Author : Georges Simenon
What is it about : Set in rural France, on a chanced encounter, Tony met up with his school mate of distant past, Andree when her car broke down and a torrid affair followed when they would make a secret rendezvous in the "blue room" of Tony's brother's hotel. Mayhem followed when Andree's husband showed up one day in the hotel cafe which sent Tony racing through the door half-naked. Most of the story then focused on Tony's arrest and his subsequent interrogations by the local courts; the plot slowly emerged in shape as more details of their dalliance surfaced and Tony found himself an unwitting victim of his own indiscretions.
Some thoughts after having read the book : You could think of the story as "Fatal Attraction" in a small French town with a serious dose of court drama thrown in. The amorous man involved (think Michael Douglas) was made a sorrowful figure, regretting his indiscretion and off-the-cuffs remarks that led Glenn Close to commit her wild fantasy. The narrative method was non-linear with no clear demarcation between present, past, thoughts and dialogue. Through these interrogations, the story slowly unfolded as the pieces fell into place and the description of small rural town sentiments, hunger of the flesh, warped emotions, psychological upheaval, guilt and pleasure, was superb; all helped the strands of the story wove tightly as the plot thickened.
Would I recommend this book to you : Immensely satisfying and for me the first real page-turner as I normally would take my time going over, re-reading and contemplate paragraphs and would take ages to finish just one page; but I could not put this book down and finished it in three sittings ! One word of advice to potential readers, it would help a great deal if readers were not made aware of the ending, even as you might have guessed the inevitable. Highly recommended.
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