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November
Simenon applique sa formidable perception à une famille qui tient essentiellement à partager le même toit et la même planche lugubres. Le centre négatif de la maison est la mère, une femme à qui l'amour a été refusé et qui est poussée dans un isolement insupportable dont elle se réfugie en prenant le biberon.
Minutieusement, incident par incident, Simenon accumule les pressions au sein de la maison et de la famille pour que cette femme taciturne et renfermée agisse avec ruse et cruauté et pourtant, on le sent, innocemment, puisqu'elle a d'abord été déshumanisée par son entourage.
L'histoire est racontée telle qu'elle est vécue par sa fille qui, bien qu'absorbée par sa propre histoire d'amour, est la seule consciente du drame qui se joue avec la fatalité grecque. Il y a une densité et une profondeur remarquables dans la représentation par Simenon de l'interaction d'une maison et de ses habitants, et une manière très inhabituelle de résoudre un mystère de manière oblique, grâce à l'empathie d'un esprit compatissant. Simenon est ici à son meilleur.
(à partir du rabat de la couverture)
Minutieusement, incident par incident, Simenon accumule les pressions au sein de la maison et de la famille pour que cette femme taciturne et renfermée agisse avec ruse et cruauté et pourtant, on le sent, innocemment, puisqu'elle a d'abord été déshumanisée par son entourage.
L'histoire est racontée telle qu'elle est vécue par sa fille qui, bien qu'absorbée par sa propre histoire d'amour, est la seule consciente du drame qui se joue avec la fatalité grecque. Il y a une densité et une profondeur remarquables dans la représentation par Simenon de l'interaction d'une maison et de ses habitants, et une manière très inhabituelle de résoudre un mystère de manière oblique, grâce à l'empathie d'un esprit compatissant. Simenon est ici à son meilleur.
(à partir du rabat de la couverture)
185 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
90 people want to read
About the author
Georges Simenon
2,738 books2,297 followersGeorges Joseph Christian Simenon (1903 – 1989) was a Belgian writer. A prolific author who published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known as the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret.
Although he never resided in Belgium after 1922, he remained a Belgian citizen throughout his life.
Simenon was one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, capable of writing 60 to 80 pages per day. His oeuvre includes nearly 200 novels, over 150 novellas, several autobiographical works, numerous articles, and scores of pulp novels written under more than two dozen pseudonyms. Altogether, about 550 million copies of his works have been printed.
He is best known, however, for his 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Commissaire Maigret. The first novel in the series, Pietr-le-Letton, appeared in 1931; the last one, Maigret et M. Charles, was published in 1972. The Maigret novels were translated into all major languages and several of them were turned into films and radio plays. Two television series (1960-63 and 1992-93) have been made in Great Britain.
During his "American" period, Simenon reached the height of his creative powers, and several novels of those years were inspired by the context in which they were written (Trois chambres à Manhattan (1946), Maigret à New York (1947), Maigret se fâche (1947)).
Simenon also wrote a large number of "psychological novels", such as La neige était sale (1948) or Le fils (1957), as well as several autobiographical works, in particular Je me souviens (1945), Pedigree (1948), Mémoires intimes (1981).
In 1966, Simenon was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.
In 2005 he was nominated for the title of De Grootste Belg (The Greatest Belgian). In the Flemish version he ended 77th place. In the Walloon version he ended 10th place.
Although he never resided in Belgium after 1922, he remained a Belgian citizen throughout his life.
Simenon was one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, capable of writing 60 to 80 pages per day. His oeuvre includes nearly 200 novels, over 150 novellas, several autobiographical works, numerous articles, and scores of pulp novels written under more than two dozen pseudonyms. Altogether, about 550 million copies of his works have been printed.
He is best known, however, for his 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Commissaire Maigret. The first novel in the series, Pietr-le-Letton, appeared in 1931; the last one, Maigret et M. Charles, was published in 1972. The Maigret novels were translated into all major languages and several of them were turned into films and radio plays. Two television series (1960-63 and 1992-93) have been made in Great Britain.
