Six novels, two history books, two collections of poetry, a biography, a story, a comic strip, a beautiful book, a children’s book… Here are the brief reviews of fifteen notable works in this forty-first week of the year.
Novel. “A few moments for eternity”, by Kjersti Anfinnsen
In the eyes of the Norwegian Kjersti Anfinnsen (born in 1975), the existence of retirees constitutes a captivating literary subject, too little exploited. This is demonstrated by the two short novels that she has brought together in this volume. Minimalist prose, chapters sometimes made up of a single paragraph, outline the existence of its heroine. For her own retirement, the latter chose to live in Paris, so that the text is a double farewell, to her native country and to the life of yesteryear. The story is reminiscent of the logbook of a new life woven with memories, the small worries of everyday life, but also passions and dilemmas. No big organs, more chamber music. The result is a graceful meditation on the things that perish and those that remain. Yes, they are.
“A few moments for eternity” (De siste kjærtegn. Oyeblikk for evigheten), by Kjersti Anfinnsen, translated from Norwegian by Jean-Baptiste Coursaud, Mercure de France, 140 p., €23, digital €17.
Roman. « Limberlost », de Robbie Arnott
When Limberlost was published in its original language, in 2022, Robbie Arnott, considered a young prodigy of Australian letters (he was born in Tasmania in 1989), wrote on his discreet Instagram feed: “By far the most personal thing I have written (…). I hope you like it. » Plaire falls far short of reality as this novel (remarkably translated by Laure Manceau, who also signed the translation of her two previous ones), Flames et The RainbirdActes Sud, 2019, and Gaïa, 2022) is overwhelming.
It all begins at the mouth of a river: an enraged whale is said to be responsible for numerous shipwrecks. Ned, who was 5 years old at the time, remembers that freezing night spent on the water waiting for him. Ten years later, he hunts down rabbits (a pest in Australia) to buy a boat and return to the scene of this primitive scene. To also return to the time when his brothers had not yet gone to war – we are in 1940 – when his sister seemed less sad and where his father, overwhelmed by the death of his wife, did not wander, his gaze absent, in his orchard without apples.
From then on, we follow the gifts and the snags that life has chosen to offer Ned. It’s about dreams and sacrifices, silent conversations and tender love. With disconcerting lucidity, Robbie Arnott writes about life as it comes and goes, often on tiptoe. And if he speaks of finitude, he also suggests, and with what accuracy and precision, the breathtaking beauties of nature and the pleasures it provides. E.G.
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