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The Hand
A new translation of George Simenon's taut, devastating psychological novel set in American suburbia. The inspiration for the new play by award-winning playwright David Hare.
'I had begun, God knows why, tearing a corner off of everyday truth, begun seeing myself in another kind of mirror, and now the whole of the old, more or less comfortable truth was falling to pieces'
Confident and successful, New York advertising executive Ray Sanders takes what he wants from life. When he goes missing in a snow storm in Connecticut one evening, his closest friend begins to reassess his loyalties, gambling Ray's fate and his own future.
'I had begun, God knows why, tearing a corner off of everyday truth, begun seeing myself in another kind of mirror, and now the whole of the old, more or less comfortable truth was falling to pieces'
Confident and successful, New York advertising executive Ray Sanders takes what he wants from life. When he goes missing in a snow storm in Connecticut one evening, his closest friend begins to reassess his loyalties, gambling Ray's fate and his own future.
162 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1968
28 people are currently reading
1087 people want to read
About the author
Georges Simenon
2,733 books2,287 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 - 30 of 154 reviews
May 19, 2024
"Isabel continues to watch me. Nothing else. She does not ask me any questions. She does not reproach me. She does not cry. She does not play the victim."
For one philosophy course back in college, we were assigned works of social psychology: The Transparent Self by Sidney Jourard, R. D. Laing’s Sanity, Madness and the Family and Eric Fromm’s The Sane Society, all three books addressing the prevailing sickness of dishonest, inauthentic modern living and the need to express our genuine inner feelings. As if on cue, a front page headline from our city newspaper featured a group photo: husband and wife and their four little kids, all smiling for the camera, the apple pie American family. The article provided the grizzly details - at night when everybody in the family was all snuggley in bed, the husband used a pistol to shoot all four of his kids, his wife and then himself. The instructor and everyone else in class agreed: this gentleman, one of the pillars of his suburban town, could have benefited by the books on our reading list.
Also, as if on cue, in 1968 Georges Simenon wrote The Hand, a non-Detective Maigret existential romans durs (hard novel) set in suburban Connecticut, USA. Likewise, the protagonist of Simenon's novel might very well have profited by a careful reading of one of these social psychology books, my personal favorite, I reckon, Sidney Jourard's The Transparent Self.
I can clearly picture Georges at his desk, writing at white heat, merging into his protagonist, Donald Dodd, a forty-five year old successful lawyer and graduate of Yale Law School. The author tells the lawyer’s harrowing tale in first-person, one of the rare first-person novels Simenon wrote (he pumped out an astonishing number, over five hundred). That’s right – over five hundred novels! Guy makes Stephen King look like a slacker.
And what a tale. Not a word is wasted; literature as an exercise in stripped down economy. As a number of literary critics have noted, Simenon used language that could be easily understood and appreciated by anybody who wished to read his books. Additionally, more sophisticated vocabulary and baroque phrases would have only slowed him down.
To round out the quartet of major characters, in addition to Donald Dodd we have Donald’s wife Isabel and his best friend Ray, also a Yale Law School graduate, and Ray’s wife Mona. I suspect Simenon chose the profession of lawyer for both Donald and Ray since in 1960s America doctors and lawyers were professions held in the highest esteem, examples of shining success. Recall the number of television series starring lawyers such as Perry Mason and the father son lawyer team in The Defenders.
The opening chapter sets the stage for unfolding drama: It’s January and we join Donald, Isabel, Ray and Mona as they drive north to attend an evening party held at the home of wealthy social magnet Harold Ashbridge. The house is packed with guests, several dozen men and women drinking and talking, drinking more and talking more, on and on deep into the night.
At one point Donald goes upstairs and opens the bathroom door – he catches Ray and Harold’s beautiful young wife Patricia having sex standing up. Only Patricia notices Donald. She could care less. Donald quickly retreats back downstairs. He’s shaken and treats himself to more martinis than usual. Eventually the four of them are among the last guests to leave. They have to drive back in a blizzard. Donald is at the wheel - despite the blinding snow, he makes it nearly all the way home.
Four hundred yards from the house Donald runs into a six foot snow bank. The four of them will have to get out and walk on foot through the mounds of snow to the house. Isabel and Mona walk ahead, arm in arm, and finally make their way to the front door. Donald and Ray follow. But in the blizzard there is an unexpected happening - Donald arrives at his house to discover Ray is no longer by his side. Donald looks back; he can barely see beyond his nose. No Ray.
Although totally exhausted, Donald informs the ladies he will go back out to look for Ray. He's not good to his word - he doesn't search; rather he struggles through the raging blizzard to the barn, takes a seat on a red bench and smokes his cigarettes.
Is he a coward? Is he a liar? Does he totally betray his best friend? Has he always been secretly attracted to Mona? These are among the questions Donald poses to himself in the ensuing hours and days. One thing is certain - he vision of his life and everybody around him is completely transformed. He is not the man he supposed himself to be.
There’s a second, equally unsettling recognition: Isabel is not only his wife but his judge and jurors all rolled into one. Isabel doesn’t come right out and confront him as his new, transformed Donald Dodd. Oh, no, that would be too easy. All Isabel has to do is gaze at him in silence with her piercing, penetrating pale blue eyes.
Georges Simenon’s laser vision of one man stepping out of his social roles as husband, father, successful professional, upstanding community member to confront the stark realities of his existence. A gripping existential tale not to be missed.
“If I try to define my state as accurately as possible, I'd say that I possessed a warped lucidity. Reality existed around me, and I was in contact with it. I was aware of my actions.”
― Georges Simenon, The Hand
March 10, 2018
This is not a Maigret detective story. It is not even a murder mystery. The intriguing hypothetical question in this novel is whether a person is guilty of causing another person’s death by neglecting to act when he could have saved this person. In theory, he cannot be considered to be a murderer, but factually and emotionally he is. After his failure to come to the rescue of his friend for reasons he cannot himself at first imagine, our protagonist is transformed into a person who is unrecognizable to himself and everyone around him. Very interesting story and written in that somber, clear narrative of Simenon. Glenn Russell wrote a perfect review if you are interested in the story in more detail. Thank you, Glenn, for recommending this atypical Simenon novel. I really enjoyed it!
January 31, 2025
Life is not fair! Dot. This is a truth of life written in stone, in fact, a hard unperishable stone. We have worked this out or accepted it from parents, education, experience, society and so on. Sure enough, there is another truth of life saying there are no guarantees. I feel that both of them resonate with most of us. This is how we believe the world works and we can ‘prove’ these are true by examples and experience, and, more or less, these tools are orbiting around the same conclusions.
