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Le nez sur la vitre
Dans la lumière blanche d'un matin d'été, un homme prend l'autocar pour aller voir son fils qui ne répond plus à ses lettres.
Dans ce voyage intime qui commence dans le Midi et qui le conduira dans une ville bâtie elle aussi au bord d'un fleuve, il se souviendra de son propre père, de la guerre, des paysages de son enfance en Algérie, de la pauvreté et de sa découverte de la mer.
Au bout de la route, il retrouvera, derrière la vitre de l'autocar et de son existence, cette part de lui-même faite d'ombres et de silences.
Dans ce voyage intime qui commence dans le Midi et qui le conduira dans une ville bâtie elle aussi au bord d'un fleuve, il se souviendra de son propre père, de la guerre, des paysages de son enfance en Algérie, de la pauvreté et de sa découverte de la mer.
Au bout de la route, il retrouvera, derrière la vitre de l'autocar et de son existence, cette part de lui-même faite d'ombres et de silences.
79 pages
First published January 1, 2004
23 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 6, 2024
Terriblement joli!!!
September 23, 2023
Such a great discovery! I loved reading this book, it was in one sitting (took me roughly an hour and a half).
The novel describes what a father is thinking and seeing throughout his travel. He is going to visit his son in jail. He tells us about his memories with his parents, marriage, and children. Only in the last chapter do we learn about the tragedy: his son died. He k***ed himself in his cell, he was imprisoned after drunk driving and causing his fiancée's death.
Such a sad ending, after getting so "attached" to the father as we travel with him through cities and memories, we can only imagine his pain, he doesn't describe it, for once. Everything else is described in so much detail: the passengers, the driver, the cars, the jobs he worked at, and the different events (wedding, accident, deaths, etc.), these descriptions rely on two senses: seeing and hearing. The characters don't have names! Even the protagonist, and there are no dialogues, but there are so many places, streets, cities, and stores, but no dates besides one: Sunday, January 16th at 13h45, when the father learns about his son's passing. There are also a lot of cultural references related to both France and Algeria since this book is also about immigration. He also mentions a photograph of himself and his son when he was little, a photo he is looking for, turns out it was in his son's wallet :'''.
I am just so heartbroken by this ending, yet it feels like it was all leading to it (the ambiance of the novel is sort of sad all along). I recommend it to anyone. The writer uses simple language and the story is very short, you just have to focus when he alternates between past and present (who is "he" referring to, since the characters don't have names). His style is very peculiar, I have never read something like this and I sure wanna do it again.
The novel describes what a father is thinking and seeing throughout his travel. He is going to visit his son in jail. He tells us about his memories with his parents, marriage, and children. Only in the last chapter do we learn about the tragedy: his son died. He k***ed himself in his cell, he was imprisoned after drunk driving and causing his fiancée's death.
Such a sad ending, after getting so "attached" to the father as we travel with him through cities and memories, we can only imagine his pain, he doesn't describe it, for once. Everything else is described in so much detail: the passengers, the driver, the cars, the jobs he worked at, and the different events (wedding, accident, deaths, etc.), these descriptions rely on two senses: seeing and hearing. The characters don't have names! Even the protagonist, and there are no dialogues, but there are so many places, streets, cities, and stores, but no dates besides one: Sunday, January 16th at 13h45, when the father learns about his son's passing. There are also a lot of cultural references related to both France and Algeria since this book is also about immigration. He also mentions a photograph of himself and his son when he was little, a photo he is looking for, turns out it was in his son's wallet :'''.
I am just so heartbroken by this ending, yet it feels like it was all leading to it (the ambiance of the novel is sort of sad all along). I recommend it to anyone. The writer uses simple language and the story is very short, you just have to focus when he alternates between past and present (who is "he" referring to, since the characters don't have names). His style is very peculiar, I have never read something like this and I sure wanna do it again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 21, 2017
Nice 78 pages read. The author did a good job telling the story without going into a lot of details.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews