This is another one of Simenon's roman durs (I have reviewed some of his other roman durs here and here). It is the tortured story of a Jean, an ex-con who comes to live with a widow, Tati. Both of them have their problems. Jean is in his late twenties, the son of a rich local playboy, and he has just been released from prison after a five year stint for murdering someone in Paris. He is unsure of what he wants and unsure of himself and doesn't want to have anything to do with his father. On the bus ride from the prison into a nearby town he catches the eye of a mid-40s, rather ugly, widow who takes him into her small farm to work as a farm hand and to be her lover. Tati herself is not psychologically all together either. She is obsessed with the family of her late husband who she thinks are trying to take her house away from her.
The two of them are, at first, a perfect match for one another, they feed off one another's insecurities and psychological problems but then Jean falls in love with Tati's niece which brings the brewing psychological battle between Tati and Jean more out in the open. The whole thing does not end well.
I love these books because they are just so dark and this one does not fail to impress.
1 comment:
I calculated that you need to read 1 book every 3 days to make it. You can do it!
I've been keeping my eye out for these romans durs, but it's been all Maigret. When I find one, I'll pick it up.
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