Mercure by Amélie Nothomb

Yay ! I just finished reading my first French novel. Well, actually it's Belgian but you know what I mean :) It's called "Mercure", written by Amélie Nothomb and published in 1998. What attracted me to it initially was nothing but it's pocket-book appearance. The novel is a pretty fast read and took me just a day and a half to read. It's quite suitable for anyone who is at the B1 level with a decent vocabulary. I was actually looking for some pulp fiction but judging by their covers the "romans" section of the Alliance Francaise de Bombay has only literary fiction.

I enjoyed "Mercure". It's a thriller narrated in easy, light prose. I think my own imagination lent a gothic atmosphere to it. I think the story is just perfect for a Hollywood thriller. It's 1923. Nurse Françoise a beautiful, competent and upright woman is summoned on a private island to take care of Hazel, an orphaned young girl living under the guardianship of a rich old man. On her arrival, Françoise is puzzled by the tight security and baggage-checks. Soon it's revealed that mirrors are banned on the island and the guards are ordered to confiscate even the smallest reflective surface. Over the course of her daily visits, Françoise becomes aware of the strange relationship between Hazel and her benefactor. Old man Loncours treats Hazel like his daughter except at night. Françoise soon gets into Nancy Drew mode and uncovers secrets that could change the course of Hazel's life.

There are only three major characters and most of the action takes place indoor. Although there are many scenes where two characters would just talk and talk, it never ever gets boring. In fact all the conversations are quite interesting. For some reason the author decided to write two climaxes, both of which seemed odd to me. The second one is weird as hell.

I am a big fan of dark thrillers and "Mercure" seems like the perfect source material for an atmospheric, period thriller. I couldn't help but imagine a smart tall brunette like Angelina Jolie playing Françoise. By amping up the supernatural elements and adding some scares this could be one hell of a movie ! Wow! I wish that gets made.

French comics - AYA

Note : Please click on images, to view them in big.


Hi,
This post is about a new comic that I discovered at the Alliance francaise library.
I am so much in awe of people who create comics. The illustrations, the story and the
humour in a good comic is a total DELIGHT. AYA, written by Marguerite Abouet and drawn by
Clément Oubrerie, is one such pleasing discovery. Ok and its in french.

AYA, is based on a teenager's life on the Ivory coast, in 1970s Africa. All the characters
are black, and that was a first for me. Its a window into a culture, that was, quite
unknown to me. I found myself as much interested in the the colourful illustrations of
African houses, streets, landscape, clothes, as the story itself.
Theres just so much to look at and admire. For ex: In a lot of places, the sky is greenish
or reddish. All in all, the visuals, made me wanna be there, in hot, beautiful Africa.

Add to this, all the comedy that you find on every page. Its entertaining ; you find people
doing things like sneaking to parties at night, stealing boyfriends, making a pass at a
close friend's daughter and having sex under the open sky. The protagonist is a
level-headed pretty teenage girl, called Aya. She is the narrator, who observes all the
silly antics of the people around her, young and old.

Why am I blogging about this? Because, i loved AYA. I have grown up reading Tinkle,
Archies, and the usual American fare, and this is a big change for me. I am thrilled to get free access to all these exotic comics at the Alliance library :) One thing is for sure, if i ever have a story to tell, I will tell it through pictures.




You can read more abt AYA, and other comics here :
http://www.guttergeek.com/2007/May2007/aya/aya.html