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Souvenirs de la marée basse
Début des années trente. Une jeune fille enchaîne les longueurs dans le Grand Canal du château de Versailles, sous l'œil ahuri des jardiniers. Nager, c'est tout ce qui compte pour Jackie. Nager pour fuir les contraintes, pour préserver sa fantaisie. Toute sa vie, elle parcourt des kilomètres pour se baigner. Cet amour pour l'eau, sa fille Chantal en a hérité. Comme sa mère, elle nage pour être libre.
216 pages, Pocket Book
Published August 16, 2018
9 people are currently reading
198 people want to read
About the author
Chantal Thomas
69 books36 followersChantal Thomas (born 1945 in Lyon) is a French writer and historian. Her 2002 book, Farewell, My Queen, won the Prix Femina and was adapted into a 2012 film starring Diane Kruger and Léa Seydoux.
Thomas was born in Lyon in 1945, and was raised in Arcachon, Bordeaux, and Paris. Her life has included teaching jobs at American and French universities (such as Yale and Princeton) as well as a publishing career. She has published nineteen works, including essays on the Marquis de Sade, Casanova, and Marie Antoinette.
In 2002, Thomas published Les adieux à la reine (Farewell, My Queen). The novel gave a fictional account of the final days of Marie Antoinette in power through the perspective of one of her servants. It won the Prix Femina in 2002, and was later adapted into the 2012 film Farewell, My Queen. The film stars Diane Kruger as the titular queen and Léa Seydoux as her servant Sidonie Laborde. Thomas co-wrote the screenplay,and it opened the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival. Helen Falconer of The Guardian called the work "a well written slice of history" with "evocative, observant prose," but criticized it for creating a narrator who "merely provides us with a pair of eyes to see through rather than capturing our interest in her own right." While disagreeing in its classification as a novel, Falconer did however add that Farewell, My Queen "generates in the reader a real sense of being a fly on the wall, eavesdropping on the affairs of the great and the not so good."
Thomas is currently the director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research.
(from Wikipedia)
Thomas was born in Lyon in 1945, and was raised in Arcachon, Bordeaux, and Paris. Her life has included teaching jobs at American and French universities (such as Yale and Princeton) as well as a publishing career. She has published nineteen works, including essays on the Marquis de Sade, Casanova, and Marie Antoinette.
In 2002, Thomas published Les adieux à la reine (Farewell, My Queen). The novel gave a fictional account of the final days of Marie Antoinette in power through the perspective of one of her servants. It won the Prix Femina in 2002, and was later adapted into the 2012 film Farewell, My Queen. The film stars Diane Kruger as the titular queen and Léa Seydoux as her servant Sidonie Laborde. Thomas co-wrote the screenplay,and it opened the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival. Helen Falconer of The Guardian called the work "a well written slice of history" with "evocative, observant prose," but criticized it for creating a narrator who "merely provides us with a pair of eyes to see through rather than capturing our interest in her own right." While disagreeing in its classification as a novel, Falconer did however add that Farewell, My Queen "generates in the reader a real sense of being a fly on the wall, eavesdropping on the affairs of the great and the not so good."
Thomas is currently the director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
December 6, 2020
Swim. Swimming to escape constraints, to escape imposed lives, reduced destinies. Swimming to invent your sensuality, preserve your fantasy. This is undoubtedly what Jackie felt all her life, begun in 1919 and led according to a secret, obstinate freedom, which made her, in a very advanced age, travel for miles to go swimming on her favorite beach, in Villefranche sur mer. In the meantime, she had married, had left Lyon for Arcachon, then, becoming a young widow, had exchanged Cap Ferret for Cap Ferrat, with its warmer sea, its great summer. What has she bequeathed to her daughter Chantal? Something indomitable, or discreetly rebellious, and this intuition that swimming, this practice that leaves no trace, is the occasion of an elusive freedom, as when a young girl, in the early 1930s, Jackie had, casually, chained a few lengths in the Grand Canal of the Palace of Versailles under the bewildered eye of the gardeners.
