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Het stille huis
Een man, zijn vrouw en drie dochters, zijn de bewoners van Het stille huis. Ze zijn vreemdelingen in het dorp. Na de voortijdige dood van de moeder worden de kinderen opgevoed door door hun autoritaire, ondoorgrondelijke vader en een huishoudster. Ze zijn nog nauwelijks volwassen als de Tweede Wereldoorlog uitbreekt die hun leven definitief verandert.
Na het overlijden van de vader wordt het door hem opgelegde zwijgen verbroken. De vertelster, een vrouw uit het dorp, reconstrueert met behulp van de huishoudster de levensloop van de leden van het gezin. Met een feilloos gevoel voor timing doseert Michèle Desbordes (1940–2006) de informatie die de raadsels van de verschillende levensgeschiedenissen ontsluiert.
Na het overlijden van de vader wordt het door hem opgelegde zwijgen verbroken. De vertelster, een vrouw uit het dorp, reconstrueert met behulp van de huishoudster de levensloop van de leden van het gezin. Met een feilloos gevoel voor timing doseert Michèle Desbordes (1940–2006) de informatie die de raadsels van de verschillende levensgeschiedenissen ontsluiert.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
219 pages, Hardcover
Published July 1, 2010
2 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
About the author
Michèle Desbordes
21 books5 followersMichèle Desbordes (1940 - 2006) werd geboren in de Sologne; zij studeerde letteren aan de Sorbonne, woonde een aantal jaren in Guadeloupe en stond sinds 1994 aan het hoofd van de Universiteitsbibliotheek van Orléans. Zij publiceerde gedichten en romans
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 13, 2024
A brave attempt at stream of consciousness dreamy, depressing fiction. The highly repetitive style almost puts you to sleep. After I was finished , my question was “Why? (Would anyone bother writing someting like this). Why did I even finish it? I suppose I just hate to be defeated by a book :(
September 26, 2013
The novel is boring. However, I found some pessimism gems in it!
At the very end, I realized that the book matches the cover painting. Jean-Marie S keeps pushed himself to the limit until he exploded just like a bubble. The cover is also a metaphor for the continuity of this action; the cup full of soapy water for making many balloons means that there were and still are many Jean-Maries.
Some quotes I liked: (Those quotes pretty much sum the whole idea of the novel):
“You couldn’t build a house, however modest, without a porch or an avenue leading up to it” p.24
“He wants none of it, neither the departure nor the interminable voyage, nor, once over there, walking as he walks to find the land, he wants non of any of it, not even the lands he finds, all the months and years he walks to find it, finding and losing it” p.52
“So for the sake of walking he walks, and he isn’t alone over there” p.61
“You had to repair what had been unmade” P.87
“All he seems to want to do is to walk straight ahead, as though one day at the end of the road he had noticed that he no longer had any need to walk, that by dint of walking he would soon no longer need anything, it was enough to lie down on a hillside or in the grass of a savannah and stop worrying about anything at all” P. 94
“That after looking for the land and walking as he does, the son can’t bring his undertaking to an end, he can’t do it” P.104
“there had been things like that which you could not be done with” P.134
“A little more confusion and a little more distress, the erratic behavior that keeps him going” P.140
“Like people who have a lot to do or who, having learned a role, play it from the first day to the last, as though it were the only thing they had ever done” P.141
“the day comes when he sets to about building the shack and then when that’s finished the day comes when he takes the time to contemplate it” P.142
“If I try to describe my situation to you, I do it only so that you will not think it is so terrible that I have tried to give everything up once again” P.144
“[he] had come back with the same momentum, the same endless urge to walk, he had come back and died in the depths of the copse, very close be in a shack that he had built himself” P.157
“everyone says that on the hillside close by there’s this fellow who is never done building a shack” P.164
“He finishes the job and then he has to take the time to contemplate it, all he wants now, all he seems to want is a little time to contemplate his work, to sit down outside and look at the finished job, saying to himself what you say to yourself at such moments, saying he is happy it has all been possible, that there has been a time to build his dwelling and another to contemplate it” P.167
“Yes, it must be winter, and inside us those cries that no one hears, that no one knows, those cries we utter on winter evenings, on evenings when the rain comes down” P.186
“Some years more than the others we wait for spring” P.186
At the very end, I realized that the book matches the cover painting. Jean-Marie S keeps pushed himself to the limit until he exploded just like a bubble. The cover is also a metaphor for the continuity of this action; the cup full of soapy water for making many balloons means that there were and still are many Jean-Maries.
Some quotes I liked: (Those quotes pretty much sum the whole idea of the novel):
“You couldn’t build a house, however modest, without a porch or an avenue leading up to it” p.24
“He wants none of it, neither the departure nor the interminable voyage, nor, once over there, walking as he walks to find the land, he wants non of any of it, not even the lands he finds, all the months and years he walks to find it, finding and losing it” p.52
“So for the sake of walking he walks, and he isn’t alone over there” p.61
“You had to repair what had been unmade” P.87
“All he seems to want to do is to walk straight ahead, as though one day at the end of the road he had noticed that he no longer had any need to walk, that by dint of walking he would soon no longer need anything, it was enough to lie down on a hillside or in the grass of a savannah and stop worrying about anything at all” P. 94
“That after looking for the land and walking as he does, the son can’t bring his undertaking to an end, he can’t do it” P.104
“there had been things like that which you could not be done with” P.134
“A little more confusion and a little more distress, the erratic behavior that keeps him going” P.140
“Like people who have a lot to do or who, having learned a role, play it from the first day to the last, as though it were the only thing they had ever done” P.141
“the day comes when he sets to about building the shack and then when that’s finished the day comes when he takes the time to contemplate it” P.142
“If I try to describe my situation to you, I do it only so that you will not think it is so terrible that I have tried to give everything up once again” P.144
“[he] had come back with the same momentum, the same endless urge to walk, he had come back and died in the depths of the copse, very close be in a shack that he had built himself” P.157
“everyone says that on the hillside close by there’s this fellow who is never done building a shack” P.164
“He finishes the job and then he has to take the time to contemplate it, all he wants now, all he seems to want is a little time to contemplate his work, to sit down outside and look at the finished job, saying to himself what you say to yourself at such moments, saying he is happy it has all been possible, that there has been a time to build his dwelling and another to contemplate it” P.167
“Yes, it must be winter, and inside us those cries that no one hears, that no one knows, those cries we utter on winter evenings, on evenings when the rain comes down” P.186
“Some years more than the others we wait for spring” P.186
May 16, 2013
This novel takes repetition to a new extreme, but for a good while it works. However, it does become annoying and, worse, precious. There’s not quite enough content, character or suspense, for the repetition to hang on, and it’s a short novel.
But it’s very well done, and I loved the way it broke rules, using the first person plural of a group of locals telling stories, but abandoning it occasionally, not being too strict about it. The voice is what makes it work, and the simple language, that seems to have come across the thin linguistic barrier, works well, too.
But it’s very well done, and I loved the way it broke rules, using the first person plural of a group of locals telling stories, but abandoning it occasionally, not being too strict about it. The voice is what makes it work, and the simple language, that seems to have come across the thin linguistic barrier, works well, too.
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March 30, 2009The House in the Forest by Michele Desbordes (2005)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews