Rewrite

by Temenuga Trifonova

Rewrite , an intellectual mystery, follows Bruno Leblon, a history lecturer at a Paris university, during a six week long winter break as he tries to do research at the Public Library for his new book--a history of his family, one of the last aristocratic families in France. Bruno is shocked to find out that another library patron--"X"--is manipulating the historical evidence--late 19th century photographs of the Leblon family--that Bruno is using in his research. Abandoning his book, Bruno assumes the role of a detective and embarks on an investigation of the mysterious "X" and of the fictional aristocratic persona "X" seems to have assumed.

221 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2014

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel as if I would have appreciated this more if I had ever read any Dostoevsky at all. As it was there was enough info in the text to make me realise that it must have been crammed full of allusions that I didn't recognise. The philosophical concepts (there is an end note that goes on for a page and a half about whether a photograph can be fictional) were either (or both?) too sophisticated or (and) too sophomoric for me to "get" them.

[Danielle Tremblay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book in GoodReads giveaways in exchange for an honest review.

I suggest you to read the extraordinary review written by Maia Nichols:
http://www.full-stop.net/2015/02/03/r...

This review will explained much better than I can what this book is about.

The better summary of this essay (Rewrite is much more an essay about what we call "reality" than a novel) is that "Trifonova questions our understanding of the interrelation of reality, time, memory, and history, forcing the reader to reassess the opinions and institutions that validate the knowledge we have both of ourselves and of others."

Just say that, as I was reading this book, I felt as if I were Winston Smith in 1984 by George Orwell lost in Oceania while the Ministry of Truth was perpetually changing the history in the newspapers and the books and inflaming public opinion with slogans like: WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

Skillfully written and well documented, this book is rich and profound. The author should participate to literary contests with it. She'd have a good chance to win for the cleverness of her work. So I give this book 5 stars.