During his "American" period, Simenon reached the height of his creative powers, and several novels of those years were inspired by the context in which they were written (Trois chambres à Manhattan (1946), Maigret à New York (1947), Maigret se fâche (1947)).
Simenon also wrote a large number of "psychological novels", such as La neige était sale (1948) or Le fils (1957), as well as several autobiographical works, in particular Je me souviens (1945), Pedigree (1948), Mémoires intimes (1981).
In 1966, Simenon was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.
In 2005 he was nominated for the title of De Grootste Belg (The Greatest Belgian). In the Flemish version he ended 77th place. In the Walloon version he ended 10th place.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
October 28, 2023
A brilliantly observed psychological family drama: a family who, despite living under the same roof, appear to be world's apart; where trust, love and comfort have become as fragile as a porcelain doll, and where blame, deviousness and antagonism are the dominant force.
Seen through the eyes of 21-year-old lab assistant Laure, whose only happiness seems to be the intimate moments spent after working hours with her married boss, she would witness the jealous rivalry between her father and younger brother Olivier, who are both having a love affair with the Spanish maid Manuela - lots of sneaking about at night, while her alcoholic mentally unstable mother, who easily outdoes a bag of lemons when it comes to bitterness, just seems to go from bad to worse. Little in the way of plot, it's the best Simenon I've read so far. The tension and atmosphere within the family home was so thick at times that you could cut it with a knife: and this is before the maid suddenly disappears...
I've found something altogether timeless about Simenon's work. And it's no different here: this could have been written yesterday.
October 11, 2022
I know, I know, it's only October... still .... November.
I had never even heard of Simenon, being a kind of book snob who wouldn't deign to read noir but then I became a nyrb-classics addict and they re-published maybe a dozen of Simenon's works. So, using nyrb as a kind of intellectual beard, I read about eight of the nyrb Simenons (nyrb, unfortunately, and oddly, has stopped printing a few of the the ones they felt strongly enough to issue). They were good; well, most of them. Sometimes you need an escape, a whodunit, or a whydidhedoit. But that's all Simenon was for: a change of pace, a look into the dark side.
I hadn't been to Half-Priced books for fourteen months, not since I caught COVID (and blamed them). But old wounds heal, and I found myself there last week. Nothing changed. No exciting book in general fiction, natural history or regular history. (I didn't go into the musical aisle because a large woman was in there, in no hurry.) Same multiple rows of Danielle Steel and Nora Roberts.
As a last resort, I pulled up my collar and went into Mystery. No Highsmith, but I found this one surprisingly correctly placed alphabetically. It was not half-priced. Liars. But if you saw it, you would know I had to get it.
And having read it now, I wonder how the nyrb-ers missed this one.
Tolstoy was right when he said all unhappy families are unhappy in their own way. So here. The narrator is Laure, the 21 year-old daughter. Her unlikeable (to me) brother, Olivier, is two years younger. The father is distant. The mother is alcoholic. The writing is superior to anything I've experienced before from Simenon:
My brother soon recovered from the unexpected stillness of the world. He was sitting in his usual place opposite my father, and I was opposite my mother, who had those tell-tale red patches on her cheekbones.
It meant that she'd been drinking. She had started on her novena, as we call it, but she was not drunk, she's never really drunk.
There's a death midway, but it's not a killing. I won't tell you who it is. Just this:
The hands around which the rosary was entwined fascinated me. They were strong hands with square-tipped fingers, the hands of a woman still close to the soil, accustomed to doing her own housework and if need be to do a man's chores.
My mother's hands are long, with slender pointed fingers, and she makes a great fuss when she happens to break a nail.
Which, would-be writers, you can say a lot, simply.
