Category Archives: French Literature
Red-handed in Romanée-Conti – Jean-Pierre Alaux , Noël Balen (Translated from the French by Sally Pane)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Benjamin knew that sometimes people were like wine. If they sat and breathed for a while, their full complexity could be revealed, even more so in the right environment and with the right people.” Benjamin Cooker, … Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, French Literature, World Literature
Tagged crime fiction, French literature, wine
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Autopsy of a Father- Pascale Kramer (translated from the French by Robert Bononno)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “A kind of bottomless fear wrapped her in herself, and she wished she had never set foot in her father’s world again.” Ania and her son Théo came by train to her childhood home of Les … Continue reading
Posted in French Literature, World Literature
Tagged family dysfunction, immigration, racism, Xenophobia
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Elle – Philippe Djian
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “It’s this other me coming out, though I fight it tooth and nail. It’s a me that invites confusion, flux, unexplored territories. I don’t know. I can’t screw open my head and take a look inside.” … Continue reading
Posted in French Literature, Modern Literary Fiction, World Literature
Tagged family dysfunction, French literature, infidelity, women's fiction
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Men – Marie Darrieussecq (Translated from the French by Penny Hueston)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “…waiting began again, waiting as a chronic disease. A sticky fever, a torpor. And, between the times she saw him, the reinfections, she slowly immersed herself in the paradox that she was waiting for a man … Continue reading
Posted in French Literature, World Literature
Tagged book reviews, desire, French literature, Romance
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Reader for Hire – Raymond Jean , (Translated from the French by Adriana Hunter)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “I was absolutely right to accept and harden my heart. A model reader should be a perfectly neutral and biddable instrument. Purely a tool. Purely a voice. Purely transparent. That may well be her limitation, but … Continue reading
Posted in French Literature, Modern Literary Fiction, World Literature
Tagged book review, French literature
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In the Café of Lost Youth – Patrick Modiano (Translated from the French by Chris Clarke)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “I’ve always believed that certain places are like magnets and draw you towards them should you happen to walk within their radius. And this happens imperceptibly, without you even suspecting… It seems to me that because … Continue reading
Posted in French Literature, Noir-esque fiction, World Literature
Tagged French, noir
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Red Lights – Georges Simenon, Translated from the French by Norman Denny, Introduction by Anita Brookner)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “I met a man in whom, for hours, I tried to see another me, another me that wasn’t a coward, a man I wished I could be like…” Steve Hogan, and his wife, Nancy are driving … Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, French Literature, Lost and almost forgotten, World Literature
Tagged classics, mystery, noir
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Fatale – Jean-Patrick Manchette, Afterword by Jean Echenoz, (Translated from the French by Donald Nicholson-Smith)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) ” I don’t tell them I’m a killer. I’m a woman, and they wouldn’t take me seriously. I tell them that I know a killer. Sometimes I let them assume that he is my lover. That … Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, French Literature, Lost and almost forgotten, Noir-esque fiction, World Literature
Tagged book reviews, French literature, noir, world literature
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3 to Kill – Jean-Patrick Manchette(Translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith)
Reviewed by JD Jung Acheter ce livre! Shit happens. OK, that’s probably an understatement as it relates to Georges Gerfaut. Then again, maybe not. Gerfaut, a rather ordinary 30-something businessman, discovers how twisted life can get in the late Jean-Patrick … Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, French Literature, Lost and almost forgotten, Noir-esque fiction, World Literature
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Mygale – Thierry Jonquet (Translated from the French by Donald Nicholson-Smith)
Ah, revenge can be so sweet. Now mix it with obsession and a touch of madness, and it turns utterly twisted and bizarre. Such is the case with the intense and fascinating novel, Mygale, written by the late French crime … Continue reading
