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After the Circus

Patrick Modiano,

Mark Polizzotti (Translator)

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Apr 19, 2016 Steve rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction

The ending sucked. This is my second book by this author, but I think I need some distance from him before I pick up a third. Would I read another by him? Yes. Modiano is a delicate writer who creates an atmosphere like few others. It's the early sixties, Paris, boy meets girl in a café after both were questioned by the police about shady people they may or may not know. As the novel (novella really) unfolds I found myself thinking I've read this novel before. It's called Paris Nocturne. Oh, the The ending sucked. This is my second book by this author, but I think I need some distance from him before I pick up a third. Would I read another by him? Yes. Modiano is a delicate writer who creates an atmosphere like few others. It's the early sixties, Paris, boy meets girl in a café after both were questioned by the police about shady people they may or may not know. As the novel (novella really) unfolds I found myself thinking I've read this novel before. It's called Paris Nocturne. Oh, there are differences, but it's basically the same boy meets mysterious girl, and they both travel around a timeless cityscape of Paris. They make love, dream of going to Rome, cutting their ties. She has a past, though their only hints. An ex-husband, maybe some prostitution, guys in sharp suits, but the boy doesn't care. Well, sort of. (I expect Modiano really resonates with readers who have a familiarity of the city. Me? I got tired of googling up the images. And there are three to four per page.)

Anyway, as I said, After the Circus is much like Paris Nocturne. Boy meets girl, crime is in the air as a constant but indistinct threat. Sometimes it's as close as a threatening phone call, or on the periphery of conversations and places. Overlaying all of this are occasional comments by the narrator indicating that he's now an older man (in his 50s) looking back (just as in Paris Nocturne. Note, as someone he speaks from experience, that when you are in your 50s you do sift through your life's memories quite a bit. I've also noticed that this concern or interest has extended to my fiction reading, and I've sought out novels who dwell on the role of memory. On this count, Modiano is as fine, and darkly romantic, as they come. That said, as I indicated up above, I was disappointed in the ending, which struck me as the ultimate fictional cop-out. But now my library has notified me that I have another Modiano book waiting to be picked up, and I not sure I'll cancel that request. I suspect time will soften my response to this novel's ending. ...more

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