to live just for the sake of medical science. I know I’m losing my mind and I don’t want to hang on for years in a coma just to make the doctors happy. For thirty-five years I gave my ass to the customers, and I’m not giving it to the doctors now.” Momo loves spending time with her because, even though she is Jewish and he is an Arab, he knows they are the ”same class of shit.” He does everything he can to keep her alive.

One of my favorite characters is a transvestite named Madame Lola, who lives in the same building as Momo, who once was a boxer but now peddles her ass. Whenever a guy tries to get too rough with her, he doesn't realize he is taking on way more than he can handle. Lola helps Rosa and Moma financially and emotionally as they try to navigate the last months of Rosa’s life.

This is a short book and not really the type of subject matter that would catch my attention, but I have to say there are numerous poignant, sharply defined scenes that will certainly linger with me for a long time. It makes me believe that Gary was able to tap into a different part of himself when he wrote under the guise of Emile Ajar. As James Laughlin says in the Afterword: “Gary was Ajar...but who was Ajar?” For astute people who really knew Gary, which I wonder if anyone really knew him, there are clues in the texts of his Ajar books to reveal his identity. He admitted he was Emile Ajar in his suicide note. In the end, he embraced the other half of himself. I can only hope that at that moment he felt whole.

If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/

[EMMA · Rating 5 out of 5]

نویسنده با لحن طنزگونه و کمدی سیاهش داره میگه ما آدما را مجبور به زندگی میکنیم حتی اگه باعث زجر کشیدنشون بشه!!
وقتی نویسنده چند سال بعد خودشو میکشه گویا این پازل کامل میشه و نشون میده چرا نویسنده خودشو کشته.
اولین کتابی بود از این نویسنده خوندم، واقعا بیش از حد انتظارم خوب بود.
گویا یه فیلم هم ازش درست کردن، خیلی مشتاقم فیلمشو ببینم.

[Kalliope · Rating 5 out of 5]

I still associate Summer with reading French books. That’s a routine we had when growing up. The shadow of Romain Gary belongs to those Summers-- with all the enchantment that memories from one’s youth hold for all of us-- since his was one of names on my father’s bookshelves. So, I am certain I have read some of his works but cannot remember which. No matter, I am delighted I have picked his books up again, for this novel has been one of the most memorable reads this year.

La vie devant soi was published in 1975 under the penname Émile Ajar and it won the Goncourt that same year -- it was chosen over one by Patrick Modiano. Gary had already received the Prize in 1956 with Les Racines du ciel and since this prize can be awarded only once to a given author plus the fact that Gary was going through a difficult time with the literary critics, prompted him to present the book under pseudonym. Who was behind Ajar was not found out until after Gary’s suicide in 1980.

And the fact that this could happen, that no one suspected who was the real author behind a novel that had such immediate and great success, is the best proof of what for me is one of the most attractive features of this novel: the voice of the narrator. An excellent writer is the one who can create a voice that completely defines the personality, the mind, of a fictional character, and completely disappear behind it.

So, when we hear Momo, a Muslim (Mohamed) of about ten to fourteen years old (for his age remains a mystery for a portion of the book) describe his world, his life, at the pension run by Madame Rose, an elderly former prostitute who, as a Polish Jew, had survived through Auschwitz before she came to live in Paris, we are completely captivated by him. For although his universe is that of a working-class district in North-eastern Paris, the candour and alertness with which he observes those around him, and his reasoning of how and why things happen in a certain way, one forgets that behind this invented Momo there is an adult writer of an entirely different background.

Momo becomes particularly endearing when he uses expressions, often euphemistic, that he has heard around him and has completely assimilated them without fully understanding what is behind them. The most notorious is the one he has learnt from Madame Rose when she refers to the other women qui se défendaient (avec son cul), and that he then often uses when he figures out how other adults also ‘defend themselves’. Endearing also in Momo is his heart. His gut love for the decaying Madame Rose who becomes more and more preposterous, not just to us, but to him too, is almost chimerical. And that love is the driver in the story.

The portrayal of this impoverished society is enriched by the gallery of personalities, and if one needs a scenario, the best is offered by Madame Rose’s apartment at the top of building of six storeys with no lift. Climbing to her home is for most of the characters, but in particular for Madame Rose herself, like ascending the Calvary. To me the most striking personality in this gallery is the angel-like Madame Lola, a travesty who ‘defends herself’ as a prostitute, who was a former boxer in Senegal, and who is quite successful in her career being able to provide intermittent but needed assistance to Madame Rose and her cares.

After such a memorable read, I am looking forward to discovering more of Gary’s voices and, may be, I will unearth which one I had already read in one of those past Summers.

[Maziyar Yf · Rating 5 out of 5]

یک اثر قابل توجه و قابل تامل و همچنین به شدت تاثیرگذار ، کتاب خواننده را از چهره کارت پستالی پاریس دور نگه میدارد و در سفری جالب که با ترجمه جسورانه سرکار خانم گلستان جالبتر هم شده است مخاطب را با خود به کوچه پس کوچه های محلات زاغه نشین و مملو از مهاجرهای غیر قانونی پاریس می برد . در گیرودار داستان با مومو چهارده ساله ای که تا اواسط داستان فکر می کند ده ساله است و آشنا می شویم و رزا خانوم ! که مسئولیت بزرگ کردن اطفالی را که مادرهایشان بدکاره هستند(مثله مادر مومو) و طبق قانون نمی توانند بچه های خود را نگه داری کنند بر عهده دارد. همچنین با شخصیت هایی دیگری که اگر چه شغلشان از طرف جامعه پست شمرده می شود ولی خود انسانهای شریفی هستند به تدریج آشنا می شویم . مابقی داستان به مریضی بسیار سخت رزا خانوم که می دانیم سرطان نیست ولی نمی دانیم چه هست می گذرد . و لحظات سخت بیماری را از نگاه مومو با طنزی سخت تلخ و گزنده برای خواننده بازگو می کند . کتاب از گفتن این که بعد از رزا خانوم چه بر سر کودکان می آید و یا حتی پیش بینی این مطلب اجتناب می کند . قسمت آخر کتاب واکنش مومو کمی اغراق شده است وبه نظرم بیشتر مناسب کودکان پنج یا شش ساله هست .
اما به نظر من فرانسه یکی از سخت ترین مرز بندی ها را با مهاجرین دارد و محلاتی در پاریس هست که اگر کسی آن جا زندگی کند عملا شانسی برای گرفتن کار مناسب و شاید حتی تحصیلات درست حسابی نداشته باشد . مثلا در شهر پاریس من خودم بارها دیده ام که مشاغل سخت و فاقد وجهه اجتماعی بر عهده سیاه پوستان یا افرادی از خاورمیانه و شمال آفریقا هست و هر یک از این مهاجرین گروه و باند خود را دارند . شاید به همین علت است که اکنون مهاجرین غیر قانونی ترجیح می دهند از فرانسه عبور کرده و خود را به آلمان یا انگلستان برسانند . با در نظر گرفتن این مطلب می توان سرنوشت و آینده چنین کودکانی مثله مومو یا دوستانش را تصور کرد

[Stela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Candeur de l’âme et du langage

Bon je savais que j’ai toute ma vie devant moi mais je n’allais pas me rendre malade pour ça.

La vie devant soi est plein de telles pensées délicieusement paradoxales avec lesquelles l’enfant narrateur, Momo, essaie de comprendre le monde qui l'entoure. Et malgré l’apparent cynisme de cette affirmation qui a suggéré le titre du roman, l’histoire qu’il nous raconte, de sa voix d’enfant précoce que la vie n’a pas réussi à briser est une vraie histoire d’amour, pleine de tendresse, d’humour et d’optimisme. Cet amour qui dépasse les barrières de l’âge, de la langue, de la race et des classes sociales est le thème principal d’un récit qui exploit à la fois les ressources de l’âme et celles de la langue française en aboutissant à un équilibre parfait entre le quoi et le comment, c’est-à-dire entre la forme et le contenu.

