#BlogTour Vanda by Marion Brunet

It's a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Vanda by Marion Brunet, translated by Katherine Gregor. 

'Vanda follows on from the success of last year’s The Summer of Reckoning: winner of the prestigious French mystery prize Grand Prix de Littérature policière, shortlisted for the CWA International Dagger in the UK, The Times Book of the Month.'

About the Author

Marion Brunet, born in 1976, is a well-known Young Adult and Literary Fiction author in France. Her YA novels have received over 30 prizes, including the 2017 UNICEF Prize for Youth Literature. Marion has previously worked as a special needs educator and now writes her fiction in Marseilles.

Vanda follows on from the success of Summer of Reckoning and is her second work to be translated into English. Follow Marion Brunet on Goodreads

About the Translator

Katherine Gregor lives in London and has recently translated works by Alexander Pushkin from the Russian and plays by Carlo Goldoni and Luigi Pirandello from the Italian. Follow translator Katherine Gregor @ScribeDoll on Twitter

About the book

Set in Marseilles, this is the story of Vanda, a beautiful woman in her thirties, arms covered in tats, skin so dark that some take her for a North African. Devoted to her six-year-old son Noé, they live in a derelict shed by the beach. She had wanted to be an artist; she is now a cleaner in a psychiatric hospital. But Vanda is happy living alone with her boy. “The two of them against the world”, as she says. 

Everything changes when Simon, the father of her son, surfaces in Marseilles. He had left Vanda seven years earlier, not knowing that she was pregnant. When Simon demands custody of his son, Vanda’s suppressed rage threatens to explode. The tension becomes unbearable, both parents fully capable of extreme violence.

Review

I know for many this story equates to an image of motherhood, the lioness who will protect her offspring no matter the consequences. She will do anything to keep the outside world from taking him and interfering. That relationship takes precedence above everything and anyone else, including that of the other parent - in this case the father who doesn't become aware of his son until six years after Vanda gave birth to him.

I didn't take any of that away from this story. What stands out for me is the pure narcissism, the selfishness, and the complete and utter lack of accountability for choices and actions. Vanda lives life on the seat of her pants. Instant gratification is her mantra - people, parties, substance abuse and of course sexual gratification.

Does that mean Vanda isn't a victim of a patriarchal society, of abuse or assault? Does it mean she isn't a strong woman who is willing to stand up for what is right and protect the weaker? No, but it also doesn't negate the fact she isn't a perfect example of motherhood. This story is a perfect example of neglect, of a bond created on the lack of equality between a child who has no other source of basic needs than his mother, and a mother to whom he is a second thought and an obstacle.

So, no this wasn't an example of a paragon of virtuous motherhood and a strong woman protecting the bond between mother and child. It is one of a person who is incapable of making the right choices for her son, because her needs and sense of superiority and possession will always come first. To the detriment of herself, those around her, and of course her child.

Brunet has a knack for writing a story that can create a division and make us aware of the fact that depending on our own frame of references the reader will digest, experience and ultimately come to completely different views on the material they have read. It's also that noirish quality of her work, which captivates whilst stirring the emotions, that has readers coming back for more. The translator manages to capture the essence perfectly.

Buy Vanda at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎Bitter Lemon Press, pub date 22 April 2022. Buy at Amazon com. Buy via Bitter Lemon Press.

#BlogTour Summer of Reckoning by Marion Brunet

It's a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Summer of Reckoning by Marion Brunet, translated by Katherine Gregor.

About the Author
Marion Brunet, born in 1976 in the Vaucluse, is a well known Young Adult author in France. Her YA novels have received over 30 prizes, including the 2017 UNICEF Prize for Youth Literature. Summer of Reckoning is her first novel written for adults and her first work to be translated into English.

About the translator:
Katherine Gregor lives in London and has recently translated works by Alexander Pushkin from the Russian and plays by Carlo Goldoni and Luigi Pirandello from the Italian.

Follow Marion Brunet on Amazon, on Goodreads, Follow translator Katherine Gregor   @ScribeDoll on Twitter, Buy Summer of Reckoning

About the book
A psychological thriller set in the Luberon, a touristic French region that evokes holidays in magnificent pool adorned villas. For those who live there year-round, it often means stifling poverty and boredom. Two teenage sisters have grown up in a world where the main distractions are hatred of Arabs and booze. When Celine, 16, discovers she is pregnant and refuses to divulge her lover’s identity, her father embarks on a mission of revenge. A dark and upsetting account of an ailing society, filled with silent and murderous rage.

Brunet uses her tense and efficient novel to tell us a story of “people at sea, on a boat punctured just above the waterline, never far from a shipwreck”. No one describes better the poisonous claustrophobia of families trapped in small rural towns. She writes with a scalpel about couples, family, sexism, racism and poverty.

Review
This reminded me of the teenage exploration of sexuality in Smooth Talk (1985). When young girls float between childhood innocence and the magnetic pull of sexual exploration. No one story is alike, and yet in a way they are all the same.

When a father discovers his teenage daughter Celine is pregnant it sets off a series of events that, although destructive in nature they are also don't leave much of an impact. That in itself speaks to the nature of what the author wants to portray. The absolute miniature cosmos of village or small-town rural life. The way life stagnates and threatens to suffocate those who are still in the throes of discovery and development, as opposed to those who have already resigned themselves to the stagnation.

The two sisters, Jo and Celine find themselves taking different paths. Celine has begun a road well-worn and travelled by others, whereas Jo still has the aspiration to reach beyond what others say she can reach for.

It's literary fiction, a slow exploration of violence, birth, sexuality and a crime that slips into obscurity.

It's fascinating how Brunet captures the differentiation of domestic and other violence. The way both perpetrator and victim perceive it as normal, ergo not worth mentioning or trying to stop. An acknowledgment that society will be just as reluctant to do so. In contradiction the violence during the crime is seen as necessary against a growing evil. One act weighs upon the conscience - the other is not worth another thought.

Brunet is also astute when it comes to the impact of false information fueled by racism, which in turn leads to misconceptions about fellow countrymen, who then become victims of vicious propaganda.

It's a Kodak moment novel. A study of rural life, of poverty, racism and family.

Buy Summer of Reckoning at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press; pub date 12 March 2020. Buy at Amazon com.