Now, after having plunged myself into this fabulous read, and having finished it too, I didn’t understand from where Donald Dodd, the chief male character of ’The Hand’, takes the idea that life is fair or should be fair? Most likely from his early childhood when he was probably brainwashed! As a child he was read or watched fairy stories, and there the good and charming prince always married the lovely and gorgeous princess, and the wicked witch died and everyone lived happily ever after . In brief, good always wins in the end. But, there is always a but of course, that was a fairy tale and he has been brainwashed into believing that it really does happen this way. It doesn’t, of course! SO, I was just wondering we might even do children a favour by changing the ending to let the witch kill off the princess and marry the prince. Then after many dreadful and conflicting years they decide to split and get a divorce and the prince grieves for the rest of his life while the witch smirks joyously. Let’s admit it, that is a bit more lifelike.
So, two words about this book: I was bewitched and simply didn’t yet recover my wits! Wonderful piece of text. It’s funny, it’s tragic, it’s dramatic. The only dissatisfaction I have is that the story revolves only around the male character viewpoint while we don’t hear anything about how his wife, Isabel, is thinking. Although she keeps her piercing gaze constantly on her husband till the final scene, where, I’ll be damned, didn’t expect to blow out my mind like it did.
And ‘the hand’ from ‘The Hand’ of the title is indeed an elegant symbol. Only that ‘hand’ didn’t save our protagonist from losing his mind. In fact from beginning to the end of the tale, Donald Dodd keeps thinking for himself mostly, but also with others, in some scattered dialogues, in a kind of delirium, cold and lucid.
My faithful score is 10*
Now, after having plunged myself into this fabulous read, and having finished it too, I didn’t understand from where Donald Dodd, the chief male character of ’The Hand’, takes the idea that life is fair or should be fair? Most likely from his early childhood when he was probably brainwashed! As a child he was read or watched fairy stories, and there the good and charming prince always married the lovely and gorgeous princess, and the wicked witch died and everyone lived happily ever after . In brief, good always wins in the end. But, there is always a but of course, that was a fairy tale and he has been brainwashed into believing that it really does happen this way. It doesn’t, of course! SO, I was just wondering we might even do children a favour by changing the ending to let the witch kill off the princess and marry the prince. Then after many dreadful and conflicting years they decide to split and get a divorce and the prince grieves for the rest of his life while the witch smirks joyously. Let’s admit it, that is a bit more lifelike.
So, two words about this book: I was bewitched and simply didn’t yet recover my wits! Wonderful piece of text. It’s funny, it’s tragic, it’s dramatic. The only dissatisfaction I have is that the story revolves only around the male character viewpoint while we don’t hear anything about how his wife, Isabel, is thinking. Although she keeps her piercing gaze constantly on her husband till the final scene, where, I’ll be damned, didn’t expect to blow out my mind like it did.
And ‘the hand’ from ‘The Hand’ of the title is indeed an elegant symbol. Only that ‘hand’ didn’t save our protagonist from losing his mind. In fact from beginning to the end of the tale, Donald Dodd keeps thinking for himself mostly, but also with others, in some scattered dialogues, in a kind of delirium, cold and lucid.
My faithful score is 10*
August 16, 2023
I recently really enjoyed The Mahé Circle, one of Georges Simenon's Roman Durs (hard novels), and which are very different to his more famous Maigret novels. This experience made me keen to try another of his Roman Durs.
Unlike the Maigret novels, Simenon didn’t view these as commercial in nature and felt no need to make concessions to morality or popular taste. The difference between the two, Simenon concluded, was "exactly the same difference that exists between the painting of a painter and the sketch he will make for his pleasure or for his friends or to study something."
The Hand, first published in 1968 as Le Main, is a compact (192 page), claustrophobic, psychological journey into the dark heart of middle America. Its powerful atmosphere was drawn from Simenon’s own period of residence in Connecticut in the late 1940s. In the book, the town he then lived in, Lakeville, is renamed Brentwood. His house, Shadow Rock Farm, becomes fictionally Yellow Rock Farm.
Based on the two Roman Durs I have so far read, an unexpected event creates a crisis and a hitherto normal life starts to fall apart with the individual powerless to do anything about it. These devastating tales which are written in an everyday flat prose style are an absolute treat.
In The Hand it is Donald Dodd, the 45 year old respectable small town lawyer, and graduate of Yale Law School, whose existential crisis is under the microscope. He narrates his own harrowing tale thus we rarely know what other participants really think or feel, not least his wife Isabel who says little, and primarily gazes at him impassively. I've been deliberately vague about the plot because the less you know the better.
The Hand is, however, another convincing look at an ordinary inner life laid bare. I'll be reading more of Georges Simenon's Roman Durs very soon.
4/5
Unlike the Maigret novels, Simenon didn’t view these as commercial in nature and felt no need to make concessions to morality or popular taste. The difference between the two, Simenon concluded, was "exactly the same difference that exists between the painting of a painter and the sketch he will make for his pleasure or for his friends or to study something."
The Hand, first published in 1968 as Le Main, is a compact (192 page), claustrophobic, psychological journey into the dark heart of middle America. Its powerful atmosphere was drawn from Simenon’s own period of residence in Connecticut in the late 1940s. In the book, the town he then lived in, Lakeville, is renamed Brentwood. His house, Shadow Rock Farm, becomes fictionally Yellow Rock Farm.
Based on the two Roman Durs I have so far read, an unexpected event creates a crisis and a hitherto normal life starts to fall apart with the individual powerless to do anything about it. These devastating tales which are written in an everyday flat prose style are an absolute treat.
In The Hand it is Donald Dodd, the 45 year old respectable small town lawyer, and graduate of Yale Law School, whose existential crisis is under the microscope. He narrates his own harrowing tale thus we rarely know what other participants really think or feel, not least his wife Isabel who says little, and primarily gazes at him impassively. I've been deliberately vague about the plot because the less you know the better.
The Hand is, however, another convincing look at an ordinary inner life laid bare. I'll be reading more of Georges Simenon's Roman Durs very soon.
4/5
November 26, 2021
‘Saturday morning, or Friday evening, Isabel or I, or both of us, would go and pick up the girls in Litchfield. We would present, in the car, the image of a united family.
Except that I no longer believed in the family. I no longer believed in anything. Not in myself, not in other people. Basically, I no longer believed in mankind and I was beginning to understand why Ray’s father had shot himself in the head.’
Fuck, this is a 4.5. Simenon’s novel(la) takes a bit of patience. I was so ready to give up on it halfway through, but I eventually ‘understood’ what it was trying to convey. I had prematurely called the narrator in Simenon’s novel a Patrick Bateman ‘Lite’; no, I must take that back now, this one definitely hits harder (no pun intended) because Donald’s psychological make up is more subtle – more ‘real’. While Bret Easton Ellis’ (American Psycho) Bateman is a pulp-ey, satirical, overblown character. Simenon gets to the point without ‘playing around’ with loud and cheap literary tricks to incite/induce shock.
‘Modest, self-effacing, she is actually the most arrogant woman I have ever met. She never allows the slightest fault to show, none of our little human weaknesses.’
‘I don’t know any more. I lean now towards one hypothesis, now towards another. I live under her gaze, like a microbe under the microscope, and sometimes I hate her.’
