A review by beanie_bob
Lie With Me by Philippe Besson

reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

It’s the most simple words that destroy us.

I had glossed over some key details when I started this book (or, rather, when I started it over because I lost steam the first time I checked it out from the library). 1) the fact that this is autobiographical 2) the dedication to Thomas before the book begins, telling us what is to come. By the time I pieced together that Besson is recounting his actual life - in all its agony - it was too late to restructure my expectations.

And the events of the final section, 2016, became maddening and unbearable when I realized it was real life. Lie With Me is entirely about truth. The truth we hold onto and the truth we attempt to obfuscate.

Besson’s writing (and Ringwald’s translation) is simple. It’s direct, immediately confronting us with loneliness, isolation, secrecy. Even the kissing and touching is told to us in simple tragedy; this will all end soon. These are memories of love pinned to the page.

I think writing and publishing this story was incredibly brave. The pain of it all would have ended me.
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