A review by julia_may
French Rhapsody by Antoine Laurain

3.0

This is more of a 3.5 stars. A story about nostalgia and what ifs. The story starts with a letter delivered 30+ years too late, a window into a potentially different life for the long-disbanded... Band. Music band. They could've been famous, maybe. But the letter from the music studio got lost and we get a look into what has happened to the former band members since, and how they react to the "we could have been" news brought by the recovered letter. I found their stories quite interesting to follow, especially because they became such different people that it was clear that they'd never be able to get on as well as they did back then.

Reading this book brought to mind (several times) Viktor Frankl's book Man's Search For Meaning. We all have problems, regrets, what ifs, stories without closure in our past - but it is how we frame them in our minds, the narrative that we create about them, the meaning we attribute to those events... These things shape how we feel about them. And this novel (novella?) illustrates this concept quite well. It ends with another letter - no spoilers - but it sort of takes us full circle and I really liked that symmetry.

So why not 4 or more stars? I just don't see myself re-reading it ever again. Nostalgia is fun for a few afternoons but I wouldn't want to spend more time there.