Le quoi, c’est la description d’une vie en marge de la société, là où on trouve les prostituées et leurs proxénètes, les travestis, mais aussi les immigrants pauvres et les vieillards oubliés par leurs familles. Cependant ce monde désolé et misérable est rédimé à travers les yeux d’un enfant qui l’habite naturellement, qui le comprend sans le haïr et sans en être corrompu. Aussi, tous les autres thèmes graves du roman, l’injustice sociale, l’enfance, la vieillesse, la mort, sont traités d’une manière fraîche et originale par un narrateur qui réinvente le monde à sa façon à lui, en prouvant que l’innocence n’est pas toujours gâtée par le milieu social.

Momo regarde autour de lui avec curiosité et compréhension, et décrit ce qu’il voit avec un soin pour les détails et un plaisir pour l’information exhaustive qui apporte invariablement un tendre sourire à l’âme :

Madame Lola est très belle pour un homme sauf sa voix qui date où elle était champion de boxe poids lourds, et elle n’y pouvait rien car les voix sont en rapport avec les couilles et c’était la grande tristesse de sa vie.

Quoiqu’il connaisse bien les malheurs de la vie, car il a vu dans sa « vieille expérience » des vertes et des pas mûres, entre autre la haine raciale (« Pendant longtemps, je n’ai pas su que j’étais arabe parce que personne ne m’insultait »), la drogue (« Moi, l’héroïne, je crache dessus »), l’iniquité sociale (« La loi c’est fait pour protéger les gens qui ont quelque chose à protéger contre les autres ») et ainsi de suite, Momo garde sa pureté enfantine, sa générosité intrinsèque et surtout sa capacité d’aimer :

Chaque matin, j’étais heureux de voir que Madame Rosa se réveillait, car j’avais des terreurs nocturnes, j’avais une peur bleue de me trouver sans elle.

Une pureté mise aussi en évidence par un langage qui lui est propre, emprunté des adultes mais sanctionné par l’innocence. Parfois c’est la prononciation approximative de certains mots (« proxynète » au lieu de « proxénète »), la confusion des paronymes (« habitude » pour « hébétude », « amnistie » pour « amnésie »), ou l’élargissement sémantique de quelques mots et expressions (« se défendre » gagne le sens de « se prostituer », les « rumeurs d’Orléans » celui de « par ouï dire », etc.), auxquelles s’ajoutent autres marques de la langue parlée, comme l’emploi excessif des démonstratifs (« c’est la prostitution qui veut ça »), le manque de concordance des temps (« Je suis descendu au café de Monsieur Driss en bas et je m’assis en face de Monsieur Hamil… »), les pléonasmes (« la cuisine culinaire »), les truismes (« Il… n’avait pas de cheveux comme beaucoup de chauves »), les contradictions en termes (« J’ai même eu pitié, tellement je m’en foutais. ») etc., etc., etc..

Autrefois, c’est l’emploi des expressions toutes faites qu’il a entendues, retenues et qu'il utilise maintenant avec une candide assurance, malgré leur légère inappropriété : « Je pense que pour vivre il faut s’y prendre très jeune, parce qu’après on perd toute sa valeur et personne ne vous fera des cadeaux. »

Enfin, c’est la réhabilitation du vulgaire, soit par l’attribution des connotations inattenduement positives (Momo rêve des fois de devenir flic ou « proxynète » pour protéger ceux qu’il aime), soit par l’emploi génuine, sans aucune malice des mots argotiques ou grossiers :

Il est venu faire la piqûre à Madame Rosa, ma ça a failli mal tourner parce qu’il s’était trompé d’ampoule et il avait foutu dans le cul à Madame Rosa la ration d’héroïne qu’il se réservait pour le jour où il aurait fini sa désintoxication.

…On ferme le roman avec la joie secrète que le tant raillé humanisme naïf triomphe de nouveau. Et on reste, le cœur attendri et ému, à se questionner : lequel a été plus beau, le monde, les paroles ? Bien sûr, comme d’habitude, comme toujours, le monde des paroles.