A young, female narrator, self-aware. She sees her feckless brother, her distant father, her older lover. And her mother. Mothers and daughters:
She was surprised to hear me say:
"I feel like drinking something to warm me up. A hot toddy, for instance. Is there any rum in the house?"
She spoke at last, under her breath, as though talking to herself.
"I believe there's a bottle in the cellar. I'll go and see."
I put some water on to boil. There are some familiar gestures that one performs unawares at the most painful or dramatic moments. You put on water to boil, you set out two glasses, two spoons, some sugar, a lemon.
It was untrue that I needed to warm myself up. It wasn't possible to stay any longer face to face in silence.
But, you ask, was there a murder?
I've ordered two more Simenons. Not Maigrets. Not nyrbs. What I've found instead.
I had never even heard of Simenon, being a kind of book snob who wouldn't deign to read noir but then I became a nyrb-classics addict and they re-published maybe a dozen of Simenon's works. So, using nyrb as a kind of intellectual beard, I read about eight of the nyrb Simenons (nyrb, unfortunately, and oddly, has stopped printing a few of the the ones they felt strongly enough to issue). They were good; well, most of them. Sometimes you need an escape, a whodunit, or a whydidhedoit. But that's all Simenon was for: a change of pace, a look into the dark side.
I hadn't been to Half-Priced books for fourteen months, not since I caught COVID (and blamed them). But old wounds heal, and I found myself there last week. Nothing changed. No exciting book in general fiction, natural history or regular history. (I didn't go into the musical aisle because a large woman was in there, in no hurry.) Same multiple rows of Danielle Steel and Nora Roberts.
As a last resort, I pulled up my collar and went into Mystery. No Highsmith, but I found this one surprisingly correctly placed alphabetically. It was not half-priced. Liars. But if you saw it, you would know I had to get it.
And having read it now, I wonder how the nyrb-ers missed this one.
Tolstoy was right when he said all unhappy families are unhappy in their own way. So here. The narrator is Laure, the 21 year-old daughter. Her unlikeable (to me) brother, Olivier, is two years younger. The father is distant. The mother is alcoholic. The writing is superior to anything I've experienced before from Simenon:
My brother soon recovered from the unexpected stillness of the world. He was sitting in his usual place opposite my father, and I was opposite my mother, who had those tell-tale red patches on her cheekbones.
It meant that she'd been drinking. She had started on her novena, as we call it, but she was not drunk, she's never really drunk.
There's a death midway, but it's not a killing. I won't tell you who it is. Just this:
The hands around which the rosary was entwined fascinated me. They were strong hands with square-tipped fingers, the hands of a woman still close to the soil, accustomed to doing her own housework and if need be to do a man's chores.
My mother's hands are long, with slender pointed fingers, and she makes a great fuss when she happens to break a nail.
Which, would-be writers, you can say a lot, simply.
A young, female narrator, self-aware. She sees her feckless brother, her distant father, her older lover. And her mother. Mothers and daughters:
She was surprised to hear me say:
"I feel like drinking something to warm me up. A hot toddy, for instance. Is there any rum in the house?"
She spoke at last, under her breath, as though talking to herself.
"I believe there's a bottle in the cellar. I'll go and see."
I put some water on to boil. There are some familiar gestures that one performs unawares at the most painful or dramatic moments. You put on water to boil, you set out two glasses, two spoons, some sugar, a lemon.
It was untrue that I needed to warm myself up. It wasn't possible to stay any longer face to face in silence.
But, you ask, was there a murder?
I've ordered two more Simenons. Not Maigrets. Not nyrbs. What I've found instead.
November 26, 2022
I picked this up from my neighborhood library after seeing Tony's review. It's my first Simenon. This story of a dysfunctional family was immersive and well-written, but ultimately depressing. Don't let that put you off! It has really stayed with me, a testimony to Simenon's artistry. I will read more of him, starting with A Maigret Christmas And Other Stories, another seasonal read!
Why I'm reading this: Well . . . it's November! I'm hoping this is a short book that packs a punch, my favorite "genre".
