« - Je n'ai jamais rien entendu de plus laid, de plus ennuyeux et de plus nuisible que ce que tu joues avec ton groupe. Il vient de tomber par terre. Il se roule dans le sable en se tenant le ventre. C'est le soldat Ryan. Peut-être qu'il va mourir sur la plage. Je vais lui flanquer un coup de pied pour abréger ses souffrances. Je suis malheureusement interrompue par l'arrivée de Samira et d'Hélène qui s'approchent de nous avec des airs légèrement envieux. - De quoi vous parlez ? demande Samira. Vous avez l'air de bien vous marrer. Il se relève, il essuie ses yeux et il montre du doigt. - C'est elle, gémit-il. Elle n'arrête pas de m'agresser, elle est trop marrante. Bon. Je me suis fait un nouvel ami masochiste. Il me regarde avec des yeux émerveillés. Il m'adore, c'est clair. »
Marie Desplechin has written over thirty books for children and adults, and is published internationally. Enormously popular in her native France, she has twenty-two first cousins, feels most comfortable in the kitchen, and has always dreamed of living in the 19th century.
Deuxième partie de la trilogie, pas très amusante comme la première, mais bon, une lecture légère. Aurore devient un peu irritante, mais voyons le dernier livre comment ça va passer.
"Ça fout les jetons, c'est tout ce que j'ai à dire, de vieillir pendant que la guerre grandit."
I've been starting lots of books lately* and (temporarily**) abandoning them at around 10-20% and this is the first one I've been able to read in one sitting without getting bored or feeling slightly annoyed at the plot/pace/whatever for some strange unknown reasons, and needing to take a break and put it on hold.
Aurore might be slightly less annoying, although that's debatable, and is still as funny (I very much enjoyed her commentary and interactions with Areski during the camping vacation). How badly did it age? I think this time I only noticed one instance of joke that definitely wouldn't fly today (p.97) but this one did leave me a bit breathless. I know we are stuck in the mind of a narcissistic adolescent girl so I guess there is that to take into account but... still no. Anyway, here's is to hoping we get to zero instance in the next one! I'll know soon enough.
*ok, even more than usual **that's a lie I like to tell myself. They know that unless they have terribly offended me early on, they will never end up in my DNF pile. But it's also highly probable that I'll never pick them up again. They'll just keep on existing in this limbo state... smothering me with guilt and the awful need to finish what I've started whenever I'll lay eyes on them.