Vi ses på Place de la Sorbonne

by Justine Lévy, Maria Björkman (Translator)

The first love affair most of us have is with our mothers. In The Rendezvous, 18-year-old Louise sits in the Parisian cafe where her divorced parents met, whiling away a long, fruitless wait for her mother, Alice, by replaying scenes from their lives. Gorgeous, absentee Alice is a supreme narcissist and completely unconvincing liar who dabbles in hard drugs and spends time in prison. Though Louise affects a dispassionate cool as she conjures her up, her descriptions are those of a jilted suitor still longing for the lover who razed her heart. Alice is enticingly wild and generous, too, a horrendous parent but a shining chimera who goes up in flames with a grin. Translated from French and billed as a roman à clef that is "part memoir, part fiction," this debut novel by Justine Levy, the daughter of French philosopher Bernard Henri Levy, is slight in scope but addictive and elegant, even as the scenes inscribed rival those in Bosch's paintings of hell.

Genres: Fiction, France, Roman, Literary Fiction

171 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Agnes P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lättläst och hackigt njutbart språk. mycket återkommande teman osv, borde vara en sorglig historia om utbyte mellan dotter och mor men kände inte särskilt mycket för den! Hade nog varit bra som längre bok också om man fick utforska pappans relation med dottern mer, men inte så konstigt att detta inte gjordes då det nästan helt utelämnande handlade om modern.

[Nathalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sorglig läsning om en dotter som väntar och längtar efter sin mors kärlek. Justin Levy sätter fingret på hur det kan vara att längta efter, i det här fallet en mors kärlek och uppmärksamhet, bli besviken och ändå fortsätta att hoppas.

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pieni ja nopeasti luettu kirja, novellimainen kuvaus tilanteesta, jossa useaan otteeseen äitiinsä pettynyt tytär odottaa äitiään kahvilassa - ja pettyy taas uudelleen, kun äiti ei saavu paikalle sovitusti. Pidin tästä kirjasta, josta välittyi paljon - ilman turhia sanoja ja valtavia sivumääriä.

[Delvaux Hélène · Rating 3 out of 5]

Béné m'a proposé quelques livres pour aller à Marseille. J'en ai pris deux, dont celui-ci !
C'est l'histoire d'une jeune fille qui attend sa mère au café et ressasse tous les beaux (et moins beaux) moments qu'elle a vécu avec elle.
Ça se lit facilement, voilà ...

[Marta Huldén · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weak for the French

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

A moving book that hit quite a chord with me. Some elements were awfully familiar. I found it easy to read and I couldn't put it down. I did have one issue with the book, which stopped me from giving 4 stars. I felt the narrator's voice to adult throughout. but even more so when she recounted memories from her childhood. This was particularly irritating with early memories. aged 4-8. Things she said, emotions felt were far far too adult. This reduced my belief in the character. Even if any of this novel were from real life, from the author's experiences, I don't believe that is how a child would respond to some of these scenarios. It was sad that she accepted so much responsibility for her mother's worsening behaviour. No child can take that on their shoulders. In the end that began to irritate me, and I hoped that by the end she would acknowledge her mother's responsibility for her own behaviour, no matter how saddening it is for depression to be ever present in the family.

[Maranlou Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Une jeune fille Louise, attend toute la journée sa maman Alice dans un café à Paris
Elle repense à sa vie entre ses parents divorcés, cette mère complètement fantasque, excessive
Encore une fois,sa mère ne viendra pas mais maintenant elle ne s'en inquiète plus, elle va enfin vivre sa vie

[Anne Laure · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://matilda-hermione-et-moi.blogsp...

[Myriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ce livre est un vrai coup de coeur...L'histoire de cette jeune femme est si touchante... malgré la souffrance présente dans ce livre l'on voit tout l'amour pour une mère ne pouvant être présente.

[Pau Imantada · Rating 3 out of 5]

Creo que cada historia de hijas que entienden/empatizan con sus madres y de alguna forma reparan el vínculo fracturado que tenían me llena un poco el corazón, incluso si la mamá en cuestión es alguien como Alice.

Me gustó mucho el contexto (época y lugar) en la que está ambientada la trama, le da sentido a la personalidad de ambas (principalmente Alice). Y aunque este es un libro que se lee súper rápido, si considero que hubo más de un capítulo que Justine se pudo haber ahorrado, pero en general estuvo bastante bien.

[Johanna Bartholdsson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ett sorgligt och kärleksfullt porträtt av en svekfull mor berättat av huvudpersonen Louise. Medan hon väntar på mamman på ett café vid Place de la Sorbonne återberättar hon otaliga minnen från barndomen om sin mamma. Fint grepp att vi får träda in i Louises minnen utifrån ett barns perspektiv. Ett barn som aldrig tappar hoppet och kärleken till denna mamma som utifrån sett är tämligen förfärlig som mor.

[eya · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good trip through the memories of young Louise which exposed feelings ans situations we all experience, beautifully written (I read it in french) but the thing with this book that it is short yet she gets too deep in every memory which wasn't so pleasing to me, jumping from one memory to another so quickly right after you start getting the previous one.

[Fiedewietje · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gelezen voor mijn Frans lijst.
Makkelijk te lezen en een makkelijk verhaal. De hoofdpersoon, Louise, is erg goed beschreven ook doordat je met haar herinneringen aan haar moeder beleefd. Je leert haar kennen en haar relatie met haar moeder wordt duidelijk.

[Alba · Rating 3 out of 5]

la AMO (descubriendo aquí cómo es la mujer que en "Y la vida sigue" parecía que revivía cuando Justine, entre otras cosas, acuñó lo de Carla Bruni Terminator). Sueño con una reconciliación à trois vía telemática (ouija) entre estas tres goat de mi marco referencial

[Marta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Le rendez-vous (1995)

Si aspetta, si aspetta, e alla fine arriva tutt'altro.

[Linnea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastisk. Ärlig.

[Lottie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nja, dessa vackra missbrukande, trasiga kvinnor, berör mig inte så mycket. Dottern däremot, att alltid längta efter en mammas omtanke, mer intressant.

[Johanna Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Touching and thought-provoking all in one!

Also a great place to start for language learners.

[Karoliina Timonen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

En otroligt stark och välskriven bok om hur det är att växa upp som medberoende till en missbrukande förälder.

[ludicolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

fais bien passer le temps, sympa à lire

[Stina · Rating 5 out of 5]

En så mysig kortroman som utspelar sig i min favoritstad.

[Paivi Kristiina · Rating 5 out of 5]

C’est un très bon livre

[Tania · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author does an wonderful job of making the protagonist sympathetic without vilefying the mother. My heart went out to the girl as she sat and waited for her mother, knowing, on some level, that she wasn't going to arrive.

The use of flashbacks to tell the story of the girl's childhood neglect by her mother is well done. Some of the descriptions are captivating. It is amazing how much depth that the characters have, given that the story is really an interior monologue from one person's perspective. This is a book about hurt, disappointment, hope, regret and loss. Even if the reader hasn't experienced the sort of neglect that the lead character does, we can relate to her pain -- the emotions she is feeling are ones we have all felt at one time or another, for one reason or another. As such, the device of not giving her a name works really well.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

It sounded more like a diary that I would write than a good book to read. I’m not sure why it has all this fame. Perhaps because the author’s father is someone who is somewhat famous.

One annoying part is that the girl says several times she is 20 then several times she is 18. This inconsistency, especially in a short book, makes it all unbelievable.
I really wanted to enjoy this book from France, but found that I could not. I was intrigued a little, but it became more of a voyeuristic time interest, and if the book was not so short I would not have read it all.

The book relates all sorts of stories about how horrible a mother Alice was and it is amazing that the girl still loves her, but of course that is how children are. And here she is waiting at a café all day, waiting for her mother who never shows. It’s a sad book really.

wrote: Jan 16, 2002

[Anita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dit boek is erg bedacht. Het draait heel erg om hoe egocentrisch moeder Alice is en hoe Louise daardoor beschadigd is. Het is niet zonder verdienste, idee en setting zijn leuk, net als het einde (er gloort hoop voor de toekomst) maar de kleine Louise wordt niet erg overtuigend neergezet. Met zeven jaar De Sade lezen en met acht jaar alleen bezig met springtouw, rode bal en vlieger? Een vierjarige die zich kan herinneren tot in de details (navulstreng) hoe een ouder meisje haar vertelt waar de kindertjes vandaan komen (en hoe).
Wie is die Alice? Ze lijkt het meest op de Marie-Claire uit het liedje 'Where do you go to my lovely' met evenveel diepgang.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

An 18-years old, waiting for her mother at the café where her mother and father first met, 20 years earlier. A mother who is charming and beautiful, irresponsible and dangerous.

A simple story, a short book, but it really pulled me in. I read it in one go (the perk on sitting on a train, you can do that - you have nothing better to do) and I found that it quite suited this story and how it was told.

[Nancy Stevenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This is a very minor book, more like a short story. I enjoyed reading it bc it had themes in common with Hand Me Down (by Melanie Thorne), which I just read. Both books dealt with a young woman's relationship with her dysfunctional mother, which made comparisons between the two books particularly relevant. Each book had a strong protagonist who understood her mother's problems and had learned not to let herself be destroyed by the weaknesses of the mother.

[Yoko Nemchinova · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tour in the Tours of a wandering mind.

The story: A young woman waiting for her mother.

This is an interesting concept of a book, dynamic as the mind of a person waiting and static in Room as a person waiting. I read the book while I waited for my friend, trying to embrace the concept, and I love it!

[Abby · Rating 2 out of 5]

The narration is just about as crazy as its main characters (Louise and her mother). Very hard to follow, almost senselessly so, but I read it because I'm in love with the translator. Would much prefer to read Lydia Davis's original work.