Le Testament Français by Andreï Makine

[Brida]

I've noticed Makine being mentioned here and there, mostly in member's reading (b)logs, but I think he deserves a bit more attention than that

So I bring you:

 

*Le Testament Français by Andreï Makine*

 

Synopsis:

Locked behind the Iron Curtain, a young boy grows up bewitched by his French grandmother's memories of Paris before the Great War. Yet despite what he also learns of her suffering in the Soviet Union under Stalin and during the Second World War, as an adolescent he finds himself proud to be a Russian. Torn between the two cultures, he eventually makes a choice - which has a wholly unexpected outcome. Capturing the powerful allure of illusion, this unforgettable novel traces a sentimental and intellectual journey that embraces the dramatic history of the twentieth century.

 

This is one good book!

When I started reading it, the first thing I thought was ''Proust!''. The writing style reminded me of Proust's, because it was descriptive, but in not so many words as Proust might have used It really is beautifully written.

 

The story is about a Russian boy who visits his grandmother (who is French), at first with his sister, later on alone. He seems to have connected with Charlotte (the grandmother) much more that his sister, which happened gradually. At first, when they were kids, Charlotte was a mistery to them both, and it seemed that she was distant from them (and being a Frenchwoman in Russia, a foreigner, distant from almost everyone else). Then one time they started to get to know Charlotte; she had a suitcase filled with random (it seemed) items: pictures, precious stones, articles from newspapers, poems etc, which were all precious to her, and later on to the boy too. She began telling them stories every night on the balcony of her appartement, about the items from the case. She was telling them about life in France, before her time, as well as the France of her days but more importantly, telling them stories about her life. The boy became inchanted with what he had heard of this ''Atlantis'' as he calls it, and started daydreaming about the people from the stories his grandmother was telling him.

 

This is also a story about growing up. As the boy grows up, he becomes dissapointed with the daydreaming, because he realises that it's not enough. It's not real. And he's a real person, who, instead of getting involved in real life, tries creating a nonexistant world, which gives him comfort, but also alienates him from the real world. And so, he doesn't quite know how to deal with certain things in his life, because he's not used to it.

 

Le testament is like a fairytale sometimes. The stories of the grandmother are told in such a way, dealing with real events, but in such a fantastic, surreal way. It's also a real pleasure to read, because of the style. I'll need to reread it because there's so many good things about it you can't take notice of them all at once

 

Anyone else read this, or anything else by Makine? I'm planning on reading Requiem for a Lost Empire sometime soon.

[pontalba]

I read Dreams of My Russian Summers several years ago, and throughly enjoyed it.