In 1917
absolute evil comes to the little village of P. and a ten year old girl is
murdered. The murder shocks the village, although it was not the first tragedy
they had. World War I leaves its marks and a couple of months before the murder
a young schoolteacher hanged herself.
Still the
murder of a child is even worse, especially since this child, Belle was so
loved by everyone. Her nickname was Belle de Jour, beauty of the day, after the
little flowers that were just as lovely as she was.
A policeman
tells us what happened years later and describes how it affected all the people
that were involved.
The
prosecutor that always followed the law like a machine and demanded
deathpenalties like it did not matter, but who is also the last man who talked
to the girl.
The judge
who has no empathy at all and who blames a couple of deserters from the front
who fall into his hands. It ties the case up neatly and he does not have to
bother with it anymore. That he has to break one of the man to get a confession
is of no importance to him.
And the
policeman himself, who experiences a personal tragedy during the case.
The story
goes forwards and backwards in time and slowly it reveals more of what
happened. Bitterness, loss and grief all play their parts in how people react
and act in this case.
It becomes
clear the policeman is not happy with the role he played himself or how the
case ended. He is bitter and angry about the way the rich people get what they
want and the poor just have to accept that.
But perhaps
it is not so clear after all and when you reach the end of the story,
everything you thought you knew about good and evil is turned upside down.
The bad
people were perhaps not as bad and the good may not have been that good.
Philippe
Claudel manages very cleverly to lead us on the wrong path and at the end of
the book the question of good and bad and their implications stays in your head
for a long time.
The way the
story is built, the beautiful language and the way the characters appear in all
their greyness (neither black nor white), shows Philippe Claudel is a great
writer. Perhaps one of the greatest.
Original
French title: Les âmes grises
Published in 2003
Also
published in English as: By a slow river
Sounds amazing. Love your review of it. Can't wait to give this one a try. Are there other Philippe Claudel books you like?
ReplyDeleteMonsieur Linh and his child is a book I reviewed earlier, and I absolutely loved that. I am not sure how many of his books are translated into English, but I begin to feel like you cannot go wrong with Philippe Claudel. I now read 3 of his books, and I loved all of them, and I have about 6 other books by him here on my shelf, looking forward to that!
DeleteKind regards,