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adrianav28's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
petewilloughby's review
5.0
Hector Loursat is a lawyer who has not worked for some years and has now become a consumer of vast quantities of alcohol and withdrawn from society and life in general.
When he awakens one night to find a stranger in his house events start to unfold that will shake up his life and bring him to his senses.
This is Georges Simenon at his finest, a detective story that is not a detective story, but is but also has courtroom drama.
His characters are wonderful as ever, the settings and circumstances are unusual but believable.
Much of the story takes place in the underbelly of the city of Moulins, but Simenon makes the reader comfortable there.
At the start of the book the reader is likely to feel sorry for Loursat, but at the end they will be cheering with him.
My thanks to the publisher for an advanced copy for honest review.
Brilliant plot. Brilliant structure. Marvellous book.
Howard Curtis’s translation is impeccable, often stories of this sort become insipid because of the poor translation of difficult concepts, if you didn’t know that this book had been written in French you would believe it had been written in English. Great Job.
When he awakens one night to find a stranger in his house events start to unfold that will shake up his life and bring him to his senses.
This is Georges Simenon at his finest, a detective story that is not a detective story, but is but also has courtroom drama.
His characters are wonderful as ever, the settings and circumstances are unusual but believable.
Much of the story takes place in the underbelly of the city of Moulins, but Simenon makes the reader comfortable there.
At the start of the book the reader is likely to feel sorry for Loursat, but at the end they will be cheering with him.
My thanks to the publisher for an advanced copy for honest review.
Brilliant plot. Brilliant structure. Marvellous book.
Howard Curtis’s translation is impeccable, often stories of this sort become insipid because of the poor translation of difficult concepts, if you didn’t know that this book had been written in French you would believe it had been written in English. Great Job.
adrianasturalvarez's review against another edition
4.0
The pleasures of this book come from subtle moments - an elegant piece of description, the natural interplay of diction between the main character's inner world and the world around him.
Georges Simenon may be a writer's writer. Certainly, a lot of what I liked about this novel was the economic way he was able to use language to convey two distinct and interesting storylines: one psychological, the other within the constraints of the genre.
I've read Paul Theroux compare Simenon to Camus (http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article3539880.ece), and I have to admit I like the comparison. Where Camus steeps his reader in dark brooding and bottomless existential angst, Simenon is a little like the people's philosophy. The moments of angst in this book, occur as a matter of realism in the pragmatic portrayal and haunting dilemmas of Loursat, the main character.
I really like this author. I recommend him to anyone who likes genre fiction or philosophical considerations.
Georges Simenon may be a writer's writer. Certainly, a lot of what I liked about this novel was the economic way he was able to use language to convey two distinct and interesting storylines: one psychological, the other within the constraints of the genre.
I've read Paul Theroux compare Simenon to Camus (http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article3539880.ece), and I have to admit I like the comparison. Where Camus steeps his reader in dark brooding and bottomless existential angst, Simenon is a little like the people's philosophy. The moments of angst in this book, occur as a matter of realism in the pragmatic portrayal and haunting dilemmas of Loursat, the main character.
I really like this author. I recommend him to anyone who likes genre fiction or philosophical considerations.
manwithanagenda's review
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Loursat has been satisfied for the past 18 years with waking up well into day, pulling a few more bottles of wine up from the basement, walking around one block, eating a silent dinner with his 20 year old daughter and going back up to his warm study to read and drink until he feels he can sleep again. His is a member of one of the most respectable families in Moulins, he has money, and was gifted in his profession as a lawyer. He had always been studious and reclusive, so when his wife left him alone with his daughter for another man he was content to withdraw and treat every day the same.
One night something different happens and he must leave his study. On investigating, he discovers his daughter is at the center of a gang of young men and engaged in behavior shocking to the prewar town. When his daughter's boyfriend is accused of the crime Loursat, inexplicably drawn in, announces he will defend the boy in court.
'The Strangers in the House' is in part about the court case and the unraveling of the mystery of the Boxing Bar Gang, but it is more about the possibility of redemption for this lonely man and the chances he still has to come back to the world he thought he was too good for.
I haven't read much French literature, but there is a common thread between Simenon and his contemporaries Camus and Marguerite Duras. I feel like the images of 20th century French culture I have: the black and white films, the meaningful glances between strangers, and the damp rain sizzling on street lamps can't be everything; and yet, it is all I see. When I picked up Michel Houellebecq's 'The Map and the Territory' it was enthralling, but downright broody. So far, I'm OK with this since it is all done with such perfection, but there has been sunlight in France this past century right?
One night something different happens and he must leave his study. On investigating, he discovers his daughter is at the center of a gang of young men and engaged in behavior shocking to the prewar town. When his daughter's boyfriend is accused of the crime Loursat, inexplicably drawn in, announces he will defend the boy in court.
'The Strangers in the House' is in part about the court case and the unraveling of the mystery of the Boxing Bar Gang, but it is more about the possibility of redemption for this lonely man and the chances he still has to come back to the world he thought he was too good for.
I haven't read much French literature, but there is a common thread between Simenon and his contemporaries Camus and Marguerite Duras. I feel like the images of 20th century French culture I have: the black and white films, the meaningful glances between strangers, and the damp rain sizzling on street lamps can't be everything; and yet, it is all I see. When I picked up Michel Houellebecq's 'The Map and the Territory' it was enthralling, but downright broody. So far, I'm OK with this since it is all done with such perfection, but there has been sunlight in France this past century right?
nicka's review
3.0
Pretty good whodunit with the grimy, drizzly feel of classic French noir. If the goth band Blessure Grave wrote a mystery and designed the jacket, pretty sure something like this would be the result.
lnatal's review
4.0
Un soir d'octobre, vers minuit, Hector Loursat, ancien avocat qui vit en reclus, indifférent à tous et adonné à la boisson, est tiré de sa torpeur coutumière en entendant un coup de feu. Au fond d'un couloir de sa vaste maison, il croit voir une ombre qui s'enfuit et découvre dans une chambre abandonnée un inconnu qui meurt sous ses yeux.
myxomycetes's review
4.0
A drunk reclusive lawyer comes out of reclusion when he hears a gunshot from another part of his house and discovers a man dying in a spare bedroom. Soon he learns a gang of delinquents (including his daughter) has been using his house as a headquarters, and he’s drawn out into the world when he agrees to defend the main suspect in court.
Simenon sort of falls apart if you read too much of him at once, but for a taste every now and then, and when he’s writing on all cylinders as he is here, he’s pretty great.
Simenon sort of falls apart if you read too much of him at once, but for a taste every now and then, and when he’s writing on all cylinders as he is here, he’s pretty great.
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