Raised near the beaches of Arcachon, Chantal inherits from her mother a deep love of swimming in the sea. Through her young eyes, Thomas vividly evokes the sensory pleasures of the beach: the smell of seaweed on the shore, the first sharp touch of cold water. With her parents' troubled marriage in the background, the young Chantal roams the maritime landscape freely. In a series of short, delightfully varied chapters, Thomas depicts her growing sense of independence through her developing connection to her environment. Memories of Low Tide is at once a coming-of-age memoir and a multi-faceted exploration of the geography and culture of a seaside town. A beautiful, compelling and deeply moving read from first page to last, this is a memoir that is full of incisiveness, sharp observations and plenty of life lessons. It's both a thoughtfully written and thought-provoking book, which engages easily. Highly recommended.
Raised near the beaches of Arcachon, Chantal inherits from her mother a deep love of swimming in the sea. Through her young eyes, Thomas vividly evokes the sensory pleasures of the beach: the smell of seaweed on the shore, the first sharp touch of cold water. With her parents' troubled marriage in the background, the young Chantal roams the maritime landscape freely. In a series of short, delightfully varied chapters, Thomas depicts her growing sense of independence through her developing connection to her environment. Memories of Low Tide is at once a coming-of-age memoir and a multi-faceted exploration of the geography and culture of a seaside town. A beautiful, compelling and deeply moving read from first page to last, this is a memoir that is full of incisiveness, sharp observations and plenty of life lessons. It's both a thoughtfully written and thought-provoking book, which engages easily. Highly recommended.
August 14, 2019
Memories Of Low Tide by Chantal Thomas is translated by Natasha Lehrer.
This book is about a mother and daughter relationship, who both loved swimming. Chantal found it a pure joy swimming in the sea both sea and the rain. While swimming in the sea it begins to pour of rain in huge drops, the rain drench her head, it was a deluge in the lashing waves that she to the point where she couldn't no longer see.
Her mother's regular beach was near where she lived at the end of the Promenade des Anglais, in front of Hotel Westminster, but she also swam opposite the Cours Saleya. Her mother didn't really have a regular beach.
I don't enjoy swimming, but I enjoyed reading about mother and daughter relationship with the same hobby as swimming, this is why the title of this book is called Memories Of Low Tide .
This book is about a mother and daughter relationship, who both loved swimming. Chantal found it a pure joy swimming in the sea both sea and the rain. While swimming in the sea it begins to pour of rain in huge drops, the rain drench her head, it was a deluge in the lashing waves that she to the point where she couldn't no longer see.
Her mother's regular beach was near where she lived at the end of the Promenade des Anglais, in front of Hotel Westminster, but she also swam opposite the Cours Saleya. Her mother didn't really have a regular beach.
I don't enjoy swimming, but I enjoyed reading about mother and daughter relationship with the same hobby as swimming, this is why the title of this book is called Memories Of Low Tide .
March 4, 2018
Souvenirs de la marée basse est un hommage à sa mère et à la mer. Chantal Thomas reconstruit le portrait de sa maman au travers de sa relation à l'eau et à la nage. Des chapitres courts, un ton mélancolique, une belle prose poétique tout en finesse et musicalité.
Je crois que pour un lecteur qui n'a jamais lu et qui ne connait pas Chantal Thomas, c'est un livre compliqué. Soit on accroche, soit on accroche pas. Et même si on accroche, on s'ennuie un peu. J'avais lu Les Adieux à la Reine il y a quelques mois et j'avais beaucoup aimé. Ici, j'ai retrouvé cette belle plume si précieuse et intelligente. Et cette façon de dépeindre avec justesse un sentiment ou une atmosphère particulière. Les jours d'été au bord de l'eau, la marée et les châteaux de sables...on retrouve toute ces choses dans son livre.