‘If they could have known, every last one of them, how I hated her! But she was the only one who knew. For I had understood. I had sought the meaning of her look for a long time. I had made various suppositions without thinking of the quite simple truth.’
Simenon’s novel reminded me of Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. Both novels ‘hit too close to ‘home’’ for me. I’ve never felt so ‘close’ to a fictional character as I did/do with Camille Preaker. And with Simenon’s novel(la) – I’ve never read about a fictional character who reminds me so much of a real person. Donald is such a repulsive, yet unremarkable/run-of-the-mill, abusive, patriarchal figure. As with all the other novels that I’ve mentioned above, I think they share one very similar ‘point’, or rather – a ‘question’. Is ‘murder’ what it really takes to bring light to all these domestic ‘fuck-ups’. Is ‘murder’ and ‘suicide’ the only way to get the attention of ‘society’? I swear I can hear Mishima laughing, somewhere.
‘Strangers who live together, eat at the same table, undress in front of each other and sleep in the same room. Strangers who talk together as husband and wife.’
‘She watches me live, knows my slightest reactions and doubtless my least little thought . . . She never says a word that might suggest that. She remains quiet and serene.’
I believe that everyone has at one point in their lives (even, or especially if you don’t grow up in these kind of environment(s)) witnessed or suspected a household of someone you know bearing such ‘subtle violence’. And to ‘not bother yourself with it’ simply makes one a complicit, no? I’m not excluding myself when I say this. I have of course been in such situations and had done nothing at all – employing the cruel mindset of ‘well, that’s none of my business is it?’ And I suppose the most frustrating part of it all is that most of the times, the ‘law’ is not in favour of the one in need. For instance, they ‘stop’ one violent sesh from happening, right? But then – what? What about financial support, and etc.? Also, domestic violence and abuse is by far the most convenient and most complicated ‘crime’. I could go on about it, but I’d be straying away from my ‘review’ of Simenon’s novel. Money, clout, and cowardly, shrimp-ey penises make the world go round, yeah?
‘Ray had to remain the man I had imagined, hard on himself and on others, cold and ambitious, the strong man on whom I had taken revenge against all the strong men on this earth. I did not want a Ray disgusted with money and success.’
‘That night, I had discovered that for the entire time I had known him I had never stopped envying and hating him.
I was not the friend and neither was I the husband, the father, the citizen whose roles I had played. It was just a façade. The whited sepulchre of the scriptures.’
The end of Simenon’s novel was so brilliantly (yet simply) done. If one feels nauseated after reading it, well – that’s just the appropriate reaction. Like Ayn Rand’s novels, I think this particular Simenon novel(la) is a perfect social/literary litmus test. It’s worth knowing that ‘marital violence’ in the UK was only ‘recognised’ by the law as a ‘crime’ starting from the mid to late 90s. Simenon’s novel is set in America. And as with the UK, ‘marital violence’ was not ‘recognised’/treated seriously until the mid to late 90s. ‘The Hand’ was first published in 1968. I rest my case.
‘The children must have noticed that tension. I sensed a certain wariness, a certain disapproval in my daughters, especially when I pour myself a drink.’
‘As for Cecilia, I don’t know. She remains an enigma, and I would not be surprised if she possesses quite a strong personality. She watches us live, and I’m almost convinced that she does not approve of us, that the only thing she feels for us is a certain disdain.’
October 28, 2023
"But on my bench where I sat shaking with cold, lighting one cigarette after another, I felt as if I was beginning to reach a new kind of clarity that disturbed me and was beginning to be more terrifying every minute. It consisted of a word, or rather of three words, which I imagined I could hear over and over again: 'You killed him.' Perhaps not in the legal sense . . ."
After their car gets stuck in a snowbank in a blizzard, one man disappears on the walk back to the house with the other three passengers. The other man, Donald, is sent back to look for the missing man.
The story is about the envious relationship between the two men, the feelings between Donald and his mistress, and the increasing disconnect between Donald and his wife, Isabel. Donald is especially haunted by Isabel's eyes:
"She watches me live and breathe, she knows my slightest reaction and no doubt my most trivial thought . . . but she never says a word that would suggest she knows anything. She remains calm and serene."
Belgian author Georges Simenon is a master at writing the inner thoughts of a psychologically stressed individual as his life spirals downward and he becomes more obsessed with Isabel's watchful eyes. In the early 1950s, the author was living in the northwest corner of my home state of Connecticut, and the story was also set in that area. I enjoyed the Connecticut connection as well as Simenon's excellent writing.
After their car gets stuck in a snowbank in a blizzard, one man disappears on the walk back to the house with the other three passengers. The other man, Donald, is sent back to look for the missing man.
The story is about the envious relationship between the two men, the feelings between Donald and his mistress, and the increasing disconnect between Donald and his wife, Isabel. Donald is especially haunted by Isabel's eyes:
"She watches me live and breathe, she knows my slightest reaction and no doubt my most trivial thought . . . but she never says a word that would suggest she knows anything. She remains calm and serene."
Belgian author Georges Simenon is a master at writing the inner thoughts of a psychologically stressed individual as his life spirals downward and he becomes more obsessed with Isabel's watchful eyes. In the early 1950s, the author was living in the northwest corner of my home state of Connecticut, and the story was also set in that area. I enjoyed the Connecticut connection as well as Simenon's excellent writing.
July 31, 2022
Solo un romanzo di Simenon poteva infrangere il... blocco del lettore. Un roman dur non dei migliori a dire il vero, e tuttavia di una potenza evocativa e di compressione paranoide non indifferenti. Come in certe giornate estive afosissime, si percepisce che il temporale sta arrivando e sara' violento. E' inevitabile, animalescamente lo si sa. E cosi' e' l'ingranaggio di questo racconto che dice molto del matrimonio borghese, della sensualita' e della personalita' dell'autore. Un Simenon non al top ma che asfitticamente si legge in un solo colpo.
September 27, 2021
"Isabel ascoltava senza dire niente. In casi simili Isabel non interviene mai. È la moglie remissiva per eccellenza. Non protesta. Si limita a guardarti e a giudicare."
Come sempre, con la sua scrittura, poche pennellate bastano a raccontare un personaggio e il suo sentire.
È questa sua caratteristica che mi fa amare le storie di Simenon.
"Ma non è tutto. Avevo iniziato, chissà perché, a strappare un angolo della verità di tutti i giorni, a vedermi riflesso in uno specchio diverso, e adesso tutto l'impianto più o meno rassicurante della vecchia verità cadeva a pezzi."
Proprio come lo scrivere dell'autore, che a mio parere è basato sulla esternalizzazione del pensiero, trasferita nel foglio scritto, alla stregua di uno specchio, nel quale il pensiero stesso può esercitarsi nel complesso di tutta l’attività ermeneutica lasciata nella facoltà di chi legge quello che lui sembra aver avuto l'urgenza di raccontare.
Come sempre, con la sua scrittura, poche pennellate bastano a raccontare un personaggio e il suo sentire.
