“A magnificent loser”, by Florence Seyvos, L’Olivier, 144 p., €19.50, digital €14.
There is no gender indication on the cover of Florence Seyvos’ new book, A magnificent loserbut it is indeed a novel that it is, and even the novel of a story-maker: Jacques, its main character, the “loser” of the title and father-in-law of the narrator, Anna , who seems to love fiction in all things. We are in Le Havre, where Anna lives, with her older sister, Irène, and their mother, Maud. The young girl keeps company, late at night in the kitchen, with her father-in-law, visiting France, who is doing business in Abidjan where the family was once reunited. Anna observes Jacques who, like her, does not sleep and smokes. He is a sick man, a funny guy with quirks, both authoritarian and dreamy, a slightly lost loser who will give the book its singular, almost hypnotic cadence, and its kind of strangeness that is indeed magnificent.
We are in Le Havre and in the 1980s. It is the time of Renault 5s and audio cassettes, also that of Anna’s youth, as if encumbered by this father-in-law who is so original, tyrannical and touching, who arrives one day of Christmas and immediately launches into sumptuous purchases – but on credit – such as that of a joie-du-jour, a precious little piece of furniture “for ladies” whose name is enough to make you dream… The happiness of the day is in All case what Jacques seems to constantly pursue, who has no awareness of the present and very little sense of material realities, so much so that he unwittingly causes unhappiness around him, or at least embarrassment, debts, and sometimes fear, whose shadow hangs over the entire story.
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