Why I'm reading this: Well . . . it's November! I'm hoping this is a short book that packs a punch, my favorite "genre".
November 29, 2012
I first discovered Georges Simenon in 2005, when a fellow reader sent me a copy of The Cat. Unexpectedly, The Cat wildly impressed me, so I became borderline obsessed with Simenon, and embarked on a mission to obtain and read every other book he'd written that I could get my hands on. Which leads me to this review for November, which is just one of numerous novels by this prolific writer.
November is named accordingly because (duh!) its events take place during the month of November. But don't let this commonplace title sway or deter you from this fun and awesome book.
At a brief 185 pages, November is a story about a tragedy involving a family of four: a mother, a father, and their grown adult children - a brother and sister named Olivier and Laure, the latter of whom is the narrator of the story.
Olivier and Laure's mother is a pathetic alcoholic who is bitter at the world as a result of her apparent physical ugliness. Their father chases after the family's Spanish maid Manuela, who is also Olivier's object of affection. As the all-knowing witness of this story, Laure relays her brother and father's affair with the maid, while watching her mother drown herself in alcoholic misery. Meanwhile, Laure carries on with her own affair with her married professor at work.
When Manuela abruptly quits working for the family and goes missing, Laure begins to speculate about Manuela's whereabouts, and does some sleuthing of her own. What she learns has devastating consequences (or does it?) for her family.
As usual, Simenon's quirky, yet blunt and matter-of-fact style makes November a bizarre and entertaining read. Since the novel takes place in France (as do most of Simenon's novels, which are translated from French into English), American readers will delight in this book's languid, cultural setting.
The novel is unsurprisingly predictable, which is, in reality, wholly irrelevant - after all, you'll be reading November for Simenon's prose and character-driven premise - not for the plot.
I'll admit - there is one particular element in all of Simenon's novels that never fails to surprise me, and it's the ever-present feeling of timelessness in all his novels. The subject matter of each novel, as well as Simenon's writing style, is contemporary and modern no matter what the time period. When I pick up most of Simenon's novels, I feel as if I'm reading a new release. Weird, right?! But you wouldn't believe me unless you read his novels yourself!
If you're a fan of Simenon, or just quirky fiction in general, you'll definitely like November. Keep in mind though, that Simenon's standalone novels have a completely different tone from his Inspector Maigret novels.
Some of my other favorite novels by Georges Simenon are The Cat (1972), Aunt Jeanne (1953), Across the Street (1954), The Iron Stair Case (1963), and The Train (1964).
For more book reviews, please visit http://dreamworldbooks.com.
November is named accordingly because (duh!) its events take place during the month of November. But don't let this commonplace title sway or deter you from this fun and awesome book.
At a brief 185 pages, November is a story about a tragedy involving a family of four: a mother, a father, and their grown adult children - a brother and sister named Olivier and Laure, the latter of whom is the narrator of the story.
Olivier and Laure's mother is a pathetic alcoholic who is bitter at the world as a result of her apparent physical ugliness. Their father chases after the family's Spanish maid Manuela, who is also Olivier's object of affection. As the all-knowing witness of this story, Laure relays her brother and father's affair with the maid, while watching her mother drown herself in alcoholic misery. Meanwhile, Laure carries on with her own affair with her married professor at work.
When Manuela abruptly quits working for the family and goes missing, Laure begins to speculate about Manuela's whereabouts, and does some sleuthing of her own. What she learns has devastating consequences (or does it?) for her family.
As usual, Simenon's quirky, yet blunt and matter-of-fact style makes November a bizarre and entertaining read. Since the novel takes place in France (as do most of Simenon's novels, which are translated from French into English), American readers will delight in this book's languid, cultural setting.
The novel is unsurprisingly predictable, which is, in reality, wholly irrelevant - after all, you'll be reading November for Simenon's prose and character-driven premise - not for the plot.
