#NovNov23 Patrick Modiano
- Author: Patrick Modiano (1945)
- Title: (176 pg) 1986
- Genre: novella
- Hosted by 746 Books and Bookish Beck
- #NovNov23
Good news: So mysterious!
I could not put the book down.
Jean, a man who stumbles upon an old acquaintance in Nice.
Plot: three persons: Jean, Sylvia and Villecourt caught in a love triangle
…the theft of a very valuable diamond…
…and the beginning of the flight of the two lovers.
Who? What? When? Why?…all questions that swirl around in my head.
Good news: The French is so easy to read….do not hesitate to
put this novella (176 pg) on your “I want to read something in French” book list!
The vocabulary is NOT complicated and is a first person narrative. Piece of cake!
Good news: If you love a detective genre filled with memories, flashbacks
and complications that you slowly discover…this is the book for you.
The book starts where it ended…and ends where it started!
It felt like I was putting pieces of a puzzle together…and finally at the end
I saw the complete picture.
Personal: Patrick Modiano won the Nobel Prize 2014.
Highly recommend reading his books (perfect for #ParisInJuly challenge)
…they are translated into Engish and are nice short novellas!
#CoupDeCoeur
NancyElin.blog 
A perfect novella for November! I’ve yet to read any Modiano, I think I have one on the shelf. But I just picked a book (biography) about the woman who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1926, Grazia Deledda, from Sardinia, very intrigued. 🤔🥰
Claire, Modiano is such “comfort” reading…simple story, some intrigue and a whiff of French “joi de vivre”. Deledda? Never heard of her….but also, intrugued!
I had never heard of her either and the biography I stumbled across is surely a rare book, most likely out of print, I shall happily do some investigating!
Thanks Claire. I had not heard of her, adding her book Canne al vento, for my Italian pile. With Italo Calvino right now
Hmm, haven’t read this one yet. Though, when you’ve read one book by Modiano, you have read many, as you often get the same feel and ambiance. Which is not a bad thing, I love his writing, since his Rue des boutiques obscures, which I highly encourage you to read
True, Mondiano’s themes of memory, illusion, identity and amnesia keep returning in his books. His vocabulary is also similar…once I have his basic “ word lists” in my head, reading is very easy. Thanks for the book suggestion…!
I had two Modiano novellas on my stack for this month, but I went Italian instead this year.
I was curious about Deledda too – it looks like 4 of her novels are available in English on Project Gutenberg. I’ll add the link to remind myself about this later :-) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/33472
Modiano is the perfect choice for novella readers. Compact, quick read and still there is a very well thoughout plot!
I’ve now read a couple of Modianos & I think I’m converted. I’ll have to keep an eye out for this one.
This one was a puzzle from page one.
Modiano drops the reader is the plot at a point when 3/4 of the story has happend. Flashbacks expand the story…all the memory and illusion surprised me!