#NovNov23 Finalist: Prix Interallié 2023

• Author: Régis Franc (1948)
  
• Title: Je vais bien (160 pg)  2023
• Genre: novella
• Finalist: Prix Interallié 2023 is an annual French literary award,
• awarded for a novel written by a journalist. 
• Shortlist: 09 November 2023
• Winner:   22 November 2023

Good news: 

1. Just a lovely short book to  get me back into reading French.
2. Finalist for Prix Interaillé…book written by a journalist.
3. Hook  is very good.  In the first few pages, narrator tellls us  that
4. he sees his father in the reflection of a shop window.
5. Comment j’ai fini par ressembler à mon père.
6. How did I ended up resembling my father?

Bad news:

1. It has taken me a few days get accustomed to reading French after
2. so many months.
3. My mind wants to read books in English…but I cannot
4. do that until I finish this book.
5. Hopefully my reading speed will increase
6. …by the end of the week!

Personal:

1. The book is about Roger (1914-2014)
2. …the author’s father who dies. (pg 22)
   
3. But Régis Franc has  made me empathize so much
   
4. with the father and son  in  just those few pages.
5. The structure of the book is “bookended” by beginning
6. …and ending  with saying good-bye.

1. “Il ne chantera plus de mélodies simplettes et la rivière
2. continuera de couler san lui…..”
3. This description of a father who is dying
4. ...just took my breath away.
5. He no longer sings the simple melodies and the
6. river continues to flow without him…

1. How do father and son finally reestablish a close relationship?
2. …when the father likes to brawl and fight and
3. …the son prefers to dodge and evade.
4. What an ending…
5. You think you are so different from your father…but
6. Régis Franc must accept reality:
7. Comment j’ai fini par ressembler à mon père?

Timeline:

1. 2014 – we meet son and his father who is  now in a retirement home.
2. His father called it the “chenil”….the kennel. (ch 1-4)
3. 1939 – Roger is drafted, captured by the Germans,
4. …escapes and flees to his home in Carcassonne. (ch 5-9)
5. 1941 – Roger marries, starts a family and finds work.
6. He is 4o yr and life is good. (ch 10-12)
7. 1954 – Car accident  (ch 13)
8. 1960 – Mother dies…father remarries and son leaves for Paris.
9. 1974:   Roger decides to write a book! (1974)  (ch 11-16)
10. 1984 – Simone, (sister) (1951) makes unexpeced visit
11. to see her brother Régis …then suddenly she is gone forever. (ch 17-18)
12. 1958 – Backstory about his youth that explains the title “Je vais bien”.
13. 1994 – Roger’s second wife dies. (ch 20)
14. 1996 – Road trip to London, father and son (21)
15. 2014 – The final walks and long talks with his father (ch 21)

Régis Franc (1947)

Notes:

1. If your are thinking of learning a language by reading books
2. I would recommend choosing your books based on your learning goals.
3. I made the mistake of starting with Mme Bovary by G. Flaubert.
4. I had to look up just about every other word
5. …and it took me 3 months to read!
6. Try to find a book that is suited to your  comprehension level.
7. If you had some high-school French
8. …you could try one of my 3 “starter” favorites.
9. All the books are also  available in English
   
10. …if you want to read the book before starting on the French version.

1. David Foenkinos –  Charlotte  (256 pg) –  2016
2. Gaël Faye – Petit Pays  (Small Country) (224 pg)  – 2016
3. Philippe Grimbert  – Un Secret  (Memory) (176 pg) novella  – 2004