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A review by arirang
Brief Loves That Live Forever by Andreï Makine
4.0
A beautiful tribute to love and happiness- not as found in long relationships, and certainly not as found via political ideologies - neither communism nor capitalism. But rather the joy of fleeting moments and brief encounters, and the joy of simply living in the moment, enjoying nature and companionship.
Looking back on his life, the narrator opines that:
"The fatal mistake we make is looking for a paradise that endures....The obsession with what lasts causes us to overlook many a fleeting paradise, the only kind we can aspire to in the course of our lightening journey through this vale of tears. These often makes their dazzling appearance in places so humble and ephemeral that we refuse to linger there".
The book is told as the narrator recalling such moments and the theme is perhaps best expressed by an episode in the middle of the book.
As a teenager, a female friend challenges the narrators view of happiness being the creation of an ideal fraternal society:
"A doctrine? What for? We're happy here, admit it. We're happy because the air smells of snow and spring. Because the sun's been warming the planks, because...Yes, because we're together"
Indeed the narrator suggests that this form of "serenity indifferent to the ugliness and coarseness of the world" is a more effective form of resistance to the regime than the usual dissident and intellectual circles.
Andrei Makine writes some of the most lyrical prose in modern European literature, and this is a fine addition to an impressively accumulating body of work.
Looking back on his life, the narrator opines that:
"The fatal mistake we make is looking for a paradise that endures....The obsession with what lasts causes us to overlook many a fleeting paradise, the only kind we can aspire to in the course of our lightening journey through this vale of tears. These often makes their dazzling appearance in places so humble and ephemeral that we refuse to linger there".
The book is told as the narrator recalling such moments and the theme is perhaps best expressed by an episode in the middle of the book.
As a teenager, a female friend challenges the narrators view of happiness being the creation of an ideal fraternal society:
"A doctrine? What for? We're happy here, admit it. We're happy because the air smells of snow and spring. Because the sun's been warming the planks, because...Yes, because we're together"
Indeed the narrator suggests that this form of "serenity indifferent to the ugliness and coarseness of the world" is a more effective form of resistance to the regime than the usual dissident and intellectual circles.
Andrei Makine writes some of the most lyrical prose in modern European literature, and this is a fine addition to an impressively accumulating body of work.