I'll admit - there is one particular element in all of Simenon's novels that never fails to surprise me, and it's the ever-present feeling of timelessness in all his novels. The subject matter of each novel, as well as Simenon's writing style, is contemporary and modern no matter what the time period. When I pick up most of Simenon's novels, I feel as if I'm reading a new release. Weird, right?! But you wouldn't believe me unless you read his novels yourself!
If you're a fan of Simenon, or just quirky fiction in general, you'll definitely like November. Keep in mind though, that Simenon's standalone novels have a completely different tone from his Inspector Maigret novels.
Some of my other favorite novels by Georges Simenon are The Cat (1972), Aunt Jeanne (1953), Across the Street (1954), The Iron Stair Case (1963), and The Train (1964).
For more book reviews, please visit http://dreamworldbooks.com.
April 10, 2020
We live in a house where each of us watches the rest and leads a life apart.
This is one of Simenon's jewels.
This is one of Simenon's jewels.
November 7, 2025
This little book represents my own path as a reader—from a trusting soul to someone who engages critically with a story. I first read it in my teens and, of course, took everything at face value, fully accepting the narrator’s version of events. On my third or fourth reread, I came across a critical piece arguing that the novel is Simenon’s study of the presumption of innocence and introducing me for the first time to the concept of the unreliable narrator.
Now, returning to it again, I see it as a tiny gem of a book about neuroticism and the lack of communication that traps people in lonely, self-constructed worlds. It feels brilliantly timeless—I was genuinely surprised to realize it’s set in the 1960s.
Now, returning to it again, I see it as a tiny gem of a book about neuroticism and the lack of communication that traps people in lonely, self-constructed worlds. It feels brilliantly timeless—I was genuinely surprised to realize it’s set in the 1960s.
July 27, 2017
An odd little book, and one that does not give up its secrets easily. This is one of Simenon's "romans durs," or hard novels, and this one is particularly hard to decipher. "November" is a story about a family of four that is acutely dysfunctional: a father, a mother who is a bitter alcoholic, and the two children: Laure and Olivier. They all hate each other and have contributed to each other's misery. The only bright ray of sunshine (if you can call it that), is the presence of the family's maid, Manuela, who is carrying on affairs with both the father and Olivier, creating much dissension in the household.
When Manuela abruptly quits working for the family and goes missing, Laure wonders what has really happened to her. The mother claims that she has gone back to Spain to be with her family, but there have been no witnesses to her departure....and there is a large trunk in the attic that is no longer there. Laure speculates that her mother has killed Manuela, but she has no proof. Then she has a hallucinatory dream in which her mother has dispatched Manuela. When Laure wakes up, she cannot be certain of the truth....and neither can the reader. A very disquieting book, and one that questions the truth of dreams versus reality.
When Manuela abruptly quits working for the family and goes missing, Laure wonders what has really happened to her. The mother claims that she has gone back to Spain to be with her family, but there have been no witnesses to her departure....and there is a large trunk in the attic that is no longer there. Laure speculates that her mother has killed Manuela, but she has no proof. Then she has a hallucinatory dream in which her mother has dispatched Manuela. When Laure wakes up, she cannot be certain of the truth....and neither can the reader. A very disquieting book, and one that questions the truth of dreams versus reality.
April 9, 2025
November (1969) is one of Georges Simenon’s roman durs, or “hard novels,” as (somewhat) distinct from his 75 Inspector Detective Maigret novels. I say somewhat because all of them are rather bleak, essentially noir, though at least with the Maigret books you get the ultimately likable mc. November is the story of a dysfunctional--uncommunicative--family, the father and son vying for the sexual favors of their maid, Manuela. Mother is an alcoholic, miserable; father is reclusive, son Olivier is 19 and angry, in school, and the daughter, Laure, 21, narrates the tale: “I think I am happy.” But she also feels sorry for her unhappy family.
