Lontano by Jean-Christophe Grangé

Abstract

that he does not easily accept Olivio who has developed into a sensitive teenager, cohabitation is difficult. Luckily for Olivio, his friendship with Ahmed, an Algerian immigrant of his age, provides the much-needed comfort he covets. Giraud presents the immigrant experiences of the Portuguese and the pieds-noirs, while showing the sharp opposition between Ahmed’s and Max’s perspectives on Algerian independence. Equally heartbreaking is Olivio’s narration, at the outset of the Carnation Revolution, of the upheaval felt by the Portuguese who fled Salazar’s dictatorship; their emotions range from sadness of not partaking in an historical event to euphoria that the dictatorship has ended. Canisius College (NY) Eileen M. Angelini Grangé, Jean-Christophe. Lontano. Paris: Albin Michel, 2015. ISBN 978-2-22631816 -9. Pp. 777. 25 a. With its evocative vocabulary, darkly humorous style, and fast-moving plot, this first installment of a two-part family saga vividly portrays the powerful Morvan clan as it faces the wrath of l’homme-clou. As is typical of Grangé’s novels, Lontano probes beneath the squeaky-clean surface of contemporary Western Europe to unearth its sordid past of buried secrets, this time in Franco-Belgian Congo. The gruesome murder of a navy cadet in Brittany, fashioned into a nkondi, a Congolese protective religious effigy, marks the resurrection of a serial killer who was caught by Grégoire Morvan back in Lontano, Congo, decades earlier. In parallel with the developing murder case, brief chapters provide glimpses into the Morvan family members’ conflicted thoughts and secretive activities. These characters, despite their clichéd portrayal, successfully elicit both sympathy for their plight and distaste for their vices. Overprotective father Grégoire Morvan is a former police officer whose success in the Congo provided him with the financial and political backings to propel him to his present status as a ruthless politician and businessman. His Belgian-Congolese wife Maggie appears passively disconnected from reality, yet commands an inexplicable hold over her husband. Their tumultuous, sometimes physically violent relationship has deeply impacted the mental health of their three adult children. Their son Loïc is a high-powered stock-trader in a failing marriage that Grégoire Morvan is determined to keep from divorcing. Loïc’s anti-materialism, quest for spiritual peace, and selfdestructive drug abuse hide a fragile interior traumatized by an overwhelming father figure. Their daughter Gaëlle, an aspiring actress, prefers paid promiscuity to relying on her father’s wealth and reputation.Although she is mentally unstable and victimized, glimpses into her thoughts reveal a strong, determined individual with a penchant for vengeance, like her father. Erwan, the other son, the novel’s main protagonist, is a police sergeant striving to make his career outside his father’s long shadow. But he has inherited Grégoire’s taste for violence. Historical parallels, psychologically 236 FRENCH REVIEW 90.1 Reviews 237 charged characters, and intriguing intertextual references combine with multi-sensory descriptions to make for a stylistically dense, but very readable novel. Surreptitious manipulations,covert political collaborations,underground organizations,and corrupt economics effectively lure the reader’s curiosity into the dark network that thrives beneath the superficial luster of the respected Morvan clan. However, some of the plot twists tip the novel’s realism toward the impossible, bordering on absurdity. Grangé’s fusion of disparate topics, such as religion and militarism, sexuality and violence, politics and medical science, can make it seem as if he is trying too hard to touch on all crime-novel themes. But this combination also underscores the complexity of human existence in its most malevolent forms. Grangé makes the argument that in a realm where individual, biological, and cultural memory are irrevocably linked, preconceived distinctions between faith and madness, suffering and empowerment, good and bad, are ultimately meaningless. Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania Nathalie G. Cornelius Kerangal, Maylis de. À ce stade de la nuit. Paris: Verticales, 2015. ISBN 978-2-07010754 -4. Pp. 74. 7,50 a. Set in the very early morning under a halo of kitchen light and accompanied by little more than a late-night radio voice, these pages of reflections link distant geographies , personal memories, myths, and a strong dose of insight...