Published 2009 Au Bon Roman, in French
Translated to English by Alison Anderson 2010
This edition Europa editions 2010
416 pages
ISBN: 978-1-933372-82-2
Genre: love of good literature; literary mystery
Keywords: literary culture, exceptional books, how to judge literature, cultural inheritance, cultural creativity, bookstore, Paris, France 2005, greed versus quality, slander, media harassment, internet persecution
Grade: 5/5
Translation: 5/5
Will I read more of this author: yes
Ivan and Francesca love good literature but it is not easy to find especially older literature that has gone out of print because it has no money value; greed has taken over the new literature that has very little long-lasting cultural value. Neither Ivan nor Francesca has any real academic studies behind them, they have read a lot and know what they like. They decide to open a bookstore where they will sell only quality books and only novels.
I would dearly like to know such a bookshop!
They ask eight very different current writers that Ivan considers of high contemporary literary quality to submit a list if 300 books each, books they consider of literary quality and human value, any language, any time period, but translated to French. The identity of these eight authors is kept a secret to the public; even Ivan and Francesca do not know which books has been recommended by which writer.
They open ‘The Good Novel’, they started with 440 French novels and 220 foreign. Initially they have success and sell more than they expected; they establish an internet store also.
But then the slander and harassment start in the newspapers and on line. Who is behind it? Why? Three of the eights author contributors are attacked in different ways. Only Ivan and Francesca see there is a connection and realize they did to turn for help from the police.
How did the brutes find the identity of the authors?
There are two love stories in the book: Ivan and Anis; and also, Francesca’s. but I will not reveal that here. The writing in the book is kept like a mystery, like a fable. Most of the book it set up as an explanation to the police officer, and later written down by a third party that only becomes clear at the end. All together for me this is a book well above average.
My thoughts:
I read mostly in English with quite limited choice in Israel; I have therefore bought on Book Depository, which is closing down now without warning. I am very disappointed about that.
The Novel Bookstore has been an eye opener about the huge French literary cultural treasure. If I had known even less than a third of all authors mentioned in this book I would be a specialist in French literature. Well, I am not. But I found it somewhat strange that there is much less information on the internet about these French writers and their books, than I can find on the English/ American / Canadian and Australian literature.
On the author:
Laurence Cossé, French author, journalist, born 1950.
About the translation: I found it ran fluently in English, here and there I could see the French background. I found it strange that the translator did not know that Marcel Aymé’s 1929 novel Les Tables aux Crevés had been translated to English under the name ‘The Hollow Field’ and not The Table of Corpses. Yes, I looked up quite a lot of the references, so many I did not know anything about! My French is not good enough to read in French, I need it translated. I liked throughout the book how main points of the recommended books were outlined and this made me want to read more of this recommended literature.
Some quotes:
Page 81: one of the most fortunate purposes of literature is to bring like-minded people together and get them talking
Page 144: cultural creativity is beautiful and special because it offers a place to everybody
Page 150: literature is a source of pleasure, it is one of the rare inexhaustible joys of life, but it is not only that. It must not be dissociated from reality
Comments