La carte postale Pocket Book – Big Book, 24 August 2022

Excellent novel, very well written by a young well-known writer. Anne Berest’s La Carte Postale (translation available as The Postcard) is an intimate look at some of her Jewish maternal-relatives’ lives as they tried to find their place (an abode, a local community and a homeland) in increasingly dangerous times in Europe between the 1920s and the 1940s, under the threatening rise of Nazism and the conquering expansion of Germany during WW II. It combines a nuanced character-centred intimate look with a wide, vast historical perspective, in order to place, to locate individual and household decisions in very uncertain and risky national and international circumstances. This way, Berest offers a subtle, nuanced narrative of personal-and-family centred understandings and decisions, with many unexpected, unintended consequences. Great, agile prose, written from the vantage point of a dialogue between a mother and her daughter in a Parisian suburb in the early 2000s. A nice, interesting twist: Anne Berest explains this novel also helped her to reflect on the meaning of word “Jewish” in a non-religious life. The book received an important French award. It may also be read as a reflection on the links between the ongoing formation of memories, personal identifications and social identities in relation to changing historical circumstances. Give it a try. It is far removed from the beaten road of most common depictions on the holocaust. For example: the great difficulty of many survivors to talk or write about that social nightmare.

Il y a des livres, tu les consommes, tu aimes et puis après tu passes auc prochains. Pour ce livre, c’est totalement différent. Tu lis, tu te poses, tu réfléchis inconsciemment. Le sujet est bouleversant et pourtant il émane une telle douceur de ce récit. Magnifique

Je n'ai pas lâché ce roman des mains, de la première à la dernière page. Il expose d'une façon nette et dramatique le parcours de vie de cette famille mais aussi pourquoi tant de Juifs se sont retrouvés figés et incapables de fuir face à l'horreur en marche...

Ben scritto e documentato, coinvolge e tiene col fiato sospeso. L' ho molto apprezzato.

Captivant