“Everybody one sees is the center of his own universe, and their preoccupations loom larger than what is going on in the world around.”
Laure has her own secrets; she works in a lab at the university with a famous professor/researcher, Dr. Czimek, and though he is married, with a 14 year old daughter, and about her father’s age, she has an affair with him that never leaves the lab. She reflects a little on these parallel worlds, which leads us to do so, of course.
The novel begins with a kind of noirish raging storm, something like the seething, secret emotions in all the main characters, though we don’t know their motivations well at all because none of them ever communicate with each other. The pace and tone are masterfully done, steadily intensifying, adding an ingredient along the way: The son gets enraged that the father may be stealing Manuela from him. We learn Manuela sleeps with other men on her day off; she is no one’s woman. But Laure, without speaking of it, is devoted for life to her professor.
Throughout, Laure asks questions: Are other families like this? Do they have friends, unlike her family? Are other women like me? She wonders, in sort of gothic fashion, whether it may be the house itself that is partly the cause for their troubles. Slowly but steadily the intensity builds in both stories. The professor’s wife dies suddenly; what will happen? In the midst of a confrontation between the father and son, Manuela leaves. What is going on?
You’ll either like this or not, but at the story’s greatest intensity, the height of the emotional storm in both stories, Laure has a dream in which she gains insight to her family and what has happened in her house. It worked for me in sort of gothic fashion, like the film Laura or The Turn of the Screw, swirling emotional storms. In the Maigret books we see everything through his eyes, so this book gives us a chance to see things through the eyes of a central character, and a woman, who reflects on her world much more introspectively than Maigret ever does. I think it is just masterful.
“Everybody one sees is the center of his own universe, and their preoccupations loom larger than what is going on in the world around.”
Laure has her own secrets; she works in a lab at the university with a famous professor/researcher, Dr. Czimek, and though he is married, with a 14 year old daughter, and about her father’s age, she has an affair with him that never leaves the lab. She reflects a little on these parallel worlds, which leads us to do so, of course.
The novel begins with a kind of noirish raging storm, something like the seething, secret emotions in all the main characters, though we don’t know their motivations well at all because none of them ever communicate with each other. The pace and tone are masterfully done, steadily intensifying, adding an ingredient along the way: The son gets enraged that the father may be stealing Manuela from him. We learn Manuela sleeps with other men on her day off; she is no one’s woman. But Laure, without speaking of it, is devoted for life to her professor.
Throughout, Laure asks questions: Are other families like this? Do they have friends, unlike her family? Are other women like me? She wonders, in sort of gothic fashion, whether it may be the house itself that is partly the cause for their troubles. Slowly but steadily the intensity builds in both stories. The professor’s wife dies suddenly; what will happen? In the midst of a confrontation between the father and son, Manuela leaves. What is going on?
You’ll either like this or not, but at the story’s greatest intensity, the height of the emotional storm in both stories, Laure has a dream in which she gains insight to her family and what has happened in her house. It worked for me in sort of gothic fashion, like the film Laura or The Turn of the Screw, swirling emotional storms. In the Maigret books we see everything through his eyes, so this book gives us a chance to see things through the eyes of a central character, and a woman, who reflects on her world much more introspectively than Maigret ever does. I think it is just masterful.
July 31, 2017
A real sense of foreboding and unpacking of story leads you to a wheelbarrow and a line of flattened grass by the side of a shore. The writing is claustrophobic - raised eyebrows, sudden sighs, psychologically aware insights - and you get a good sense of the characters. The passages about Manuella are written with joy and colour in contrast to the grey tightness of the Le Cloanec family home. The daughter acts as the narrator and is somewhat level headed and "sensible" although a bit of a martyr to keeping the family going whilst her brother and father have a feud over the love of the maid and the mother escapes reality and self-hate by sinking herself in alcohol. The conclusion of the story has a sense of closure about it in that the denouement causes an opening of the windows to let some fresh air and hope back into the stifling atmosphere.