[Bülent Ö. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muhteşem. Gülerek, ağlayarak, coşkuyla, hüzünle okudum. Bir çocuğun düşündüklerini ve hissettiklerini bu kadar naif, ilginç ve gerçekçi anlatan roman az bulunur.

"Bilgisizliğim üç ya da dört yaşımda son buldu, bazan özlemini çektiğim oluyor." (s. 11)

"O kadar ağlıyordu ki çişim geldi." (s. 20)

"Tabii bu konuda hiçbir zaman bütün bütüne rahat değildi, çünkü böyle bir şey için ölmüş olmak gerekir. Yaşam dediğin sürekli bir paniktir." (s. 24)

"Doktor Katz orada nedensiz bulunduğumu, dünyada onca yoksulluk varken bir iskemle işgal ettiğimi görürdü, ..." (s. 26)

"Havalarda halı çeken balıklar ciddi gelmeyebilir insana, ama din bunu gerektirmektedir." (s. 32)

"...ne kadar az şeyiniz varsa o kadar çok inanmak istersiniz..." (s. 37)

"İnsanların kendi söylediklerine inanmayı başardıklarını sık sık fark ettim, yaşamak için gereksinirler bunu. Filozof olmak için söylemiyorum, gerçekten böyle düşünüyorum." (s. 41)

"Eh, inşallah, ama işler böyle inşallahla maşallahla olmaz, bunu sadece iyi bir müslüman olduğumdan söylüyorum." (s. 42)

"- Yahudi barınağım orası Momo.
- Eh peki, iyi öyleyse.
- Anlıyor musun?
- Hayır, ama yok zararı, alışığım." (s. 47)

"Madam Rosa, 'karabasanlar düşlerin yaşlanmasıdır' derdi hep." (s. 50)

"Şimdi çocukları yaşama karşı korumak için yasal doğum kontrol hapı da vardı, gerçekten istekli olmak gerekiyordu." (s. 58)

"Bana hep garip gelen, gözyaşlarının doğmadan önce programlanmış olmasıdır. Bu demektir ki ağlayacağımız önceden saptanmış. Bunu hiç düşündünüz mü? kendine saygısı olan hiçbir yaratıcı yapmaz bunu." (s. 60)

"Kendilerine eroin iğnesi yapan bütün veletler mutluluk alışkanlığına tutulurlar, bunun da hiç acıması yoktur, çünkü mutluluk özellikle yokluğuyla tanınan bir merettir." (s. 65)

"Bambaşka şeylerle dolup taşan çok uzak bir yere gitmek isterdim. Bunu düşlemeye bile çalışmıyorum, berbat etmeyeyim diye." (s. 79)

"... anlıyordum, ama anlamak bazan tam tersine, hiçbir şeyi çözümlemez." (s. 113)

"Bana kalırsa kendini savunmaktan aciz ve artık hizmet görmek istemeyen insanlara yaşamı zorla burunlarına sokmak kadar rezil bir şey yoktur." (s. 183)

[مجیدی‌ام · Rating 5 out of 5]

احساس می کنم پنج ستاره هم برای این کتاب کمه!
متن و چارچوب کتاب، خیلی من رو به یاد کتاب ناطور دشت انداخت، چون قهرمان این کتاب هم پسرکی نوجوان هست و تمام کتاب از زبان این پسربچه روایت میشه.
تنها تفاوتش اینه که ناطور دشت کمی تو ذوق میزد، مشخص بود ساختگیه و معلوم بود نویسنده سن زیادی داره! ولی این کتاب، حقیقتا خوب نوشته شده و واقعا این حس رو منتقل می کنه که آدم پای صحبت های یک پسربچه ده ساله نشسته!

داستان کتاب خیلی روشن و واضحه که نمیشه بدون لو دادن بهش اشاره ای داشت! پس چیزی نمیگم.

نیمه اول کتاب، خیلی شاد و خوشحال و خوش و خرم شروع شد و نیمه دوم کتاب به سوی تیرگی پیش رفت، بطوریکه ده صفحه آخر به شدت سیاه و تلخ و غمگین و البته غیر قابل پیش بینی بود!
یکی از بهترین پایان هایی بود که تا به حال خونده بودم.

بی شک خوندن این کتاب رو به همه توصیه می کنم، خیلی زیبا بود، خیلی لذت بردم.

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of 'Madame Rosa'...a classic French book, written by Romain Gary, an American screenwriter who gained fame as a French writer. He's won many
literary and honors awards in France.

There is a a stage play of this story ...I haven't seen it.. but it would be easy to visualize.

A wonderful evocation of a child's mind and experience.
Funny, disturbing...sad...honest...unconventional environment.
This novel touches our heart while captivating our mind. ( a simple tale of many layers).
No-nonsense wasted words!
Most of the novel takes place in the apartment of Madame Rosa. She is Jewish,
an ex-prostitute. obese, and dying.
The relationship between Momo and Madame Rosa against the most seedy
conditions is profoundly moving. One does not stop thinking about this book just
because you've finished reading it.
The minor characters also memorable.....Dr. Katz, ( Madame Rosa's Doctor), Banania, ( young black boy),
Monsieur Hamil, ( sold carpets), and Arthur, ( an umbrella--Momo's best friend).

Quotes:
"Life can be beautiful except nobody really knows how to make it that way and meanwhile we've got to live".

"You don't need a reason to be afraid"

"can somebody live without love?"

"nightmares are what dreams turn into with age".

*part of this book was based on the authors life.
It's very sad that he died so young...leaving a suicide note 'for the press'...in December, 1980.
Romain Gary was an extraordinary writer.

[Sara Kamjou · Rating 5 out of 5]

داستان در مورد پسربچه‌ی یه فاحشه ست به اسم محمد که مومو صدا می‌شه و مادرش اونو به رزا خانوم سپرده که کارش اینه که در ازای گرفتن مبلغی از بچه‌های فاحشه‌ها نگهداری کنه.
داستان به صورت اول شخصه و با قلم روان رومن گاری ما رو تو قلب داستان با خودش همراه می‌کنه و پیش می‌بره، به نحوی که به خودمون میایم و می‌بینیم داریم تو محله و خونه‌ی رزا خانوم زندگی می‌کنیم.
علاوه بر داستان‌پردازی فوق‌العاده منسجم نویسنده، شخصیت‌های اصلی کتاب هم کاملا تصورن و به خوبی بهشون پرداخته شده.
اوج داستان برای من جایی بود که یکی از همسایه‌ها چیزی تو این مایه‌ها به محمد می‌گه که مومو کوچولو، احتمالا تو تنها مسلمونی که به زبان عبری صحبت می‌کنه... آدم مو به تنش سیخ می‌شه و با خودش فکر می‌کنه چه‌قدر کار جهان می‌تونست ساده باشه و شاید این ماییم که با تعصبمون همه چیزو پیچیده می‌کنیم...
کتاب بسیار تأثیرگذاری بود. امتیازم بهش ۴.۵ ه که با ارفاق به بالا گردش می‌کنم.
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یادگاری از کتاب:
اغلب دیده‌ام که آدم‌ها بالاخره حرف‌های خودشان را باور می‌کنند. این کار برای ادامه زندگی لازم است.
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هیچ چیز واگیرتر از حالت روانی نیست.
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دلم می‌خواهد به خیلی دورها بروم، به جایی که پر از چیزهای جور دیگر باشد.
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می‌دید که آدم‌ها بیش از پیش با او مهربان می‌شوند و این هرگز نشانه خوبی نبوده است.
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ولو که آدم خیلی هم زجر کشیده باشد، باز همیشه یک چیزی برای یاد گرفتن باقی می‌ماند.