Mais.
Mais, on s'ennuie. Ce roman, très intime, reste hermétique. On s'y ennuie un peu au début, et puis beaucoup à la fin. On a parfois l'impression que ça n'en fini pas ! J'ai ce sentiment d'avoir beaucoup admiré son écriture sans avoir pu dépasser cette première impression. Voilà, c'est bien écrit avec sensibilité et intelligence mais l'histoire reste lointaine et intime, je n'ai pas réussi à me l'approprier. J'aime quand les romans arrivent à briser cette glace pour venir me déranger, me toucher, m'emporter. Là, c'était un joli tableau qu'on observe de loin et qui est très bien fait mais qu'on oublie dès qu'on sort du musée... Et ça rend un peu triste quand même.
Je crois que pour un lecteur qui n'a jamais lu et qui ne connait pas Chantal Thomas, c'est un livre compliqué. Soit on accroche, soit on accroche pas. Et même si on accroche, on s'ennuie un peu. J'avais lu Les Adieux à la Reine il y a quelques mois et j'avais beaucoup aimé. Ici, j'ai retrouvé cette belle plume si précieuse et intelligente. Et cette façon de dépeindre avec justesse un sentiment ou une atmosphère particulière. Les jours d'été au bord de l'eau, la marée et les châteaux de sables...on retrouve toute ces choses dans son livre.
Mais.
Mais, on s'ennuie. Ce roman, très intime, reste hermétique. On s'y ennuie un peu au début, et puis beaucoup à la fin. On a parfois l'impression que ça n'en fini pas ! J'ai ce sentiment d'avoir beaucoup admiré son écriture sans avoir pu dépasser cette première impression. Voilà, c'est bien écrit avec sensibilité et intelligence mais l'histoire reste lointaine et intime, je n'ai pas réussi à me l'approprier. J'aime quand les romans arrivent à briser cette glace pour venir me déranger, me toucher, m'emporter. Là, c'était un joli tableau qu'on observe de loin et qui est très bien fait mais qu'on oublie dès qu'on sort du musée... Et ça rend un peu triste quand même.
November 14, 2018
C'est quelque chose que j'aurais aimé faire : raconter la vie de mes parents, grands-parents. Les questionner, recueillir des anecdotes, témoigner pour eux de ce temps qui aujourd'hui disparaît dans l'oubli. La narratrice de ce roman, quant à elle, s'intéresse surtout à sa mère, Jackie, femme libre, refusant de « s'intégrer à quoi que ce soit », vivant « dans la bulle de son présent », dans une spontanéité ignorant les traditions. Une « enfant estivante » (p. 50) nullement apte à la maternité, et qui s'y trouvera malheureuse, durant les années passées à la station balnéaire d'Arcachon, jusqu'à la mort de son mari.
La suite ici :
https://lachambredecoute.blogspot.com...
La suite ici :
https://lachambredecoute.blogspot.com...
December 1, 2025
"Et moi qui ai toujours vu en ma mère une femme indifférente à toute notion de transmission et en moi-même un être surgi d'aucune sagesse précédente, il m'apparaît soudain qu'à son insu elle m'a transmis l'essentiel : l'énergie d'un sillage qui s'inscrit dans l'instant, la beauté d'un chemin d'oubli"
March 27, 2023
J’ai beaucoup aimé ce livre délicat aux merveilleuses descriptions. Les souvenirs d’enfance sont très touchants et l’on revit nos journées à la mer, les châteaux de sable, les crabes, l’escalade des rochers, les algues, la peau salée. Le personnage de la mère est très attachant, la fille aussi. Un livre frais comme une brise marine, un bonheur.
August 9, 2019
‘Day after day she abandoned herself to the lake water and I to the amniotic fluid, I inhabited her rhythm. We floated, together.’
