Posts Tagged ‘#NOVNOV23’

21 Nov

‘First Blood’ by Amélie Nothomb – A Lively Novella about Her Father

Posted by Anokatony in Book Reviews. Tagged: , .

 

‘First Blood’ by Amélie Nothomb    (2021) – 107 pages                 Translated from the French by Alison Anderson       #NOVNOV23

 

A long time ago, 2009, I declared Amélie Nothomb to be a must-read author. Since then, I have read four more of her novellas, and I still consider her to be a must-read author. In fact, the novella I’m reviewing today, ‘First Blood’, won two literary prizes, the 2021 French Renaudot Prize and the 2022 Strega European Prize.

‘First Blood’ is a fictional novella based on the real events in the early life of her father, Patrick Nothomb. It starts out in 1964 in the Belgian Congo. (Yes, Belgium did have colonies, the largest being the Belgian Congo.) Patrick is a diplomat, 28 years old, and is now a hostage and is facing a firing squad.

As Patrick faces the firing squad, his life passes before his eyes. Patrick’s father was a soldier and was killed in battle when Patrick was only 8 months old.

Later, as a teenager, Patrick relates to his friend Charles :

“If you only knew how much I miss having a father.”

“You’ve got it all wrong. I have a father, and it doesn’t make me any wiser.”

“In Shakespeare, the fathers are incredibly important; they’re magnificent. Fathers like that do exist. I’m sure of it.”

“You’re reading Shakespeare?”

“I blushed with shame.”

Patrick’s widowed mother constantly attends high society soirees and has no interest in raising Patrick. Thus his grandparents take the responsibility of bringing Patrick up.

In an early romance, Patrick learns an important lesson :

“That debacle equipped me with a wise reflex: never fall in love with a woman until you’ve seen her lose her temper.”

Patrick would like to be a soldier, but there’s a problem. He faints at the sight of blood. Instead he becomes a Belgian diplomat which is why he is in the Congo during this turbulent time of their fighting for independence.

Amélie Nothomb moves the plot along rapidly, and I thank her for that. While some writers will get bogged down for hundreds of pages discussing some plot point, Nothomb will move on to an entirely new scene. She writes lively, often humorous, little novellas.

 

Grade:   A

 

#NOVNOV23

 

 

 

13 Nov

‘Standing Heavy’ by GauZ – Black African Security Guards in Ritzy Paris Fashion Shops

Posted by Anokatony in Book Reviews. Tagged: , .

 

‘Standing Heavy’ by GauZ      (2014) – 167 pages         Translated from the French by Frank Wynne         #NOVNOV23

‘Standing Heavy’ is a fun humorous novella about black men from Africa working as security guards in the posh clothing and perfume shops in the Champs-Elysee in Paris, France. This novella was shortlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize but did not win.

It is the 1990s, and the fashion shops in Paris are looking for somebody they hardly have to pay any money to to stand in their stores and intimidate the customers so they don’t shoplift.

“Training is absolutely minimal. No experience is required. Employers are all too willing to overlook official status.”

The morphological profile for the job of security guard makes black men very much appropriate for the job:

“Black men are heavy set. Black men are tall; black men are strong; black men are deferential; black men are scary.”

The author GauZ can make fun of black Africans because he is a black African himself.

So the job mostly requires the security guard to “stand heavy” to intimidate the customers to not shoplift, although occasionally he must confront a customer he suspects of stealing merchandise or when the customer’s shopping bag sets off the metal detector when he or she leaves the store.

Most of ‘Standing Heavy consists of short witty vignettes describing various facets of these black security guards’ jobs. Since these Paris fashion shops attract customers from all over the world, some of the vignettes show how customers from various countries behave. For example, one explains the difference between Chinese shoppers and Japanese shoppers. In another, the Camaieu axiom is presented:

“In a clothing store, a customer without a bag is a customer who will not shoplift.”

However after 9/11/2001, everything changed. Kassoum, one of the black security guards, watches as 9/11 takes place on TV :

“White people, as Kassoum knew, always did things by the book. Not like this. Not without debates in Congress, round tables at the UN, press conferences, solemn declarations and a bunch of hoopla to prove they were civilized people before they went out and slaughtered each other like savages.”

Soon all the black security guards in these Paris fashion shops were let go, replaced by white security guards. However, after a few years, there was such a huge demand for low-waged baggage checker security guards due to 9/11, many of these black men were hired for that purpose.

‘Standing Heavy’ was a very pleasant interlude for my reading.

 

Grade:     A

 

#NOVNOV23