[Ehsan'Shokraie' · Rating 4 out of 5]

نخستین ریویوی 2020

اولین بار که زندگی در پیش رو را برای شرکت در جلسه کتابخوانی شروع کردم همزمان شد با خواندن مرگ قسطی سلین,گاهی دوست داشتن یک فرد طوری مفهوم زمانی که در ان زنده ایم و درک ما از ان زمانه را تغییر می دهد که در ان شرایط نگاه ما فقط او را میبیند..به همه شخص دیگر بی توجهست,گویی که نمیبیند و با تنهایی اش به پیش میتازد,در جست جوی فردا هایی بی نهایت سفر میکند,که ناغافل اما روزی تمام می شود,همچنان که مرگ قسطی تمام شد,و از ان فرد تنها زخمی بر روح میماند که یاداوری ان البته با خوشی مازوخیستی همیشه باقی می ماند,
فردا ی ان روز زندگی پیش رو را شروع کردم,و اینبار از خواندنش لذت بردم,جامعه ای به تصویر کشیده شده از دیدی فوق العاده که مفاهیم متعددی در لایه های متعدد به تصویر می اورد..تفکر درباره ی این جامعه که میل ما همواره به فراموشی وجود داشتن انهاست تجربه فوق العاده ای است.

[AiK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Книга, пронизанная гуманизмом и толерантностью, возможным, наверное, только на самом дне, когда делить нечего, она - об отверженных современного мира, о любви и человеколюбии и желании жить, несмотря ни на что, несмотря на возраст и болезни, несмотря на острые социальные проблемы, антагонизмы и нищету. Мохаммед, арабский мальчик, отданный психически больным отцом, убившим его мать-проститутку, на воспитание старой, нищей еврейке, возвращает ей всю любовь и заботу, которая та отдала ему. Оба повидали в жизни много страшного, но оба сохранили человечность и доброе сердце.

[Cosimo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il sole è un pagliaccio giallo

“Certe volte avevo paura perché avevo ancora molta vita davanti a me e che promessa potevo mai fare a me stesso, io, povero uomo, se è Dio che tiene in mano la gomma da cancellare?”

Un racconto profondo e leggero, in un ambiente aperto e cosmopolita, la banlieue di Belleville a Parigi, dove la pluralità di religioni e la solidarietà tra gente di strada, povera e in fondo onesta, convivono nonostante i bassifondi e la malavita e le difficoltà materiali, in un'utopia di integrazione, rispetto, amicizia e tolleranza. Momò è un orfano musulmano cresciuto da una anziana donna ebrea sopravvissuta, che ha fatto la vita in passato e poi la bambinaia per i piccoli nati dalle donne di mestiere; e ora è malata, sostenuta da personaggi che le vivono intorno danzando in una musica tra il surreale e il tragicomico, creazioni di un linguaggio scanzonato e popolare, interpreti di una voce genuina e ironica. Un bella storia di malinconia e improbabile tenerezza, per una vita che finisce e un intreccio di numerose relazioni d'amore, e di intensa spensieratezza per un bambino che nella sofferenza diventa uomo, nell'esistere condiviso con i suoi simili. L'emarginazione e il degrado assumono un'atmosfera poetica, vestono un abito nomade e mimetico. Ci sono le diverse identità di Romain Gary nei suoi personaggi, le inquietudini e le fantasie dell'avventura e delle origini cosacche e asiatiche, di un idealismo multiforme e straordinario. Sono pagine piene di dignità e ossessione, di struggimento e decadenza. La realtà aspira ad essere all'altezza della fantasia, concretezza e trascendenza si confrontano e parlano, verso l'assoluto, verso il metafisico. Temi universali in uno stile realistico e insieme grottesco e moderno evocano figure ad alto valore umano (un venditore di tappeti che ama Hugo e il Corano, un travestito materno senegalese ex boxeur generoso e coraggioso, un dottore caritatevole, uno sciamano africano sorridente e coloratissimo), mentre un'allegria magica si diffonde e un' irregolare grazia ci avvicina la tragicità intangibile e risoluta dell'esistere. Crudele umorismo che rende le comparse protagonisti belli, preziosi, indispensabili, in un incrocio di spiritualità e compassione.

