Book Around the Corner

Tu verras by Nicolas Fargues. 2011 Not translated into English. (Perhaps it will be later)

I picked this novel in a bookshop because the first page gripped me. A father was talking about his difficulties with his twelve-year-old son Clément and his newfound interest in R&B. After a few pages, I realized that Clément had died less than a week before and that his father, Colin was trying to cope with his grief.

It’s a first person narrative and Colin’s head is a sad place to be. His pain is a mountain that comes from his belly, invades his lungs and overflows through his eyes. Every detail from everyday life reminds him of Clément and it strikes him he’ll have to keep on living without him. Fargues manages to avoid the pitfalls of useless pathos, though. Colin is lucid, inventories his flaws, and comes back to his life as a son with divorced parents, to his failed relationship with Clément’s mother, to his lacking as a father. Colin bares his soul but is never an exhibitionist. His life is now tasteless but this new indifference to consequences leads him to take initiatives he wouldn’t have taken otherwise.

I think that this novel is particularly contemporary. Nicolas Fargues was born in 1972, he has the same age as his character. Colin got the custody of his son after his wife divorced him. He decided to renounce to a promotion to take care of Clément and fatherhood is vital for him. He changed nappies, prepared bottles of milk and doesn’t rely on a woman to raise his son. Welcome to the 21^st century and welcome to a new generation of men, my generation, who are invested in their fatherhood. Colin is like many fathers in France these days; the ones you see in a suit, pushing a trolley in the morning; the ones that attended ultrasounds, helped with anti-stretchmark cream and studied parenthood books. Imagine that novel written in the 1950s? No way.

I was overwhelmed by the text because I can relate to Colin. Losing a child is probably one of my deepest fears and just thinking about it makes me shiver. Sometimes, I also saw myself in Colin’s reactions to Clément’s small rebellions. All parents know that, sometimes the stress of everyday life unleashes the worst out of us. Clément was 12, like my daughter now. I could relate to the struggles of this father with his adolescent son.

Adolescence is a difficult period for a child and twelve is the turning point between childhood and adolescence. Fargues depicts this beautifully. Children need to adjust to the changes in their bodies; they start shifting their set of references: what their friends think becomes more important than what their parents think. They start challenging their parents’ beliefs and values. The turmoil of adolescence is often described, but most of the time, nothing is said about the parents’ feelings. Sure, you’ll hear about fights and shouting and irritation. But what Fargues portrays here is how a parent needs to adjust too, when their child becomes a teenager. It’s a time to let go, to accompany your child towards adulthood. A parent needs to turn a page in their relationship with their child at this moment. The time of easy games and Santa Claus is over. It’s a time when you think “When did I shift from faking Santa Claus has come over to lending my mascara?” It’s not always simple to move on and react tactfully. Colin becomes aware of all this as he thinks about Clément, the futile fights over clothes, music or school. Clément was trying to find himself and Colin was trying to find another himself in him. It could only end up in conflicts. I sympathized with him, with his grief, his regrets. It made me think about my own behaviour as a mother.

This novel is also an accurate portray of today’s France. This is not Paris with Amélie Poulain, it’s the real one. Some critics said it shows that our children live in a world of consensus, of appearances and are under the pressure of “normality” and want to blend in. I don’t think it’s new for this generation; it’s always been like this. Clément wanted to be accepted by other children in school like every child in the world. I don’t think children and adolescent really like to stand out and be original, or if they do, it’s only marginally.

As you see, it’s a thought-provoking book and really, don’t shy away from it because of its theme. It’s well-written and Colin’s voice rings true, which is certainly why the book is so good.