(Sally Rooney’s novels in particular come to mind as examples of masterful character observations.) And if done well, character observations are often what stay with me after I’ve finished a book. They let you see how characters sift through their realities, reveal what those characters consider worthy of sifting in the first place. What initially struck me about this book-and what instantly drew me to it-was Bordas’s ability to write observations. Keen, distinctive character observations can do so much for a novel. It felt like what had initially been a great book in the making had, at a certain point, taken a wrong turn and left its strengths far behind.
It started out so strong, and I immediately loved it so much, and then it was as if a switch had went off: my fondness for it just completely evaporated. Events & Tickets Sat, Oct.I don’t know what to think of this book. Camille Bordas’ appearance is supported by the Cultural Service of the Embassy of France in Canada. So when tragedy strikes the Mazal family, Isidore is the only one to recognize how everyone is struggling with their grief, and perhaps the only one who can help them - if he doesn’t run away from home first. But he notices things the others don’t, and asks questions they fear to ask. Isidore has never skipped a grade or written a dissertation. The only time they leave their rooms is to gather on the old, stained couch and dissect prime-time television dramas in light of Aristotle’s Poetics. Jeremie performs with a symphony, and Simone, older than Isidore by 18 months, expects a great career as a novelist - she’s already put Isidore to work on her biography. Berenice, Aurore, and Leonard are on track to have doctorates by age 24. Isidore Mazal is 11 years old, the youngest of six siblings living in a small French town. With How to Behave in a Crowd, Bordas immerses readers in the interior life of a boy puzzled by adulthood and beginning to realize that the adults around him are just as lost. Born in France and raised in Mexico City and Paris, she now lives in Chicago. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker.
Camille Bordas is the author of two previous novels in French, Les treize desserts, which won the Jean-Claude Izzo Prize, and Partie commune.
0 kommentar(er)
