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A review by yajna
En attendant demain by Nathacha Appanah
4.0
Note: 3.5/5
As for the other books of Nathacha Appanah, you can recognise her distinct narrative style in this book as well! It does a very good job in keeping your attention and is a page-turner. It is a simple plot with 3 main characters whose lives are intertwined through either marriage, or common origins. Hints of two themes that I enjoy reading were present throughout the book: the integration process of a foreigner in France, and the references to Mauritius. Despite this, I related much less to this book than I did with Les Rochers de Poudre d'Or, le Dernier Frère or even Blue Bay Palace. I'd say that it remains a nice and enjoyable book with many reflections on the married life, the feeling of being out-of-place, the experience of foreigners in a foreign land.
Even though this is not central to the plot (and I'm not sure if it was voluntary on the author's part), there is an interesting juxtaposition of the two Mauritian women who seeks two different outcomes from being in a foreign land. On the one hand, Anita (the wife of the French-born Adam, and mother of Laura) looks for a complete assimilation into this community, wants to be seen as no different from a French, and goes out of her way to dissimulate her differences (erasing her accent, changing the way she dresses..). She constantly suffers from being "invisibiliser" by society. On the contrary, Adèle, came to France exactly to "disappear" and to be invisible to society.
In terms of the plot, the ending is laid down in the first couple of pages and the whole intrigue of the book is to understand how the characters end up in these positions. I felt that there was a nice pace all along, except for the last part of the book. The end felt like a rush to fit everyone in the position they were set out to be in, which I feel did not do justice to the character development throughout the book.
In all, it was a quick and enjoyable read! As in Blue Bay palace, the story is pretty grim (you get the flavor from the first couple of pages) and is not what I would normally read, but I make an exception in the case of Nathacha Appanah.
As for the other books of Nathacha Appanah, you can recognise her distinct narrative style in this book as well! It does a very good job in keeping your attention and is a page-turner. It is a simple plot with 3 main characters whose lives are intertwined through either marriage, or common origins. Hints of two themes that I enjoy reading were present throughout the book: the integration process of a foreigner in France, and the references to Mauritius. Despite this, I related much less to this book than I did with Les Rochers de Poudre d'Or, le Dernier Frère or even Blue Bay Palace. I'd say that it remains a nice and enjoyable book with many reflections on the married life, the feeling of being out-of-place, the experience of foreigners in a foreign land.
Even though this is not central to the plot (and I'm not sure if it was voluntary on the author's part), there is an interesting juxtaposition of the two Mauritian women who seeks two different outcomes from being in a foreign land. On the one hand, Anita (the wife of the French-born Adam, and mother of Laura) looks for a complete assimilation into this community, wants to be seen as no different from a French, and goes out of her way to dissimulate her differences (erasing her accent, changing the way she dresses..). She constantly suffers from being "invisibiliser" by society. On the contrary, Adèle, came to France exactly to "disappear" and to be invisible to society.
In terms of the plot, the ending is laid down in the first couple of pages and the whole intrigue of the book is to understand how the characters end up in these positions. I felt that there was a nice pace all along, except for the last part of the book. The end felt like a rush to fit everyone in the position they were set out to be in, which I feel did not do justice to the character development throughout the book.
In all, it was a quick and enjoyable read! As in Blue Bay palace, the story is pretty grim (you get the flavor from the first couple of pages) and is not what I would normally read, but I make an exception in the case of Nathacha Appanah.