July 18, 2020
Not one of his best. Son and Father are both enamored of the light hearted (Carmen-esque) housekeeper in a stodgy Paris household. Mother is a warped, secretive alcoholic and the the isolated daughter is obsessed with the cool older married doctor where she works. We see it all unfold from daughter's viewpoint. Turns out housekeeper pushes Mom too hard and we go from there. Likes: removed, life empty Mother and Father and star crossed, willing to sacrifice life daughter. But a bit obvious and why not just make this a Maigret who would uncover the secrets of the family? I expect a bit more ... hardness from the non- Maigret's. Still- an enjoyable read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 19, 2021
One of the most moving books I have ever read ﹣ by Simenon or any other author, My brother had me read itthe most moving books I have ever read ﹣ by Simenon or any other author, My brother had me read it years and years ago, and I loved it. Now, near the end of my own life, I have read it again. With short, crisp sentences this slim little book has made an indelible impression on me. years and years ago, and I loved it. Now, near the end of life I have read it again. With short crisp sentences and no wasted words, this slim little jewel of a book has made an indelible impression on me..
March 14, 2020
Not, in my opinion, one of his stronger ones. Many of the characters are more two-dimensional than usual (all the men are sex-crazed dogs; the women are either temptresses or crazy cat ladies). The end is a little... admirable in one sense but unsatisfying in another. Of course, the mood is there. Something about the mood and setting of everything he writes... that's still there. But ultimately, even as someone who only has 20 or so of his books read, this one feels like for completists only.
December 28, 2023
Livre qui instaure une ambiance déprimante, qui commence très lentement mais qui s'accélère sur la fin. La fin est assez surprenante. Très bien écrit.
C'est l'histoire d'une famille qui ne se parle plus. La servante est courtisée par le père et le fils, alors que la mère est alcoolique. La fille, elle, a une histoire avec son chef, un chercheur dans un laboratoire. Un jour, la servante disparait. Que s'est-il passé?
C'est l'histoire d'une famille qui ne se parle plus. La servante est courtisée par le père et le fils, alors que la mère est alcoolique. La fille, elle, a une histoire avec son chef, un chercheur dans un laboratoire. Un jour, la servante disparait. Que s'est-il passé?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 19, 2021
Story of a dysfunctional family, told by one of its members. I think the question was left in the air - how many other families are just like this one?
What I disliked in this story was the continual wallowing in self-pity and the way the one bit of light and joy to penetrate the stifling atmosphere was snuffed out.
What I disliked in this story was the continual wallowing in self-pity and the way the one bit of light and joy to penetrate the stifling atmosphere was snuffed out.
October 12, 2021
A young woman finds herself in a quandary. Her brother is having an affair with the maid. She suspects her father is also. Her mother is an alcoholic. She's having an affair with her married boss. How will all this end?
February 10, 2018
Whew. Really good, one day sort of book with a lot of tension.
August 25, 2025
Simply a wonderful deconstruction of a middle class family.
September 26, 2019
A nice little slow-burn thriller with a great ending (which always helps).
December 31, 2012
November was first published as Novembre in 1969 and translated by Jean Stewart. The Le Cloanec family live an isolated life in a gloomy house outside Paris. The daughter of the family, Laure, tells their story in November, a gloomy story set in a gloomy winter month. Her mother feels neglected, and has taken to drink; her father and younger brother compete for the favors of their Spanish maid Manuela, and slowly leave their isolated regime, each cut off from the other, to quarrel over her. Laure herself despairs over her family, and has involved herself deeply in her work as a medical researcher. She has become the mistress of her chief, though he is married and can offer her no future, feeling the need to sacrifice herself for his good.
