Prix Renaudot (Prix Théophraste-Renaudot)
Grey Souls
A dark novel about a girl's murder in wartime France and the moral fog spreading through the town.
Work Information
A dark novel about a girl's murder in wartime France and the moral fog spreading through the town.
A dark novel about a girl's murder in wartime France and the moral fog spreading through the town.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Weidenfeld & Nicolson
- Published
- 2005-04-28
- Pages
- 208 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 14 x 1.9 x 20.5 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780297847793
- ISBN-10
- 0297847791
- Price
- 3192 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Mystery & Thrillers/Mystery
This is ostensibly a detective story, about a crime that is committed in 1917, and solved 20 years later. The location is a small town in Northern France, near V., in the dead of the freezing winter. The war is still being fought in the trenches, within sight and sound of the town, but the men of the town have been spared the slaughter because they are needed in the local factory. One morning a beautiful ten year old girl, one of the three daughters of the innkeeper, is found strangled and dumped in the canal. Suspicion falls on two deserters who are picked up near the town. Their interrogation and sentencing is brutal and swift. Twenty years later, the narrator, a local policeman, puts together what actually happened. On the night the deserters were arrested and interrogated, he was sitting by the beside of his dying wife. He believes that justice was not done and wants to set the record straight. But the death of the child was not the only crime committed in the town during those weeks. More than one record has to be set straight. Beautiful, like a fairy story almost, frozen in time, this novel has an hypnotic quality.
Philippe Claudel was born in 1962. He has won several awards for his fiction, including the Prix Goncourt for Stories in 2003. Philippe Claudel is a university lecturer, novelist and scriptwriter. He has written 14 novels that have been translated into various languages. He was born in Dombasle-sur-Meurthe in 1962 where he still lives. Claudel says that he woke up one morning with the opening sentence of Brodeck's Report in his head: "My name is Brodeck and I am not responsible. John Cullen is the translator of more than 15 books from French, Spanish, Italian and German. He has twice been shortlisted for the IMPAC award, and was also shortlisted for the Duncan Lawrie International Dagger in 2007.
Reviews
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A moving novel that transforms the reader
I know 'Grey Souls' well in French. It is a beautiful, sensitive and at times heart rending novel that fearlessly explores the human condition and challenges our pre conceived ideas about why people do what they do. Claudel worked in prisons and drew many of his characters from that time. This is the second translation I have read and I found it a frank and honest interpretation of a novel that can be stark in its beauty. You will not be the same after reading this extraordinary French writer's work. You will assume less and ask more.
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I loved the turn of phrase and the poetic prose
Wonderful writing! I loved the turn of phrase and the poetic prose, translated into English from French. I'll certainly seek out more of Philippe Claudel's work.
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Grey Souls
Excellent Book, but be careful! Having greatly admired our first Claudel novel - "Brodeks Report", we looked for others and found " By A Slow River " in an English bookshop, returned to France and bought " Grey Souls " and "Monsieur Linh and His Child" from Amazon.Fr. Very dismayed to find that "By a Slow River" and "Grey Souls" are one and the same book,under different titles. Apparently " By a Slow River " is the American edition. Presumably the publishers wanted a less dark title , for American readers!
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Subsequently Republished as "By a Slow River"
"Grey Souls" (which is not available in a Kindle edition) was republished some two years later as "By a Slow River" . This newer version is sold in hard copy at a fraction of the price of "Grey Souls" and is also available in a Kindle edition. The two translations are of VERY different styles. The "By a Slow River" version, while beautifully written unfortunately lapses too often into American vernacular which strikes a jarring note. I sugest the "By a Slow River" version which receives very favorable ratings on Amazon The locale (as in Claudel's "Brodeck" and his screenplay for "I Loved You a Long Time") is Alsace and this time the time is WW1. I bought this book because I was blown away by "Brodeck". I m not sure which is the better work - so read both
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Another Intelligent Offering from Claudel
Another clever title from this author, in whose books things often are not quite as they might seem. I previously read Monsieur Linh and his Child which, though a short and incredibly simple tale, has remained with me ever since, and which I highly recommend. I didn't find this book quite as emotive as MLahC but it made me think more. Claudel is clearly an intelligent guy with the ability to present ideas without preaching. Here, the wonder of perception is explored subtly and with astute observation. Central themes of death, loneliness and guilt are also well portrayed. Characters are well drawn, especially considering the brevity of this title; Claudel clearly has a good handle in human nature. There are some unusual if not odd metaphors used which occasionally broke the flow of reading - for me, at least - but this could be a matter of translation. However, Claudel generally writes very well and paints a vibrant picture without any filler. 4.5 Stars