È questa sua caratteristica che mi fa amare le storie di Simenon.
"Ma non è tutto. Avevo iniziato, chissà perché, a strappare un angolo della verità di tutti i giorni, a vedermi riflesso in uno specchio diverso, e adesso tutto l'impianto più o meno rassicurante della vecchia verità cadeva a pezzi."
Proprio come lo scrivere dell'autore, che a mio parere è basato sulla esternalizzazione del pensiero, trasferita nel foglio scritto, alla stregua di uno specchio, nel quale il pensiero stesso può esercitarsi nel complesso di tutta l’attività ermeneutica lasciata nella facoltà di chi legge quello che lui sembra aver avuto l'urgenza di raccontare.
February 5, 2020
I believe this novel falls under the category of Simenon’s “psychological thrillers.”
The protagonist is a 45-year old lawyer, Donald Dodd, who is married to Isobel - Donald is/was friends with a fellow by the name of Ray Sanders, another lawyer married to Mona. Donald and Ray went to law school together. Donald and Isabel have two daughters in boarding school (I think they are 12 and 15). The setting is a rural area of Connecticut and also involves New York City.
I have not read many of Simenon’s novels (five so far, I am a neophyte), so it is hard for me to say how this novel is different from other works of his or different or similar to his different styles. I am aware through reading two of his novels that things are building and building throughout the narrative until an explosive climax is revealed on the last page (The Glass Cage, The Iron Staircase). This is one of those works of his. Whereas in “The Glass Cage” I was not convinced the protagonist had a history that lead up to his actions as revealed on the last page, in this work of fiction Simenon did lay out a credible groundwork for Donald’s action at the end.
This was a good read. I can’t say I liked it as much as two other works I have read of his: The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By and The Snow Was Dirty (also titled: Stain on the Snow).
His writing seems to me to paint a picture of the world in which there are a lot of people wandering around who have the propensity to carry out some fairly violent acts. These are people you would not think on the surface to be likely to carry out such acts. It’s not apparent in anything they have necessarily done in their “past” past or “recent” past that leads up to, or predicts, the violent act. It’s all in the thoughts, however screwed up, that occupy their heads. And unfortunately those around them oftentimes have no control of, or responsibility for, those thoughts that can lead to a fateful conclusion – certainly I felt in this story that poor Isobel had no way of discerning what a self-righteous demented asshole she was married to.
The protagonist is a 45-year old lawyer, Donald Dodd, who is married to Isobel - Donald is/was friends with a fellow by the name of Ray Sanders, another lawyer married to Mona. Donald and Ray went to law school together. Donald and Isabel have two daughters in boarding school (I think they are 12 and 15). The setting is a rural area of Connecticut and also involves New York City.
I have not read many of Simenon’s novels (five so far, I am a neophyte), so it is hard for me to say how this novel is different from other works of his or different or similar to his different styles. I am aware through reading two of his novels that things are building and building throughout the narrative until an explosive climax is revealed on the last page (The Glass Cage, The Iron Staircase). This is one of those works of his. Whereas in “The Glass Cage” I was not convinced the protagonist had a history that lead up to his actions as revealed on the last page, in this work of fiction Simenon did lay out a credible groundwork for Donald’s action at the end.
This was a good read. I can’t say I liked it as much as two other works I have read of his: The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By and The Snow Was Dirty (also titled: Stain on the Snow).
His writing seems to me to paint a picture of the world in which there are a lot of people wandering around who have the propensity to carry out some fairly violent acts. These are people you would not think on the surface to be likely to carry out such acts. It’s not apparent in anything they have necessarily done in their “past” past or “recent” past that leads up to, or predicts, the violent act. It’s all in the thoughts, however screwed up, that occupy their heads. And unfortunately those around them oftentimes have no control of, or responsibility for, those thoughts that can lead to a fateful conclusion – certainly I felt in this story that poor Isobel had no way of discerning what a self-righteous demented asshole she was married to.
August 11, 2021
Un capolavoro noir. Un libro intenso, cattivo persino, nessuno come Simenon sa raccontare la caduta di un uomo, la morale che si sgretola e le convenzioni che perdono importanza davanti ai crocevia, agli eventi apparentemente insignificanti della vita.
Donald rilegge tutta la propria esistenza e ad un certo punto, ogni cosa perde di significato, rendendolo libero e insofferente agli occhi altrui.
Donald rilegge tutta la propria esistenza e ad un certo punto, ogni cosa perde di significato, rendendolo libero e insofferente agli occhi altrui.
June 14, 2017
Αγόρασα το "The Hand" δύο λεπτά αφού είδα το θεατρικό έργο "The Red Barn" που βασίστηκε σε αυτό, με την ανάγκη και ελπίδα να εμβαθύνει την εμπειρία της σκηνής. Ξεπέρασε κάθε προσδοκία. Ο εσωτερικός μονόλογος ενός ανθρώπου που με αφορμή ένα ατύχημα προσπαθεί να καταλάβει τη ζωή, τον εαυτό και τις επιλογές του. Εξαιρετικό ψυχολογικό πορτραίτο.
June 13, 2021
Wow, Simenon is exceptional. There is nothing like his psychological novels.
July 14, 2021
A Donald è bastata una serata sconsiderata, una sbronza gigantesca, un gesto codardo nei confronti di un amico e si spezza un equilibrio costruito in anni di vita irreprensibile e ipocrita. Si volta indietro e analizza tutta la sua vita passata, rimugina, si arrovella, si rode e pian piano scivola dall'ansia e dall'angoscia alla paranoia e alla psicosi. E ovviamente la storia finisce malissimo.
Simenon è un grande rimuginatore: prende una persona normale, la inserisce in un ambiente convenzionale, la lascia vivere tranquilla fin a quando arriva l'epifania: una cuginetta in visita, una gravidanza inattesa, la visita di un fratello scappato dal carcere, e di colpo al protagonista si ribalta il mondo. E inizia a precipitare nel baratro dell'ossessione fino alla prevedibile drammatica conclusione.
E' uno schema visto e rivisto nei "romans durs" di Simenon, ma funziona sempre. Ha funzionato anche questa volta, nonostante qualche incongruenza, cosa strana per il maestro.
Per esempio, poche pagine dopo aver lavato i piatti insieme all'amica, Isabel carica una lavastoviglie comparsa dal nulla.
Sono caduti quasi 2 metri di neve, e l'amico precipita nella scarpata e batte la testa e muore. Un po', di neve me ne intendo, e anche di scarpate coperte da 2 metri: la neve fresca così alta si comporta come un materasso. Si affonda un po' poi ci si ferma. Non si sbatte la testa da nessuna parte, a meno che non si venga travolti da una valanga, ma non è il caso: è una piccola scarpata vicino a casa. Io non c'ero, ma mi sembra un tantino improbabile.
Ci aggiungiamo che l'amante si chiama Mona. Ecco, ho faticato parecchissimo a prenderla sul serio.
