“The flickering light” by Nino Haratischwili, read by Lily Graniou-Galiano, high school student – ​​Libération

Every week, a reader reviews a favorite. Today, four friends trapped in Georgia in the 1980s.

In the 1980s, four neighbors become friends in the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi. Keto, the narrator, remains calm and measured, despite the numerous conflicts shaking the country. Ira is a model student, brilliant and shy; its “protected”Nene, grew up in a family of criminals known throughout the capital. Dina is the freest of the four. She lives with her mother and her youngest daughter, and doesn't let anything or anyone dictate her life. At least, that's what she wants to believe. The young heroine falls in love with photography and Keto's brother, Rati.

At the beginning of the book, we meet Keto decades later, at a photography exhibition held in memory of Dina, after her suicide. Each photo immerses Nene, Ira and Keto in an ocean of memories of a painful past, and us with it. The flashbacks punctuate the temporality of the novel brilliantly. The return to the present makes us feel the unsaid between the three girls, making the story even more captivating.

Although stories of love and friendship are an integral part of the work, Nino Haratischwili describes – and, by extension, criticizes – the political-economic situation in Georgia between the 1980s and 1990s. sexism to government corruption, the writer paints a portrait full of resentment of the country she knew. Death and violence are everywhere: Keto describes the group as “survivors who try to continue