In French, the words for mother and sea — mère and mer — are homonyms. The figure of the mother and the sea are likewise inextricable in ‘Memories of Low Tide’ by Chantal Thomas, a memoir which depicts the strong bond that her late mother Jackie had with the sea and that recounts Chantal’s own idyllic childhood spent on the shore of Arcachon Bay, near Bordeaux. True to its name, a series of chronologically ordered memories are unfolded, starting from before Chantal is born. Because this memoir is not about Chantal herself as much as it is a photo album, as it were, of her mother. From a young age, Jackie is drawn to water and the sense of freedom that it gives her. She’s destined to be sportswoman, but she finds herself married with a baby, Chantal, to take care of. Still, she convinces her husband to relocate to Arcachon Bay, where she spends hours, days, seasons swimming with grace and precision, as if she were one with the sea, a perennial 'summertime child'.
Chantal inherits her mother’s passion. And this is not just evident through her recollections of her childhood games at the seaside. Her love for the sea is present in the simple yet graceful nature of the memoir’s prose and the lyricism as well as sensory detail with which she evokes the sea. Her early impressions of the sea eventually give way to reflections on her mother. In fact, ‘Memories’ touches upon many themes relating to womanhood, mothering, and female sexuality as Chantal matures and gradually understands her mother’s thessalophilia as well as her mental health. The metamorphic nature of the sea speaks to her femininity and her inability to abide by the pinning down of masculinist society. As Chantal stresses, the sea is not just a backdrop to human life, but also a way of living.
Ultimately, 'Memories of Low Tide' is a beautiful expression of love conveyed in waves of memory, where the sea is both a physical presence and a metaphor for the amniotic fluid that connects mother to daughter.
In French, the words for mother and sea — mère and mer — are homonyms. The figure of the mother and the sea are likewise inextricable in ‘Memories of Low Tide’ by Chantal Thomas, a memoir which depicts the strong bond that her late mother Jackie had with the sea and that recounts Chantal’s own idyllic childhood spent on the shore of Arcachon Bay, near Bordeaux. True to its name, a series of chronologically ordered memories are unfolded, starting from before Chantal is born. Because this memoir is not about Chantal herself as much as it is a photo album, as it were, of her mother. From a young age, Jackie is drawn to water and the sense of freedom that it gives her. She’s destined to be sportswoman, but she finds herself married with a baby, Chantal, to take care of. Still, she convinces her husband to relocate to Arcachon Bay, where she spends hours, days, seasons swimming with grace and precision, as if she were one with the sea, a perennial 'summertime child'.
Chantal inherits her mother’s passion. And this is not just evident through her recollections of her childhood games at the seaside. Her love for the sea is present in the simple yet graceful nature of the memoir’s prose and the lyricism as well as sensory detail with which she evokes the sea. Her early impressions of the sea eventually give way to reflections on her mother. In fact, ‘Memories’ touches upon many themes relating to womanhood, mothering, and female sexuality as Chantal matures and gradually understands her mother’s thessalophilia as well as her mental health. The metamorphic nature of the sea speaks to her femininity and her inability to abide by the pinning down of masculinist society. As Chantal stresses, the sea is not just a backdrop to human life, but also a way of living.
Ultimately, 'Memories of Low Tide' is a beautiful expression of love conveyed in waves of memory, where the sea is both a physical presence and a metaphor for the amniotic fluid that connects mother to daughter.
December 17, 2019
Mange fine og rørende beskrivelser af børns LEG og verden.
Morsomme beskrivelser af Familien TAL og Familien Regelret
Smukke beskrivelser af fænomenet svømning. Sikke nogle beskrivelser altså...
Beskrivelser af det at gå til stranden som måder at kultivere kvinder og børn på – og forandringerne efter ferieloven i 1936...
Rammende beskrivelser af at dyrke sport fremfor at dyrke idræt. At være målrettet fremfor usammenhængende og søgende. Moderen der svømmer mellem to moler, så man kan tage tid og sammenligne med i går, mens datteren flyder målløst rundt mellem nogle både og kigger på himmelen.