January 13, 2020
This is one of Simenon’s ‘non-Maigrets’, as the author called those of his novels which did not feature the famous detective. He considered these 'romans durs' as his more serious work and they are psychologically darker and bleaker, as in film noir. (David Hare adapted it as a stage play under the title ‘The Red Barn’ - which seems a more apt title in my opinion).
Simenon’s novels are character-driven, with the plot being somewhat incidental - usually involving a random event, which brings out a fatal element in the personality of the protagonist, as revealed in closeup under stress. Guilt and alienation are recurring themes, particularly so in this story where the narrator/protagonist seems to be going through what used to be called a 'mid-life crisis', but is more likely described as 'existential angst' nowadays.
However, the authorial voice is never judgemental – Simenon’s fatalistic view of humanity is shown in the ‘deadpan flatness’ of his prose style, as Hare describes it, and the 'bare bone vocabulary' of the deliberate 2000 word limit he employs in all his novels.
Unfortunately I had trouble getting engaged in this story, which is probably due to my mistake of listening to the audio version and finding the narrator’s voice very off-putting, especially when vocalising the female characters. It’s a factor which can make or break the experiencing of a story for me, but I've not been put off reading any more of Simenon's work, so I’m going to stick to reading his books myself from now on!
Simenon’s novels are character-driven, with the plot being somewhat incidental - usually involving a random event, which brings out a fatal element in the personality of the protagonist, as revealed in closeup under stress. Guilt and alienation are recurring themes, particularly so in this story where the narrator/protagonist seems to be going through what used to be called a 'mid-life crisis', but is more likely described as 'existential angst' nowadays.
However, the authorial voice is never judgemental – Simenon’s fatalistic view of humanity is shown in the ‘deadpan flatness’ of his prose style, as Hare describes it, and the 'bare bone vocabulary' of the deliberate 2000 word limit he employs in all his novels.
Unfortunately I had trouble getting engaged in this story, which is probably due to my mistake of listening to the audio version and finding the narrator’s voice very off-putting, especially when vocalising the female characters. It’s a factor which can make or break the experiencing of a story for me, but I've not been put off reading any more of Simenon's work, so I’m going to stick to reading his books myself from now on!
October 27, 2011
Ray and Donald grow up together, each envying the other. Donald tells the story, which is touched off by a party and his subsequent experience, during a crippling snowstorm, of going out supposedly to look for the lost Ray and instead finding shelter on a bench in the barn where he sits smoking cigarettes until Ray is almost certainly dead.
This choice turns Donald into another person, the person that he thought Ray was and the person he has always wanted to be - bold, able to take what he wants, no matter what the cost. He takes Ray's sexy, lively wife Mona for a while, but all along he realizes that his fundamental conventionality and weakness drove his youthful decision to marry the self-contained ice queen Isabel and determined his loveless life with her as his "critic and jailer."
As the investigation of Ray's death closes in on Donald, his options narrow and he makes a strong choice. It's a chilling little book. Memorable.
This choice turns Donald into another person, the person that he thought Ray was and the person he has always wanted to be - bold, able to take what he wants, no matter what the cost. He takes Ray's sexy, lively wife Mona for a while, but all along he realizes that his fundamental conventionality and weakness drove his youthful decision to marry the self-contained ice queen Isabel and determined his loveless life with her as his "critic and jailer."
As the investigation of Ray's death closes in on Donald, his options narrow and he makes a strong choice. It's a chilling little book. Memorable.
April 1, 2022
Bewitched by the Hand
Review of the Penguin Books paperback edition (October 2016) of a new translation* by Linda Coverdale of the French language original La Main (1968)
[2.5]
The Hand suffers in comparison to several of the previous Simenon "hard novels" that I've read recently in my 2022 deep dive into the works of the prolific Belgium novelist. In The Man from London (orig. 1934), The Man Who Watched Trains Go By (orig. 1938) and The Mahé Circle (orig. 1946), the protagonist seeks escape from a previous life which they feel has restricted them. The result is that they or others close to them often meet with fatal consequences.
In The Hand, the protagonist Donald Dodd is jealous of the life of his friend Ray Sanders, a hedonist who openly conducts extramarital affairs. During a visit by Sanders and his wife to Dodd's country home, Sanders becomes lost in a blizzard snowstorm as the two couples are forced to walk home after having to abandon their car. Dodd volunteers to go back out to look for Sanders, leaving his wife Isabel with Sanders' wife Mona in the house. The cowardly Dodd actually abandons Sanders to his fate and instead goes to sit in his barn for a few hours (both an early translation and a later adaptation fixate on the barn in their titles, see below).
While sitting in the barn, Dodd decides to embody the life of Sanders in his new persona. He fixates on the hand of Sanders' wife Mona when the remaining trio sleep in front of the fire in the house without power later that night. He later proceeds to pursue an affair with Mona in this new life, while under what he perceives as the judgmental eye of his own wife Isabel. The ending is again one with a fatal consequence.
The setting of The Hand in a farm house in Connecticut and also in New York City was inspired by the 1945-1955 period in Simenon's own life when he and his family lived in Canada and the U.S. after the end of the Second World War.
Cover of the English language theatrical adapation of "The Hand" by David Hare in 2016. Image sourced from Goodreads
After reading the first dozen Simenon Maigret novels this year, I'm now reading a half-dozen or so of the non-Maigrets and several of the late Maigrets. Many of the non-Maigret books are being translated into English for the first time and it seems like there are quite a few yet to be done. I'm actually having trouble sourcing them and have only one more in the pipeline right now, The Snow Was Dirty (orig. 1948 / New Penguin translation 2016).
The Hand is the 6th of my readings of Georges Simenon's romans durs** (French: hard novels) which was his personal category for his non-Chief Inspector Maigret fiction. This is like Graham Greene, who divided his work into his "entertainments" and his actual "novels." Similar to Greene, the borders between the two areas are quite flexible as we are often still dealing with crime and the issues of morals and ethics. Simenon's romans durs are definitely in the noir category though, as compared to the sometimes lighter Maigrets where the often cantankerous Chief Inspector provides a solution and the guilty are brought to justice.
Trivia and Links
* Le main was previously translated into English at least once. The early translation appeared in 1970 as The Man on the Bench in the Barn.
** There is a limited selection of 100 books in the Goodreads' Listopia of Simenon's romans durs which you can see here. Other sources say there are at least 117 of them, such as listed at Art and Popular Culture and in the Library Thing "Non-Maigret Series" listing.
There is a French language plot summary for Le Main at the Tout Simenon (All of Simenon) website, which you can read here (spoilers obviously).
The Hand has been adapted once for film. The adaptation was for German TV in 1990 and titled "Das zweite Leben" (The Second Life) directed by Carlo Rola and starring Vadim Glowna as Anders (renamed from the novel's Donald Dodd). I could not find any internet posting of a trailer or of the full film.
