I just realized that a movie has been made of Sébastien Japrisot's international bestseller A Very Long Engagement.
I feel a bit frantic with exuberance about this book (Carrie - that one was for you - ha!!) - and I just MUST get the word out to everyone:
No matter how good the movie may be (and it's been directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who did Amelie) - I must just pass on the word how WONDERFUL the book is.
Here's the set-up:
Most of the action of the book takes place in 1920, in France, directly following WWI.
There is a teenage French girl (Mathilde), in a wheelchair, waiting for her boyfriend (no other word for it, really) to come home. They were childhood sweethearts, with a deep and tender relationship, both country kids, innocent and loving ... and then off he goes. He does not return. Mathilde (who is one of my favorite fictional characters I have ever encountered) sets out to find out what happened to him.
The book is basically a mystery - clues coming out - whispers that something went wrong, that there was perhaps some kind of court-martial involving the other guys in his regiment and him - but no one is talking -- what happened to them? There's a mystery surrounding it. Mathilde, a teenager, was told her boyfriend died in early 1917. But she (like any good heroine) thinks something else happened, something far more sinister. She smells something off, she knows she is being lied to. And so she starts to try to put together the last days of that particular regiment. Very difficult because nobody wants to talk to her, everyone is obviously hiding something.
The investigation makes up most of the book - clues are revealed to us in documents, in pasted-together letters, in coded messages sent home to wives of the soldiers in his regiment ... And gradually, as time goes on, as the years pass, as her resolve grows ... she starts to gain clarity, she starts to see the events, a picture emerges. It is an absolutely riveting read. A fantastic book about World War I, yes ... one of those great war novels ... but even more so because of the unforgettable characters you meet.
You get pictures of the guys in the regiment through their scraps of letters, there are 5 or 6 main characters who may hold the key to what happened to her lover ... You read a coded message, and then Mathilde, through cutting and pasting, and rearranging, tries to figure out the REAL messages behind the code ... etc.
All of this is great mystery-novel stuff - but the book does not sacrifice the heart. The emotion. First of all, there's the devastation wrought upon Europe from trench warfare. There are scenes in the book that I wish I could forget. But at the heart of this whole story - is Mathilde, this incredible character, a paralyzed teenage girl with a huge heart, a great mind, growing stronger and stronger and stronger, as she tries to figure out what happened to her missing lover.
FANTASTIC book.
I definitely want to see the film - it's getting pretty good reviews - but so much of the book is about putting-together-clues using your MIND - code-breaking, essentially, and it is very hard to get across the excitement of something like that, something cerebral and mathematical, on film.
But the book is a page-turner of the first order. With an ending I never saw coming. Took my breath away.
Posted by sheilaAnother book to add to the list. You know, you should make a list to add to your blog: Sheila recommends, like a Sheila Amazon bookstore or something.
Here, I sent you an email and it bounced, did you get the other one from the other address? I think whatever happened with your server might have bounced it?
Posted by: Carrie at November 30, 2004 04:40 PMThere's an interesting side-story with the film Sheila -
Amelie Follow-up Not French enough for funding
Well, I think it's interesting...
Posted by: peteb at November 30, 2004 05:08 PMCarrie - your email bounced? What? Something is rotten in the state of Denmark over here at Sheila Ashtray.
I didn't get the other email either.
Posted by: red at November 30, 2004 05:28 PMpeteb:
Very interesting indeed. It's a hit French book by a hit French author so I don't know what the hell they're going on about.
I myself love French films ... at least when they're good. heh heh.
Like Baxter - which changed my life. Thanks, Emily. (Baxter's thought process - the ominous-sounding voiceover: "I stare out the window. I think about the garden.")
Posted by: red at November 30, 2004 05:30 PMDon't forget Baxter's interest in the amorous couple doing it across the street that fill him with certain...desires.
Posted by: Emily at November 30, 2004 06:08 PMRed, did you get my short email to you from yesterday?
Posted by: Linus at November 30, 2004 06:45 PMLinus - yes, i did. The one you sent me when comments were down? I did get that one. Thanks. :)
Posted by: red at December 1, 2004 10:27 AMEmily -
Baxter's profile continues to kill me, when I think about it. So freakin' FUNNY
Posted by: red at December 1, 2004 10:28 AMJust great, Sheila.
I'm reading The Mozart Factor, then you suggested Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes. That just came in today so I thought I'd put Mozart on the back burner and read Birthday Letters. NOW, you make me want to read this book and we actually have it here at work.
I'm not the kind of person who can make a reading list and stick to it. I want to read everything RIGHT NOW!
Your reviews are so good I bet you could make me want to read Mein Kampf!(sp?)