Rammende beskrivelser af måder man kan ”gå i vandet” på, altså rent fysisk den måde man kan nærme sig det. Kaste sig i bølgerne eller bruge længere tid på at komme under end den tid man bruger på at bade . s. 91
Ret meget litteratur-name dropping: Roland Barthes s. 9, Marquis de Sade s. 23, Beaudelaire s. 50, Colette s. 75, Paul Morand s. 81, Proust s. 99, Decartes filosofi s. 125 for at nævne nogle...
Mange ting er skrevet med stort begyndelsesbogstav. Hele bogen igennem men fx Begivenheden s. 7, Glæden ved Gåden s. 27... Nuets betragtere s. 170 etc.
Jeg overvejer, om det en roman eller en selvbiografi? Og jeg overvejer, om Lucie kan være et ”misbrugt” barn eller et ”vanrøgtet” barn? Eller blot et fantasifuldt barn :-)...
Mange af havvandsbeskrivelserne er fyldt med underforstået sexyness. Helt underspillet måske, men det er der:
S. 132: Fra kapitlet om at miste fodfæste. Fx: ”den fuldstændige eufori ved at svømme”.... og senere ”svømmetag der er ”udsøgt forførende” og ”Det er aldrig nok” til sidst ”...denne glæde ved at kløve vandet på skrå...”
S. 153: ”Jeg går ud i vandet helt koncentreret om mine fornemmelser, det kolde vand, der giver mig lyst til at skrige, de første øjeblikkes isnende bid, som kun gør nydelsen af vandet, dets snarlige opvarmning bedre (...) vandet er godt og har besejret mig.”
S. 155 nederst: ”I grunden er det lige meget, hvilke hænder fingrene hører til, de mener dig det godt, om de tilhører dig, menneskene eller havet.”
Den franske bogcafe har udgivet og sørget for oversættelse. Det er godt, så tak for det.
Morsomme beskrivelser af Familien TAL og Familien Regelret
Smukke beskrivelser af fænomenet svømning. Sikke nogle beskrivelser altså...
Beskrivelser af det at gå til stranden som måder at kultivere kvinder og børn på – og forandringerne efter ferieloven i 1936...
Rammende beskrivelser af at dyrke sport fremfor at dyrke idræt. At være målrettet fremfor usammenhængende og søgende. Moderen der svømmer mellem to moler, så man kan tage tid og sammenligne med i går, mens datteren flyder målløst rundt mellem nogle både og kigger på himmelen.
Rammende beskrivelser af måder man kan ”gå i vandet” på, altså rent fysisk den måde man kan nærme sig det. Kaste sig i bølgerne eller bruge længere tid på at komme under end den tid man bruger på at bade . s. 91
Ret meget litteratur-name dropping: Roland Barthes s. 9, Marquis de Sade s. 23, Beaudelaire s. 50, Colette s. 75, Paul Morand s. 81, Proust s. 99, Decartes filosofi s. 125 for at nævne nogle...
Mange ting er skrevet med stort begyndelsesbogstav. Hele bogen igennem men fx Begivenheden s. 7, Glæden ved Gåden s. 27... Nuets betragtere s. 170 etc.
Jeg overvejer, om det en roman eller en selvbiografi? Og jeg overvejer, om Lucie kan være et ”misbrugt” barn eller et ”vanrøgtet” barn? Eller blot et fantasifuldt barn :-)...
Mange af havvandsbeskrivelserne er fyldt med underforstået sexyness. Helt underspillet måske, men det er der:
S. 132: Fra kapitlet om at miste fodfæste. Fx: ”den fuldstændige eufori ved at svømme”.... og senere ”svømmetag der er ”udsøgt forførende” og ”Det er aldrig nok” til sidst ”...denne glæde ved at kløve vandet på skrå...”
