The American: A Memoir

by Franz-Olivier Giesbert

A poignant, taut, and harrowing childhood memoir–a best seller in Europe–of a French-man’s dark relationship with his American father.

The author’s father, Frederick Giesbert, was twenty years old when he landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy, on June 6, 1944. It was to be the defining moment of his life, “wounded to the quick at having survived.” Three years after the invasion, Frederick was living in his hometown of Chicago, married to a French girl he’d met in Normandy. But when the seemingly happy couple returned to Normandy to make a home with their baby, Franz-Olivier, something in the father snapped, and he began habitually to batter both his wife and his child.

Franz-Olivier Giesbert spent his childhood defying, ignoring, and even plotting to kill his father. But as an adult he began searching for forgiveness, “to free myself from the grief of never having given my father the chance to talk to me.” Now that search comes to a deeply moving end, in this fiercely honest and emotionally gripping memoir.

Genres: Biography

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Franz-Olivier Giesbert est un journaliste, présentateur de télévision et écrrivain français.

Reviews

[mathilde · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5
Je pense que si ce livre avait été ne serait-ce que 50 pages plus long, ça aurait été trop. J’ai envie de dire que ce n’était rien de spécial, mais pourtant j’ai été touchée par plusieurs phrases, dont celle-là:
“Mais mourir n’a jamais empêché personne de vivre.”
Un livre plein de douleur et de regrets, une histoire qui est à la fois belle, moche, ordinaire et pleine d'amertume, de haine et de pardon.
Peut-être un peu répétitif, ou frustrant parfois, mais tout ça pour 1€ dans une boutique d’occasion, quelle affaire!

[Laetitia]

L�am�ricain, c�est le surnom qu�on donnait au p�re de Franz-Olivier. Dans cette courte autobiographie, F-O. G. nous raconte une partie de son enfance et de son adolescence. Il explore sous nos yeux les relations conflictuelles qu�il entretenait avec son p�re, et l�image qu�il en avait. L�am�ricain battait sa femme et ses enfants. Et le petit Franz-Olivier n�a eu de cesse de lui faire payer ces affronts. Au point m�me de vouloir le tuer�Sans �tre jamais pleurnichard, FOG nous raconte son histoire. Le style est sobre, distanci�, except�s les rares moments o� il se livre compl�tement. Dans ces instants fugaces, l�auteur se laisse submerger par ses �motions, ce qui enrichit consid�rablement le style et la densit� de l�ouvrage.J�ai appr�ci� ce livre intimiste mais jamais mi�vre ni ampoul�. Le r�cit de ce jeune adolescent r�volt� par le comportement de son p�re m�a beaucoup touch�. On en oublie m�me que l�auteur est un � personnage public �. L�animateur, le directeur de magazine s�efface pour laisser toute la place � l�auteur meurtri, et le lecteur devient le confident d�un homme qui a souffert et souffre certainement encore�

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in an evening. It is an appalling and frank story of the life of a father by his son. It is disturbing that these days so much more is known about mental illness, abuse and the effects of war. Powerfully but simply told. Such regret.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author's father was one of the American military men who landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy on June 6, 1944. It proved to be the most defining time in his life. The father is abusive to the entire family. The author spends a great deal of time being so angry with his father because of the abuse that he fantacizes how he would like to kill him. He's never able to forgive his father. Although his mother does find a way to forgive. The book was translated from French so it may have lost a bit in the translation.

[Joe Rodeck · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a catharsis memoir for the author who, along with his mother, suffered beatings from his sadistic father.

The confessional gets sickening when he reveals every personal weird thing he's done or thought. The average person would be too ashamed; it has a self-destructive exhibitionism about it.

This memoir is front loaded. Interesting and shocking chapters up until the father's recollections of D-Day. But he runs out of things to say. The second half of the book is mostly life on the farm filler.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This memoir propels the reader forward, quickly. It is brutal and poignant, and I fear it will take me weeks to digest.

[Yossi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Laurent Szklarz]

Témoignage poignant et résonnant sur l'enfance. De plus je trouve ce livre superbement écrit

[Ariadne]

Pas pu lire plus de quelques chapitres, faute d'intérêt.