Jonathan is American, travelling across France to write a tourist guide. The note includes the addresses of the hotels he will stay in during his tour of France. The money is for Kay to send him books. They start a correspondence, talking about the books they like. Jonathan guesses right. Like the reader, Kay is disconcerted. Do we know everything about someone who enjoys the same books? Are books a way to tell everything, even the unspoken, the most terrible secret?
If you had talked about books that are indifferent to me, if I had chosen books that left you cold, would you have thought of me as if you knew everything about me? Because your answers would slip other volumes under my steps? And I was surprised by the denouement. He has a bird name. She has the name of the designer of the Statue of Liberty.
Each of them has their idea of what freedom is. And Jonathan is both. I wish Katherine Pancol had made a moderate use of exclamation marks, but apart from that, her style is flowing. In the latter, there are references to Romain Gary. In this one, Jonathan is American but has spent his childhood in Nice, where his father was a consul. Incurable me. Something else. They are always dull and shy little men with glasses.
They supposedly love nothing else than numbers and usually have no imagination. No writer can imagine a CPA as a thirty-something woman who loves books. Life is more imaginative that literature, I suppose. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Email Address:. Using the texts I write is at your own risk since I have no competence of any kind in literature. Australian poetry interviews, fiction I'm reading right now, with a dash of experimental writing thrown in. Books, reading and more February 9, 14 comments. And why did I open to you so easily? Why did I go to you with blind trust? Because I was walking on books, silent accomplices, impish elves? PS : For readers able to read in French, it is easy to read. Like Loading Subscribe to Blog via Email Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
