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Now a major motion picture from "Amelie"'s director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and featuring Audrey Tautou and Jodie Foster comes a very different love story: "A Very Long Engagement "based on the acclaimed novel by Sebastien JaprisotA runaway bestseller in France and winner of the 1991 Prix Interallie, Sebastien Japrisot's novel about World War I was acclaimed as "a latter-day "War and Peace"" by "The New York Times."Set during and after the First World War, A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT is the tale of a young woman's search for her fiance who she believes might still be alive despite having officially been reported as "killed in the line of duty." Unable to walk since childhood, fearless Mathilde Donnay is undeterred in her quest as she scours the country for information about five wounded French soldiers who were brutally abandoned by their own troops. A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENTis a mystery, a love story, and an extraordinary portrait of life in France before and after the War.… (more)
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If you love historical fiction, a novel that transports you to another time, or learning history told through the lense of fiction, then I highly recommend “A Very Long Engagement”.
The story was fairly easy to follow, although it did dip back and forth a little, but I think it was
The book was well-written, and the main character, Mathilde, was delightful. I kept having to say the names in my head because they were just so fabulous "Bingo Crepuscule", "Celestin Poux", "Kleber Bouquet". Just wonderful!
I have already read this book several times. For some reason, I seem to find myself returning to it every few years. Japrisot's writing is so beautiful and flows so well in translation (the novel was originally written in French) that it makes me want to take language lessons so that I could enjoy his writing in his native language.
The story concerns Mathilde Donnay, an intelligent and strong-willed protagonist who happens to be confined to a wheelchair because of an early childhood injury. Don't let this detail bother you, as it certainly doesn't bother Mathilde. She has far too many fish to fry to let a little thing like partial paralysis get in her way. As a young girl, Mathilde formed a lasting friendship with a boy named Manech, who became her fiancee after their childhood friendship developed into a strong and loving relationship. At the tender age of 19, Manech was sent off to the war, serving as an infantryman on the front of the French lines. Literally driven past the point of endurance by the horrors he has witnessed, Manech arranges for an accommodating soldier in German trench to shoot him in the hand. Manech is sentenced to death for this self-mutilation, along with four other soldiers. Their sentence is to be thrown into no-man's land, the space between the French and German trenches, with no weapons and their hands tied behind their backs. What happened to Manech and his fellow inmates becomes a mystery, one which Mathilde is not willing to let remain unsolved, and spends seven years trying to uncover. In pursuing this mystery she will uncover not only Manech's ultimate fate, but also learn the stories of those who witnessed it.
This is such a beautiful novel, and Mathilde is such a likable character. Each time I read it I find myself furiously turning the pages, hoping for a resolution to lives that were so unfairly interrupted.
Setting: WWI and post war France
Five soldiers were convicted of cowardice after shooting themselves in the hand. They are tied up and forced into enemy territory. Later the fiancee of one of the men receives a letter than convinces her to go looking for the truth behind their
It is an intriguing idea, but I didn't really like the main character, Mathilde, and I never understood why she had this compulsion to keep asking questions. I didn't find her sympathetic or believable. I wound up skipping a lot of the story, but I made it through to the rather improbable end because I wanted to see what happened.
The stories of the war itself were well written and powerful. But overall, I really can't recommend the book. I kept putting it off, reaching for any other book besides this one. Finally I made myself finish it today, but if it felt like a chore, then it can hardly be worth reading, can it? 2 stars.
I found the beginning of the book difficult to follow, but once the characters settled down, the investigation was fascinating. Mathilde hires an investigator, sends letters, speaks to anyone who seems to have any information, then puts the pieces together.
The horrors of war, as if we don't already know them, are spelled out explicitly in this story. The more I read about World War I, the more I wonder how anyone could have ever started another war.
The difficult thing is that all of the characters have
Japrisot's writing is stirring and sweet, telling the story of a stubborn Mathilde who will not give up
A Very Long Engagement reminded me very much of A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cosse, another french novel I enjoyed very much.
As a
It seems Manech, whom she has loved since childhood, was one of five men condemned to die for self-mutilation. Instead of facing a firing squad, however, they were forced into No Man's Land between the French and German armies. All five are reported dead, their bodies recovered and buried. Still Mathilde maintains hope and hunts down survivors from the trench to try to keep that hope alive. That she was crippled in a childhood accident and confined to a wheelchair perhaps leads her not to easily give up on the one man who loved her, as well as giving her the time to write all those letters and to dig out the truth in all the different versions she hears.
I watched, for maybe the sixth time, the Jean-Pierre Jeunet film based on the novel on the same day I finished the book. He changed a few minor details. Mathilde had polio and can still walk in the movie. She is an orphan in the film, not in the novel. She speaks with the character Tina Lombardi in the movie, not in the book. Still Jeunet stays amazingly true to the story and, in my view, improves on it.
Mathilde Donnay, confined to a wheelchair after a childhood accident and the fiancée of the youngest victim, Manech, sets out to discover the truth about what happened that night. The book consequently isn't really a war story (although it is obviously written with that as it's backdrop) but rather one about the determination and resolve of a young woman to uncover the facts.
The novel was initially written in French before being translated into English contains a large cast of characters each adding a fragment to the whole rather like a jigsaw puzzle. As a reader you must either really concentrate or simply go with the flow in the hope that you get the gist of it. Yet despite the complex nature of the plot it ticks along at a decent pace.
The mud and fear that pervaded the trenches in France also pervade this novel. Readers can understand why a few soldiers thought that shooting themselves in the hand might be their ticket out of the madness. As Mathilde traces their stories and meets their families and friends, she shows us that memories that exist after such life changing events are not always totally trustworthy, the so called 'fog of war'. The depictions of the battlefield horrors are pretty graphic as are the psychological effects on the soldiers who were there and the resilience of people who must rebuild their lives in its aftermath. However, each topic is covered sympathetically and are lightened by interludes of subtle humour.
“A glass of wine taken with dinner makes doctor’s purse a little thinner.”
As stated previously there is a large cast of characters some of whom, like Tina and Celestine, are memorable but the weight of the book rests on Mathilde's shoulders and its here that I have a few minor gripes. I just couldn't make my mind up about her. At times I found her plucky and sympathetic but at others demanding and spoilt but I think that everyone can admire is her determination and will root for her as the tale nears its conclusion.
On the whole I found this a thoroughly enjoyable book from and author of whom I previously knew nothing about. Perhaps the over-riding message of this book is that hope and despair are often the flip sides of the same coin both for those who go off to fight but also those who must stay behind.