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A review by bigbookslilreads
Le Soleil des Scorta by Laurent Gaudé
4.0
I was gifted this for Christmas by a French colleague, and I was really glad to have a chance to try more contemporary french novels, as I mostly try to go or classics to practice (which might not make too much sense, I know, but I have a bunch of library sale/second hand classic french books).
Anyway, I was hesitant. Not only because the last book in french I read took me forever to get through, which I thought was because of the language... but actually because being a genre that I'm not used to reading, I didn't know if I was going to enjoy it.
The first chapter felt a little weird, I gotta be honest. The writing style was a bit off for me, and repetitive at times. BUT, aside from that first chapter (19 pages), I just devoured the rest! Literally, I read the rest of this book in a day. It's around 280 pages, totally doable, but I was surprised because that doesn't happen with me in a long time!
Although being short made it feel a bit rushed at moments when I wish there was more suspense or tension, Gaudé was really good at setting up characters. Definitely character-driven plot. But not only does he make you care for the choices of these characters, but he writes it SO WELL! The narration just flows, and characters' speeches are... amazing. I really felt their anger, sadness, love... I almost cried a couple of times. The metaphor he uses with the sun, the weather... how we never fails to point out peoples' hypocrisy or unmeasured greed. He gives his own answer to the meaning of life, and I have to say I agree with him wholeheartedly. But that I'll leave for you to find out.
I will definitely reread this at some point, and I'm really glad I got such a good introduction to french contemporary literature.
About the plot
This follows the story of a family for 100 years with a bit of an unconventional beginning, which seems to match their character. This seems to take on some inspiration from Marquéz's 100 years of solitude, but it's very differently. The characters are vivacious, ambitious, they want to "swallow the sun". Their strength comes from their family, they rely on each other, which is quite characteristic of a southern Italian family. They first are rich, then impoverished, then...? It will always depend on what you value most. And what keeps you going through those times.
Questions
Ok, so not everything was great, and there were times when I was left wondering regarding the motivation of the characters... this might be solved either from another read through, or by working on my french a bit more, but I just decided to write them down in case someone might enlighten me first!
Second, would swearing to be "like a brother" to the Scorta really make Raffaele not be able to marry Carmela? Come on, he would be part of the family either way! It was not like incest, and I am sure none of them would object to it if they loved each other... SHM...
Third, I didn't really feel the suspense in the "family secret". Sure, they didn't really live in New York as everyone thinks they had, but does that really matter? It's not like they became insanely rich with their travel. No one cared about them either way, they didn't even light up the town upon their arrival. If the secret was that they had found some money buried from their dad, that would've made it a lot more worth it for me. I guess you should never trust synopsis...
Anyway, I was hesitant. Not only because the last book in french I read took me forever to get through, which I thought was because of the language... but actually because being a genre that I'm not used to reading, I didn't know if I was going to enjoy it.
The first chapter felt a little weird, I gotta be honest. The writing style was a bit off for me, and repetitive at times. BUT, aside from that first chapter (19 pages), I just devoured the rest! Literally, I read the rest of this book in a day. It's around 280 pages, totally doable, but I was surprised because that doesn't happen with me in a long time!
Although being short made it feel a bit rushed at moments when I wish there was more suspense or tension, Gaudé was really good at setting up characters. Definitely character-driven plot. But not only does he make you care for the choices of these characters, but he writes it SO WELL! The narration just flows, and characters' speeches are... amazing. I really felt their anger, sadness, love... I almost cried a couple of times. The metaphor he uses with the sun, the weather... how we never fails to point out peoples' hypocrisy or unmeasured greed. He gives his own answer to the meaning of life, and I have to say I agree with him wholeheartedly. But that I'll leave for you to find out.
I will definitely reread this at some point, and I'm really glad I got such a good introduction to french contemporary literature.
About the plot
This follows the story of a family for 100 years with a bit of an unconventional beginning, which seems to match their character. This seems to take on some inspiration from Marquéz's 100 years of solitude, but it's very differently. The characters are vivacious, ambitious, they want to "swallow the sun". Their strength comes from their family, they rely on each other, which is quite characteristic of a southern Italian family. They first are rich, then impoverished, then...? It will always depend on what you value most. And what keeps you going through those times.
Questions
Ok, so not everything was great, and there were times when I was left wondering regarding the motivation of the characters... this might be solved either from another read through, or by working on my french a bit more, but I just decided to write them down in case someone might enlighten me first!
Spoiler
First, why would Rocco give away all his money? What? He hated that town, so much so that he was destroying it bit by bit. I know he took a break for some years (something else I didn't really get his motivation for either), but why would he still choose to give them all his wealth over the well-being of his family? Isn't this book about exactly that? Family? Because he didn't leave his children ANYTHING! Not one penny. This just dumbfounds me. He even said that he didn't want them to carry his sins, fine, but if they would be poor like he and his father was, then I would say that pushes them a whole lot more to a life of crime... PLUS! That deal about how all the Scorta should be buried from then on like kings, even though they're poor? That never even came true, or had long-lasting repercussions in the story. It just felt stupid, imo...Second, would swearing to be "like a brother" to the Scorta really make Raffaele not be able to marry Carmela? Come on, he would be part of the family either way! It was not like incest, and I am sure none of them would object to it if they loved each other... SHM...
Third, I didn't really feel the suspense in the "family secret". Sure, they didn't really live in New York as everyone thinks they had, but does that really matter? It's not like they became insanely rich with their travel. No one cared about them either way, they didn't even light up the town upon their arrival. If the secret was that they had found some money buried from their dad, that would've made it a lot more worth it for me. I guess you should never trust synopsis...