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A review by curiousreader
Marie by Faith Evans, Madeleine Bourdouxhe
Madeleine Bourdouxhe's novel 'Marie' is a mixture of J. D. Salinger's attentiveness to detail in recreating fleeting moments, the play with narrative form in the 2001 film 'Amélie', and something entirely its own - in telling the story of a woman who walks through her life with such a rich inner world that she is at times more alive in her own mind than in the outside world, where she has a husband, a lover, a sister, friends and acquaintances all mingled into the threads of her narrative and forming her outward existence.
The novel opens with Marie and her husband going to the beach, during their holiday away from Paris. While her husband goes off to take a swim, she sits in the sun and locks eyes with a young man she ends up having an affair with. While she is married, she doesn't view this affair truly as an affair but rather as an intense and somewhat magical connection that is only alive in the few times they meet, so far in between meetings that it is in most ways a small part of her everyday. Her relationship with her husband isn't bad, it hasn't propelled her into this new relationship but rather it's an extension of her overflowing sensing of the world - she feels so much, so deeply, and one person isn't enough to receive all that feeling, she muses. While the novel shows Marie interacting with many men, her husband and her lover and others to boot, it's not so much about the relationships per say but rather in Marie's reactions to other people and to moments, even to physical objects, that this novel truly shines. Her relationship with her sister, Claudine, is another cornerstone of the novel - this sister, who is so different from her, and then her sister's need for her, shows another side of Marie. Both her distance in sharing her own inner life, to her sister or to anyone really, and how she is viewed by other people - creates an interesting contrast as you, the reader, see Marie mostly from within.
What I meant by the resemblance to Salinger is in particular Salinger's strength in short stories, to capture a moment - a single second-like moment of time in which nothing much happens, but there is a vividity to the picture that not only brings the people to life but creates an impression of sound, smell, and touch. There is even a sense of the emotions the characters are feeling, not so much in big brushstrokes like 'sadness' or 'loneliness' but more an indescribable sense of loss, or a longing for a place that never was. There is a timeless sense to the novel's minutiae moments, that reminded me of Salinger, and something I haven't seen much aside from in his writing before.
The other similarity to the film 'Amélie' is the way the narrator is sometimes talking directly to Marie, as if Marie is talking to Marie - possibly in her mind, she is talking to and guiding herself and in her actions, her decisions. There is this awareness interwoven in the story, through the way the narrative is performed, that reminded me of this charming film and its implications for the reader as being both an insider, and somewhat like an intruder into someone's mind.
There is something indescribable about Bourdouxhe's writing and her way of both transforming Marie and pulling her forward through these 141 pages. At the same time, it feels like such a novel where not a word is wasted in capturing something essential - something true. In many ways, I think I reacted to this book so strongly because it connected with me in a personal way, with Marie's own mind. Putting that aside, I really do think it's a novel many people would love and it's a shame this writer isn't more well-known. An utterly fantastic book and one I'm certain will be one of my favorites of the year!
The novel opens with Marie and her husband going to the beach, during their holiday away from Paris. While her husband goes off to take a swim, she sits in the sun and locks eyes with a young man she ends up having an affair with. While she is married, she doesn't view this affair truly as an affair but rather as an intense and somewhat magical connection that is only alive in the few times they meet, so far in between meetings that it is in most ways a small part of her everyday. Her relationship with her husband isn't bad, it hasn't propelled her into this new relationship but rather it's an extension of her overflowing sensing of the world - she feels so much, so deeply, and one person isn't enough to receive all that feeling, she muses. While the novel shows Marie interacting with many men, her husband and her lover and others to boot, it's not so much about the relationships per say but rather in Marie's reactions to other people and to moments, even to physical objects, that this novel truly shines. Her relationship with her sister, Claudine, is another cornerstone of the novel - this sister, who is so different from her, and then her sister's need for her, shows another side of Marie. Both her distance in sharing her own inner life, to her sister or to anyone really, and how she is viewed by other people - creates an interesting contrast as you, the reader, see Marie mostly from within.
What I meant by the resemblance to Salinger is in particular Salinger's strength in short stories, to capture a moment - a single second-like moment of time in which nothing much happens, but there is a vividity to the picture that not only brings the people to life but creates an impression of sound, smell, and touch. There is even a sense of the emotions the characters are feeling, not so much in big brushstrokes like 'sadness' or 'loneliness' but more an indescribable sense of loss, or a longing for a place that never was. There is a timeless sense to the novel's minutiae moments, that reminded me of Salinger, and something I haven't seen much aside from in his writing before.
The other similarity to the film 'Amélie' is the way the narrator is sometimes talking directly to Marie, as if Marie is talking to Marie - possibly in her mind, she is talking to and guiding herself and in her actions, her decisions. There is this awareness interwoven in the story, through the way the narrative is performed, that reminded me of this charming film and its implications for the reader as being both an insider, and somewhat like an intruder into someone's mind.
There is something indescribable about Bourdouxhe's writing and her way of both transforming Marie and pulling her forward through these 141 pages. At the same time, it feels like such a novel where not a word is wasted in capturing something essential - something true. In many ways, I think I reacted to this book so strongly because it connected with me in a personal way, with Marie's own mind. Putting that aside, I really do think it's a novel many people would love and it's a shame this writer isn't more well-known. An utterly fantastic book and one I'm certain will be one of my favorites of the year!