The Hand has been adapted once for theatre. The adaptation was by David Hare and is titled The Red Barn: Adapted from the novel La Main (2016). It was performed at the National Theatre UK in October 2016 and you can read a promotional article about that in the Guardian here.
Review of the Penguin Books paperback edition (October 2016) of a new translation* by Linda Coverdale of the French language original La Main (1968)
[2.5]
The Hand suffers in comparison to several of the previous Simenon "hard novels" that I've read recently in my 2022 deep dive into the works of the prolific Belgium novelist. In The Man from London (orig. 1934), The Man Who Watched Trains Go By (orig. 1938) and The Mahé Circle (orig. 1946), the protagonist seeks escape from a previous life which they feel has restricted them. The result is that they or others close to them often meet with fatal consequences.
In The Hand, the protagonist Donald Dodd is jealous of the life of his friend Ray Sanders, a hedonist who openly conducts extramarital affairs. During a visit by Sanders and his wife to Dodd's country home, Sanders becomes lost in a blizzard snowstorm as the two couples are forced to walk home after having to abandon their car. Dodd volunteers to go back out to look for Sanders, leaving his wife Isabel with Sanders' wife Mona in the house. The cowardly Dodd actually abandons Sanders to his fate and instead goes to sit in his barn for a few hours (both an early translation and a later adaptation fixate on the barn in their titles, see below).
While sitting in the barn, Dodd decides to embody the life of Sanders in his new persona. He fixates on the hand of Sanders' wife Mona when the remaining trio sleep in front of the fire in the house without power later that night. He later proceeds to pursue an affair with Mona in this new life, while under what he perceives as the judgmental eye of his own wife Isabel. The ending is again one with a fatal consequence.
The setting of The Hand in a farm house in Connecticut and also in New York City was inspired by the 1945-1955 period in Simenon's own life when he and his family lived in Canada and the U.S. after the end of the Second World War.
Cover of the English language theatrical adapation of "The Hand" by David Hare in 2016. Image sourced from Goodreads
After reading the first dozen Simenon Maigret novels this year, I'm now reading a half-dozen or so of the non-Maigrets and several of the late Maigrets. Many of the non-Maigret books are being translated into English for the first time and it seems like there are quite a few yet to be done. I'm actually having trouble sourcing them and have only one more in the pipeline right now, The Snow Was Dirty (orig. 1948 / New Penguin translation 2016).
The Hand is the 6th of my readings of Georges Simenon's romans durs** (French: hard novels) which was his personal category for his non-Chief Inspector Maigret fiction. This is like Graham Greene, who divided his work into his "entertainments" and his actual "novels." Similar to Greene, the borders between the two areas are quite flexible as we are often still dealing with crime and the issues of morals and ethics. Simenon's romans durs are definitely in the noir category though, as compared to the sometimes lighter Maigrets where the often cantankerous Chief Inspector provides a solution and the guilty are brought to justice.
Trivia and Links
* Le main was previously translated into English at least once. The early translation appeared in 1970 as The Man on the Bench in the Barn.
** There is a limited selection of 100 books in the Goodreads' Listopia of Simenon's romans durs which you can see here. Other sources say there are at least 117 of them, such as listed at Art and Popular Culture and in the Library Thing "Non-Maigret Series" listing.
There is a French language plot summary for Le Main at the Tout Simenon (All of Simenon) website, which you can read here (spoilers obviously).
The Hand has been adapted once for film. The adaptation was for German TV in 1990 and titled "Das zweite Leben" (The Second Life) directed by Carlo Rola and starring Vadim Glowna as Anders (renamed from the novel's Donald Dodd). I could not find any internet posting of a trailer or of the full film.
The Hand has been adapted once for theatre. The adaptation was by David Hare and is titled The Red Barn: Adapted from the novel La Main (2016). It was performed at the National Theatre UK in October 2016 and you can read a promotional article about that in the Guardian here.
November 8, 2023
Meraviglioso. Un viaggio spietato nella mente del protagonista nello stile di Memorie dal sottosuolo, ma ancora più incisivo, sadico. Praticamente Simenon odia il protagonista e non lo nasconde, anzi.
December 13, 2016
Donald Dodd is a pathologically paranoid and narcissistic man, and the story, told from his viewpoint, gives you an insight into how his mind works. The novel traps you in this horrid state where you can't escape his delusions and the worst for me, is the way he spins these conversations for himself, where he tries to justify his own actions based on what he assumes others are thinking about him. I had very little sympathy for him. It is a little scary to see that our "normal" self fulfilling prophecies that a lot of us, from time and time, experiences, have the potential to become something all consuming.
I purchased this book after I saw the play The Red Barn at the National Theatre. I enjoyed the play immensely and I think from a pure "enjoyment" perspective, I liked the play more, but simply because for the book, there was more involvement into Donald's psyche which I didn't want to be a part of, and I got uncomfortable and angry with it.
I purchased this book after I saw the play The Red Barn at the National Theatre. I enjoyed the play immensely and I think from a pure "enjoyment" perspective, I liked the play more, but simply because for the book, there was more involvement into Donald's psyche which I didn't want to be a part of, and I got uncomfortable and angry with it.
June 27, 2024
Si lo so che dico che Simenon è il mio scrittore preferito, ma devo dire che qua non posso dare cinque ⭐️ anche se il racconto ancora una volta si legge che è una favola, e anche il finale… inaspettato! Comunque pur sempre un ottimo libro!
November 3, 2021
"La mano" è la storia di Donald Dodd, avvocato quarantacinquenne che improvvisamente si scopre prigioniero della vita che ha scelto per sé. Nelle poche pagine del romanzo, Simenon racconta il processo di auto-liberazione - e auto-distruzione - di un uomo che ormai vede in tutte le decisioni che ha preso (la professione che ha intrapreso, il paese in cui è andato a vivere e, soprattutto, la moglie che ha sposato) le sbarre della propria prigione.
Come sempre accade con i romanzi di Simenon, la prosa è semplice ed essenziale, il ritmo incalzante, il finale inesorabile e spietato.
Come sempre accade con i romanzi di Simenon, la prosa è semplice ed essenziale, il ritmo incalzante, il finale inesorabile e spietato.
October 10, 2025
Third time round - and on audiobook. And to note that it has a republication coming up on 5 November (2025), in a omnibus from Penguin Classics with Betty and The Blue Room...
Only my second Simenon novel and one that I am aware marks a divergence for him, setting the story in Connecticut where he lived for a while, as opposed to France.
It's a very different sort of story also. Ray and Donald grew up together, and whilst friends also there was envy and jealousy in their relationship, and as adults that continued. Simenon's tale centres though on one night and it's aftermath. As a party at a wealthy acquaintance's house breaks up a ferocious snow storm hits, and tragedy ensues. The effect on lives immediately affected is huge.
The book is dark, but dark in a different way. There is not the post war French setting that adds to Simenon's version of noir, and that of his 'disciples' (Garnier, Manchette, Dard). In common with his style though is that it is almost impossible to spot where the stor is going and what will happen next, a huge attraction I think.
Only my second Simenon novel and one that I am aware marks a divergence for him, setting the story in Connecticut where he lived for a while, as opposed to France.
It's a very different sort of story also. Ray and Donald grew up together, and whilst friends also there was envy and jealousy in their relationship, and as adults that continued. Simenon's tale centres though on one night and it's aftermath. As a party at a wealthy acquaintance's house breaks up a ferocious snow storm hits, and tragedy ensues. The effect on lives immediately affected is huge.
The book is dark, but dark in a different way. There is not the post war French setting that adds to Simenon's version of noir, and that of his 'disciples' (Garnier, Manchette, Dard). In common with his style though is that it is almost impossible to spot where the stor is going and what will happen next, a huge attraction I think.
August 30, 2022
An engaging, compelling, psychological short novel about lawyer, Donald Dodd. Donald is a complex, conflicted narrator who suffers a nervous breakdown of sorts. During a severe snow storm, Donald, his wife Isobel and Monica Saunders make it home safely from a wealthy neighbor’s party. Donald is forced to abandon his car some distance from his house. The two couples decide to walk to the Dodd ‘s house, but by the time they get home they realise Ray Saunders has gone missing. Donald elects to go and search for his friend, but is quite unwell and only walks as far as his barn.
Donald’s life changes dramatically from this event.
Readers who enjoy Simenon’s ‘roman-durs’ novels should find this book a satisfying reading experience.
This book was first published in 1968.
Donald’s life changes dramatically from this event.
Readers who enjoy Simenon’s ‘roman-durs’ novels should find this book a satisfying reading experience.
This book was first published in 1968.
September 28, 2021
My first book by Simenon and I found it very well written but what a horrible narcissist Donald was, nothing to like there at all and I'd rather hoped the ending would be different.
April 29, 2019
Žorž Simenon Ruka (The Hand)
Simenon je napisao preko 500 romana. Pročitao sam desetak i zasad nisam naišao na loš. Doduše, čitao sam samo njegove durs romane, s kojima se bio nameračio na Nobelovu nagradu, ali ne i, recimo, one o Megreu.
Bilo kako bilo, čini se da je Simenon bolje poznavao ljudsku prirodu od ijednog pisca. Sve ono što se dešava u glavama supružnika, predstavnika najrazličitijih kasti i zanimanja a čega oni ni sami nisu svesni njemu je izvanredno jasno. I zato je njegov egzistencijalizam neuporedivo upečatljiviji od, na primer, Kamijevog. Osim toga, Simenon je posedovao i jednu osobinu koju smatram najvećim kvalitetom pisca, a malo je onih koji je imaju. Naime, njegove knjige bi, da im ne znamo godinu izdanja, bilo izuzetno teško datirati. Nešto je u njima vanvremensko i univerzalno, ali na potpuno nenametljiv način.
U Ruci nam Simenon prikazuje temu koju je neretko obrađivao: čoveka koji je doživljava otkrovenje.
Dva para porodičnih prijatelja odlaze na zabavu. Pri povratku s nje, kola im se zaglave u mećavi. Prelazeći prešice nekoliko stotina metara, koliko ih deli od doma, Ray Sanders se odvoji i izgubi. Donald Dodd potom inscenira da je otišao da ga traži. Dok je zapravo u zaklonu čekao dok nije bio uveren da je ovaj mrtav.
Zašto je to uradio? Šta se potom zbiva? Sve su to pitanja na koja će i sam narator morati da nađe odgovore. I mada će kod njega doista doći do otrežnjenja, ono ne mora nužno da bude prijatno. Niti da ga odvede ka srećnom svršetku.
Simenon je napisao preko 500 romana. Pročitao sam desetak i zasad nisam naišao na loš. Doduše, čitao sam samo njegove durs romane, s kojima se bio nameračio na Nobelovu nagradu, ali ne i, recimo, one o Megreu.
Bilo kako bilo, čini se da je Simenon bolje poznavao ljudsku prirodu od ijednog pisca. Sve ono što se dešava u glavama supružnika, predstavnika najrazličitijih kasti i zanimanja a čega oni ni sami nisu svesni njemu je izvanredno jasno. I zato je njegov egzistencijalizam neuporedivo upečatljiviji od, na primer, Kamijevog. Osim toga, Simenon je posedovao i jednu osobinu koju smatram najvećim kvalitetom pisca, a malo je onih koji je imaju. Naime, njegove knjige bi, da im ne znamo godinu izdanja, bilo izuzetno teško datirati. Nešto je u njima vanvremensko i univerzalno, ali na potpuno nenametljiv način.
U Ruci nam Simenon prikazuje temu koju je neretko obrađivao: čoveka koji je doživljava otkrovenje.
Dva para porodičnih prijatelja odlaze na zabavu. Pri povratku s nje, kola im se zaglave u mećavi. Prelazeći prešice nekoliko stotina metara, koliko ih deli od doma, Ray Sanders se odvoji i izgubi. Donald Dodd potom inscenira da je otišao da ga traži. Dok je zapravo u zaklonu čekao dok nije bio uveren da je ovaj mrtav.
Zašto je to uradio? Šta se potom zbiva? Sve su to pitanja na koja će i sam narator morati da nađe odgovore. I mada će kod njega doista doći do otrežnjenja, ono ne mora nužno da bude prijatno. Niti da ga odvede ka srećnom svršetku.
July 28, 2024
Anche in questo romanzo Simenon con la storia di Donald Dodd si riconferma esperto conoscitore delle ossessioni che abitano l’animo umano.
July 27, 2018
Now, here's a rare thing. A Georges Simenon book that I didn't thoroughly enjoy.
The Hand tells the tale of a successful, but rather dull attorney in Connecticut, Donald Dodds. While attending a swish party, he walks into a bathroom and finds his best friend, Ray Sanders, having sex with the host's wife. Donald turns to drink and there's an uncomfortable journey home as Donald, Ray and their wives battle against a huge snow storm.
Eventually, the snow gets the better of them. They leave the car and return to the Dodds' house. Upon arrival, they realise Ray has disappeared. Donald does the noble thing and says he's going to go out and search, but instead of doing so, he sits in his barn and smokes a lot of cigarettes.
Donald is now left with his own wife and Mona Sanders and as time goes on, he becomes increasingly distracted by Mona's free and easy way of being. He begins to obsess about her and it's only his staid attitude to life that prevents him from taking action.
As things progress, Donald unravels fairly quickly. The guilt he feels for not helping out his friend consumes him, as does his desire for Mona. His life spins on a sixpence and he no longer feels rooted to the person he has always been or connected to the wife who has been so loyal and helpful to him over the years.
The ingredients of a great story are all here - guilt, cover-ups, sexual tension, mid-life crisis, a claustrophobic setting and a police presence - yet it didn't work for me.
I was aware that we weren't going to get on from the beginning.
The novel is told in the first person, which should work, only Donald's voice isn't a smooth one. Far too many times, he alludes to what has gone wrong without getting to the point. He begins sentences on a regular basis and finishes with the dreaded ellipsis (not something I like to be overused) and I assume this is to build some level of tension in the piece. Instead, it made me frustrated and became irritating. Before long, Donald had become a difficult company.
The essential premise of Donald's guilt caused by him leaving his friend to an assumed death simply didn't work for me. He chastises himself for killing Ray, yet he has done nothing of the sort. The fact that he wanted his friend to be dead isn't a strong enough driver for a life to fall apart, at least from my perspective.
In terms of any relationship to a book like Crime and Punishment, the novels are far apart. Instead of getting to see a human being slowly eating away at themselves, we're far too aware of Donald's feelings from the beginning. He tells us from the off that things have changed beyond recognition. Having him colour in the pictures of his journey when he's already shown us the outline takes a good deal of the intrigue and involvement away.
The sexual tensions are all easy to understand, yet they rarely raise beyond a simmer and don't really feel strong enough to tighten the noose around Donald's old life.
A genuinely interesting element of police involvement is far too quickly snuffed out, in my opinion. I'm sure this was deliberate, but the strand of tension was thrown away without a revisit and the story lost a little because of this.
In terms of the climax, it's all been written in the stars from an early stage. There's no surprise in the conclusion, nor in the manner of it's happening. Because I didn't really care much for Donald, it didn't carry much weight and I closed the book without feeling I'd ever been emotionally engaged.
On the positive side, I did find myself enjoying the devil-may-care attitude of the protagonist as he kicked against society and his own rigid sensibilities.
I also wondered about that opening and the sex in the bathroom. The moment feels autobiographical for some reason, as if Simenon's working something through. That element of the book raised my curiosity, but not enough to save the day.
It's not a terrible book, but I don't think it's a great one either. It's worth a read and if you enjoy psychological reads that speak of the hollowness of existence, there's something in it for you.
And if I've missed the point, am way off the mark, let me know. What is it that I'm missing, here? Would the historical context make it a ground-breaker in some way? I'd really like to find a new perspective.
The Hand tells the tale of a successful, but rather dull attorney in Connecticut, Donald Dodds. While attending a swish party, he walks into a bathroom and finds his best friend, Ray Sanders, having sex with the host's wife. Donald turns to drink and there's an uncomfortable journey home as Donald, Ray and their wives battle against a huge snow storm.
Eventually, the snow gets the better of them. They leave the car and return to the Dodds' house. Upon arrival, they realise Ray has disappeared. Donald does the noble thing and says he's going to go out and search, but instead of doing so, he sits in his barn and smokes a lot of cigarettes.
Donald is now left with his own wife and Mona Sanders and as time goes on, he becomes increasingly distracted by Mona's free and easy way of being. He begins to obsess about her and it's only his staid attitude to life that prevents him from taking action.
As things progress, Donald unravels fairly quickly. The guilt he feels for not helping out his friend consumes him, as does his desire for Mona. His life spins on a sixpence and he no longer feels rooted to the person he has always been or connected to the wife who has been so loyal and helpful to him over the years.
The ingredients of a great story are all here - guilt, cover-ups, sexual tension, mid-life crisis, a claustrophobic setting and a police presence - yet it didn't work for me.
I was aware that we weren't going to get on from the beginning.
The novel is told in the first person, which should work, only Donald's voice isn't a smooth one. Far too many times, he alludes to what has gone wrong without getting to the point. He begins sentences on a regular basis and finishes with the dreaded ellipsis (not something I like to be overused) and I assume this is to build some level of tension in the piece. Instead, it made me frustrated and became irritating. Before long, Donald had become a difficult company.
The essential premise of Donald's guilt caused by him leaving his friend to an assumed death simply didn't work for me. He chastises himself for killing Ray, yet he has done nothing of the sort. The fact that he wanted his friend to be dead isn't a strong enough driver for a life to fall apart, at least from my perspective.
In terms of any relationship to a book like Crime and Punishment, the novels are far apart. Instead of getting to see a human being slowly eating away at themselves, we're far too aware of Donald's feelings from the beginning. He tells us from the off that things have changed beyond recognition. Having him colour in the pictures of his journey when he's already shown us the outline takes a good deal of the intrigue and involvement away.
The sexual tensions are all easy to understand, yet they rarely raise beyond a simmer and don't really feel strong enough to tighten the noose around Donald's old life.
A genuinely interesting element of police involvement is far too quickly snuffed out, in my opinion. I'm sure this was deliberate, but the strand of tension was thrown away without a revisit and the story lost a little because of this.
In terms of the climax, it's all been written in the stars from an early stage. There's no surprise in the conclusion, nor in the manner of it's happening. Because I didn't really care much for Donald, it didn't carry much weight and I closed the book without feeling I'd ever been emotionally engaged.
On the positive side, I did find myself enjoying the devil-may-care attitude of the protagonist as he kicked against society and his own rigid sensibilities.
I also wondered about that opening and the sex in the bathroom. The moment feels autobiographical for some reason, as if Simenon's working something through. That element of the book raised my curiosity, but not enough to save the day.
It's not a terrible book, but I don't think it's a great one either. It's worth a read and if you enjoy psychological reads that speak of the hollowness of existence, there's something in it for you.
And if I've missed the point, am way off the mark, let me know. What is it that I'm missing, here? Would the historical context make it a ground-breaker in some way? I'd really like to find a new perspective.
September 24, 2020
I am a big fan of Georges Simenon, especially his "roman durs" novels. "The Hand" was so, so good. I sometimes forget how good these books are until I read another one.
This book is typical Simenon. A series of life changing events take place over a few days which change the lives of all of the characters. It is tough. It is dark and brooding. It is bleak, violent and suffused with guilt and bitterness. But at the same time deeply analytical and not at all dated.
A deeply disturbing novel. Quite devastating.
This book is typical Simenon. A series of life changing events take place over a few days which change the lives of all of the characters. It is tough. It is dark and brooding. It is bleak, violent and suffused with guilt and bitterness. But at the same time deeply analytical and not at all dated.
A deeply disturbing novel. Quite devastating.
July 18, 2021
One night in a blizzard, lawyer Donald Dodd can either try to rescue a friend or leave him to die. His choice unravels all the threads of his well-ordered life.
This reminded me of Patricia Highsmith in the way that it follows a character who becomes more and more unsympathetic as the story goes on. Having read only Maigret books before, I had no idea that Belgian writer Simenon also had a place in the genre of American psychological thrillers. I was both gripped and horrified (just like Highsmith again!)
This reminded me of Patricia Highsmith in the way that it follows a character who becomes more and more unsympathetic as the story goes on. Having read only Maigret books before, I had no idea that Belgian writer Simenon also had a place in the genre of American psychological thrillers. I was both gripped and horrified (just like Highsmith again!)
February 13, 2023
Duro, oscuro, un abisso soffocante. Penso di aver trovato uno dei libri più belli della mia esperienza.
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