This intolerable regime goes on, and no family member can help another. Then the maid Manuela, the one bright, cheerful person in the household, disappears. Laure fears her unstable mother has murdered her. The mystery is never solved, but the maid’s disappearance does encourage Laure to reassess her mother, and to feel some pity for her. Professor Shimak, her lover, suffers a grievous blow when his wife dies in a car accident, and slowly the balance of Laure’s relationship with the Professor changes, into something less self-sacrificing on her part and more fulfilling. This wintry book seems to be saying that in every deadlocked relationship there can be a ray of hope, and that sometimes it takes a crisis for us to see it. This is not Simenon at his best. The evocation of the house and the characters who live there is as authentic as ever, but the insight into these peoples’ motivations seems somehow obscured.
This intolerable regime goes on, and no family member can help another. Then the maid Manuela, the one bright, cheerful person in the household, disappears. Laure fears her unstable mother has murdered her. The mystery is never solved, but the maid’s disappearance does encourage Laure to reassess her mother, and to feel some pity for her. Professor Shimak, her lover, suffers a grievous blow when his wife dies in a car accident, and slowly the balance of Laure’s relationship with the Professor changes, into something less self-sacrificing on her part and more fulfilling. This wintry book seems to be saying that in every deadlocked relationship there can be a ray of hope, and that sometimes it takes a crisis for us to see it. This is not Simenon at his best. The evocation of the house and the characters who live there is as authentic as ever, but the insight into these peoples’ motivations seems somehow obscured.
December 2, 2014
Not one of the best of Simenon's romans durs, November belongs to what might be called the "crowded house" genre of drama, albeit with the unusual twist that the house is placed in a bucolic exurb of Paris. Inside, tensions of moderate interest and zero suspense are transpiring, all rendered in Simenon's clear, durable, reduced prose. Perhaps it's my aversion to these over-heated Terese Raquin interiors, but this novel seemed to be missing an elevating spark, and its final developments and psychological payload are both predictable and arbitrary. But the real mystery remains: How could Simenon have worked such magic in his relentless, unadorned style? Even the best of his novels can read like terrific screenplays, with his own thematic adornments only rarely visible. But his rooted focus on the most insuppressible human emotions combined alchemically with his cropped and terse plots.
You can hold and turn his novels in your head like a spent shell casing.
You can hold and turn his novels in your head like a spent shell casing.
September 3, 2014
I'm a huge fan of this author because of his outstanding Inspector Maigret series, in which I read four so far.
This is the first stand-alone I read from Simenon, and it is one of his best. It's a suspenseful thriller that tells the reader the hardships of a family of four in crisis. It is a page-turner, and like most of Simenon's stories, under 200 pages, and a quick read.
I think this story is a benchmark to how to write a story that is simple to read, yet hold enough interest to get to the last page.
I recommend this one to newcomers of Georges Simenon books. Make this book your first read. If you enjoy the story and the writing style, then you will have no problem with the writer's other works which is extensive. (over 200 books and short stories) 4 stars
This is the first stand-alone I read from Simenon, and it is one of his best. It's a suspenseful thriller that tells the reader the hardships of a family of four in crisis. It is a page-turner, and like most of Simenon's stories, under 200 pages, and a quick read.
I think this story is a benchmark to how to write a story that is simple to read, yet hold enough interest to get to the last page.
I recommend this one to newcomers of Georges Simenon books. Make this book your first read. If you enjoy the story and the writing style, then you will have no problem with the writer's other works which is extensive. (over 200 books and short stories) 4 stars
February 6, 2017
Classic Simenon -- very absorbing
November 12, 2011
A very tense and claustrophobic family drama. This is the first thing I've read by Simenon and I think I'll read more - in this he was very good at conveying the horrible tense atmosphere of four people trapped in an unhappy family and suggesting what is going on unsaid beneath the surface.
November 16, 2011
This book has a really nice claustrophobic dysfunctional family setup, but spins its wheels at a sluggish page until about halfway through. The ending is subtle and powerful, though. Just wish the mother-daughter relationship could have been mined earlier.
November 26, 2011
Dull. I found it hard to care about these tedious characters.
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