S. 153: ”Jeg går ud i vandet helt koncentreret om mine fornemmelser, det kolde vand, der giver mig lyst til at skrige, de første øjeblikkes isnende bid, som kun gør nydelsen af vandet, dets snarlige opvarmning bedre (...) vandet er godt og har besejret mig.”
S. 155 nederst: ”I grunden er det lige meget, hvilke hænder fingrene hører til, de mener dig det godt, om de tilhører dig, menneskene eller havet.”
Den franske bogcafe har udgivet og sørget for oversættelse. Det er godt, så tak for det.
October 4, 2017
Très joli livre emprunt d'une grande mélancolie. Le rapport à la mer et plus généralement à la nage est extrêmement bien décrit.
October 3, 2017
Je n'ai pas été envoûtée comme la majorité des critiques. J'ai même peiné à terminer le livre. Quelques très beaux passages bien sûr.
September 18, 2023
I love love loved the imagery. I thought it was beautiful with its long sentences contrasting against shorter, making it sound like some sort of poetry or rhyme. The beginning of the book went by quickly, but I found myself bored towards the middle with such in depth context for the author’s childhood that seemed to go on forever. The end felt like a mixture of the beauty of the beginning and boringness of the middle, substantial and satisfying, but nothing surprising other than the same repeated ideas and themes throughout.
December 15, 2020
Det er nogle fantastiske smukke beskrivelser og man kan mærke at sproget får lov at svulme, men jeg bliver aldrig rigtig fanget ind og har svært ved at finde fokus. Først til allersidst synes jeg bogen løfter sig ind i en sammenhæng jeg kan gribes af
August 28, 2021
4.25 stars
I think this is a wonderful book for the right reader. It's a mix between a memoir and an essay collection and it is something to be savored. Personally, I found it one of those books that you pick up, read one short section, and then leave the rest for later.
In this tome, Thomas processes her relationship with her mother, using their shared love of the sea as a connector and a metaphor. As someone who lost her mother a few years ago and is processing our relationship, this book really spoke to me.
The writing is beautiful, and that is to the credit of both Chantal Thomas and to her translator, Natasha Lehrer. The writing is simply poetic and I would quickly find myself lost in it.
As I said, this is a book for a certain kind of reader. As I loved this book, I would heartily recommend it but I also recognize that a reader needs to be in the right mind space for it.
I think this is a wonderful book for the right reader. It's a mix between a memoir and an essay collection and it is something to be savored. Personally, I found it one of those books that you pick up, read one short section, and then leave the rest for later.
In this tome, Thomas processes her relationship with her mother, using their shared love of the sea as a connector and a metaphor. As someone who lost her mother a few years ago and is processing our relationship, this book really spoke to me.
The writing is beautiful, and that is to the credit of both Chantal Thomas and to her translator, Natasha Lehrer. The writing is simply poetic and I would quickly find myself lost in it.
As I said, this is a book for a certain kind of reader. As I loved this book, I would heartily recommend it but I also recognize that a reader needs to be in the right mind space for it.
December 20, 2020
In this lyrical and dreamy memoir Chantal Thomas attempts to unravel the mystery of who her mother really was, a woman who only seemed at ease and at peace swimming in the sea and was so obviously constrained by domestic life. She explores the mother-daughter relationship with insight and understanding, but overall I wasn’t drawn into her world. Rather than a sustained narrative, the book is more a series of vignettes or impressions and felt disjointed. It’s atmospheric, especially the scenes set by the sea when Chantal is a small child, and the sense of an unbridgeable gap between the mother and child is brilliantly conveyed, but I wasn’t moved by the book and actually found it quite tedious and too self-referential at times.
June 4, 2018
Tout d'abord, ce qui m'a frappé dans ce livre c'est son écriture incroyable. Ensuite, un livre qui parle autant de l'amour de la mer et de la plage ne pouvait que me plaire (et me faire rêver de moi aussi habiter près de la mer).