“Il signor Hamil mi aveva detto tante volte che il tempo viene lentamente dal deserto con le sue carovane di cammelli e che non ha fretta perché trasporta l'eternità. Ma è sempre più bello quando ti viene raccontato, che quando lo vedi sulla faccia di un vecchio che ogni giorno se ne fa rubare un po' di più e, se volete la mia opinione, il tempo bisogna andarlo a cercare dai ladri”.

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some are born to sweet delight… It isn’t about the hero of this novel… And although adolescent Momo lived among those whose profession was to bring delights to the others his home was the sort of a gloomy demimonde orphanage…
“Madame Rosa had gray hair that was falling too, because it had stopped caring very much one way or the other. She was scared to death of going bald, it's an awful thing for a woman who hasn't got much else. She had more ass and bosom than anybody you ever heard of, and when she looked at herself in the glass, she always made a big smile, like she was trying to vamp herself.”
Romain Gary was an outstanding writer and he is the only author to win the Prix Goncourt twice – the second time when he has written his novel The Life Before Us under the nom de plume of Émile Ajar. The book is a brilliant coming-of-age drama and there is also an excellent movie adaptation of this novel titled Madame Rosa.

[صان · Rating 5 out of 5]

وقتی شروعش کردم و حدود ۴۰ صفحه خوندم زیاد درگیرش نبودم. بیشتر و بیشتر خوندم و کم کم واردش شدم و دیدم که خیلی داره ازش خوشم میاد. خیلی سیاهه ولی سیاهی ها رو از دید یه بچه نشون میده. و این دید، نظرتو نسبت به زشتی ها باز میکنه. ینی جوری میبینی که شاید قبلن اصن بهش فکر نکرده بودی. فک نکنم کسی باشه که از خوندنش پشیمون بشه.
واقعن خوب و روون و گاهن با جمله هایی تکون دهنده.

مثلن اونجاش که میگه اشک تو برنامه خلقت از قبل برنامه ریزی شده بوده پس انسان بناست که اذیت شه و اشک بریزه.

و جاهایی هم خونده بودم که این کتاب اسلام رو میکوبه ولی اصلن اینطوری نبود و اتفاقن به نظر من خیلی باز با دین برخورد کرده بود و هیچ تعصبی نداشت.

[Mohadese saffari · Rating 4 out of 5]

«دکتر کاتز بسیار امیدارم که هرگز طبیعی نشوم. فقط ناکس‌ها هستند که همیشه طبیعی هستند. دکتر، من هر کاری از دستم بربیاید می‌کنم تا طبیعی نباشم...»
«دکتر،آدم هیچ وقت برای هیچ چیز خیلی جوان نیست، تجربه‌ی کهنه‌ام را باور کنید.»

[Juliette Jahm · Rating 5 out of 5]

La claque littéraire de l'année pour le moment.

Wow. wow. wow
Que dire ?

je ne m'attendais à rien en commençant ce bouquin, ou plutôt si, à de la grande littérature parce que Romain Gary, c'est un nom qui parle à tout le monde, même à ceux qui ne lisent pas.
Et je ne fus pas déçue un seul instant. Quelle littérature !!
Dans ce livre on suit l'histoire à la première personne de Mohammed, enfant de prostitué recueilli par une ex prostituée elle même appelée Madame Rosa, juive, qui s'occupe de ces enfants déposés par leur mère en attendant d'avoir assez d'argent et de temps pour s'en occuper. Il raconte l'histoire de son quartier, de son immeuble, des gens qui les peuplent et surtout, il nous parle de madame Rosa.

Je n'ai pas une seule seconde envie de plus vous décrire cette histoire qu'il faut selon moi goûter par soi-même, mais cette écriture si enfantine, si simple, si poignante et si crue de vérité et de sentiments m'a désarçonnée tout du long. J'ai rarement fait défilé les pages d'un classiques aussi vite, en 15 minutes j'avais lu 45 pages...

Bref, Merci Romain Gary pour la beauté, j'ai très très hâte de lire "la promesse de l'aube" de lui...