L'auteur décrit très bien les sentiments qu'elle éprouve pour sa mère et on suit avec plaisir cette histoire auto-biographique.
Un très beau roman à découvrir.
L'auteur décrit très bien les sentiments qu'elle éprouve pour sa mère et on suit avec plaisir cette histoire auto-biographique.
Un très beau roman à découvrir.
November 29, 2020
Un très beau livre dont le récit de la vie au bord de la mer m'a rappellé ma petite enfance. Une écriture singulière, les souvenirs sont écrits par fragments, comme lorsqu'on se les remémore. Un livre qui raconte aussi la relation de l'auteur à sa mère, une relation déconcertante mais qui ajoute une touche d'émotion au livre.
July 7, 2024
3,5 *
Chantal raconte, dans un style soigné, sensible, plein d'amours et de respect, et une teinte nostalgique, la vie de sa mère Jackie, avec, en fil conducteur, la passion de celle-ci pour la nage.
J'avais une appréhension, trouvais le début lent, à la limite de l'ennui. Mais j'ai finalement aimé ce récit d'une fille au sujet de sa mère, une femme différente éprise de liberté.
Chantal raconte, dans un style soigné, sensible, plein d'amours et de respect, et une teinte nostalgique, la vie de sa mère Jackie, avec, en fil conducteur, la passion de celle-ci pour la nage.
J'avais une appréhension, trouvais le début lent, à la limite de l'ennui. Mais j'ai finalement aimé ce récit d'une fille au sujet de sa mère, une femme différente éprise de liberté.
January 31, 2022
I loved the colourful language and descriptions painted with words. I did have to google a word every few pages, but a great way to learn some new things.
And engaging story, that painted emotions and a feeling rather than a storyline. An interesting way to create a memoir.
And engaging story, that painted emotions and a feeling rather than a storyline. An interesting way to create a memoir.
November 1, 2017
De belles pages de prose. Dommage que l histoire soit sans interet.
February 23, 2018
Un fil d'histoires auquel on a du mal à accrocher, à se retenir...Quelques beaux fragments, individuels, mais le tout ne forme pas un livre dont on se souvient.
June 21, 2018
Très belle plume.
July 3, 2018
Je crois qu’il faut aimer nager pour aimer.....et aimer une belle prose!!! Une longueur en cours de route mais le reste est très bien!
July 14, 2019
À vrai dire, j’abandonne ma lecture, ... je n’arrive pas à rentrer dans l’histoire ...
August 24, 2023
3.5 stars
March 19, 2024
Les descriptions de lq mer sont simplement fantastiques.
October 29, 2024
Sympa mais j’ai pas réussi à accrocher
October 23, 2020
This as good a memoir as I can recall. Written as a series of vignettes, reminiscent in style, while not in content, to Robert Walser’s celebrated A Schoolboy’s Diary and Other Stories; each short piece captures with an almost crystalline purity some nuance of scene, personality or circumstance. The rendering of a child’s play at the beach, the endlessness of parenting with no prospect of clemency, the care-giving of daughter to aging parent are set against the unchanging backdrop of the sea and the restorative, almost medicinal, virtues of swimming. This is no work of a life overcoming horrid adversity, poverty or parental abuse, rather it is a beautiful testimony to an ordinary life, one in which the daughter grows up to someone who can write as beautiful a book as this.
November 11, 2020
Water, sand, and swimming are the central themes of this memoir. Thomas Writes about her mother. I found this book disjointed and difficult to follow. It's unconventional, which is fine, but it did make it more difficult to discern the story. I guess I just didn't get the reason for the book. Was it to focus on her mother's quirky behavior, the relationship between she and her mother? I really couldn't follow.
June 11, 2020
Sensualité sensibilité . Corps eau air soleil odeurs . Varech et courants d.arcachon. La maman de Chantale tente d.y soigner la misère de son couple.
March 5, 2021
Joliment écrit, plein de poésie et d'une douce nostalgie.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews