Nos mères par Antoine Wauters

Reviews 273 many of which can be consulted through in-text flash codes accessed with a free app. These cyber-notes free up the narrative for more psychological development—though there are a few lapses into cliché. The flash notes also lend credibility to a tale, one suspects, Vasseur wishes to be cautionary. The total effect of the novel is one of plausibility with some hints of prediction: that is, that the idea of the Euro is itself a bankrupt notion based on misplaced fears of war. More sinister still: as the book’s epigraph from La Boétie’s Discours de la servitude volontaire allows us to infer, we may all be buying up our own abject servitude on an “open” and “free” market. Lawrence University (WI) Eilene Hoft-March Wauters, Antoine. Nos mères. Lagrasse: Verdier, 2014. ISBN 978-2-86432-745-5. Pp. 160. 14,60 a. This haunting work opens with the misery of protagonist Jean Charbel, a child in a war-torn, unidentified Middle Eastern country situated“face à la Méditerranée”(11). Neglected, Jean and his brothers entertain themselves by inventing games, playmates, and stories about life while living in a cave outside and in the sweltering attic of their house. The boys, whose father has been killed at war, and whose grandfather dies shortly thereafter, demonstrate more resilience than their mother, severely depressed over her husband’s death. She swallows medication, smokes cigarettes, sings, and reminisces about happier times. Although she repeats the endearments “ma brebis, ma poule d’eau, mon amour”(12) like litanies to Jean, she also intones two statements in Arabic, one indicating that she wants to die, and the other cursing the day that she was born (52–53). In this upside-down world setting, ten-year-old Jean sums up the situation in an adult manner when he reflects,“ces femmes [...] ne sont pas dans leur état normal” and “jamais nous ne les abandonnerons” (48). His love for his mother overrides his awareness of his own hunger and lack of care. In a moment of clarity, however, she surrenders him to an orphanage and he is adopted by a couple from France. In the second part of the novel, Jean’s inner strength manifests itself again: he refers to himself as“je,”rather than the“nous”of Part I, which indicates his new sense of self; he excels as an athlete in track and field events; he discovers reading in French as well as the relevance of Nietzsche to his life; and with his classmate Alice, he experiences friendship and love. He composes poems in her company. Jean even writes his own behavioral guide for not aggravating his stepmother Sophie whose moodiness reveals her fears of being a bad parent. When he asks Sophie about her relationship with her father, she lies about it having been an ordinary father-daughter bond. Ultimately , Jean writes the story of Sophie and her father in a gesture of love toward her and catharsis for himself in having lost his own father. Despite its focus on Jean’s life, Nos mères also possesses generic characteristics. Other than briefly mentioning the Beirut neighborhood of Achrafieh, the novel withholds specific logistics from the reader.Moreover,Jean as narrator generalizes about countries at war,namely that people mistakenly believe that“seule la capitale [est] touchée” (45). He also mocks his fellow citizens by saying that denying the war is“le premier sport national”(28). If his words are ironic,they also emphasize,trans-geographically,the suffering of families and villages whose men are killed in battle. In this regard, the novel decries the trauma for all that war leaves in its wake. University of Texas, El Paso Jane E. Evans Linguistics edited by Stacey Katz Bourns Arnett, Katy, and Callie Mady, eds. Minority Populations in Canadian Second Language Education. Toronto: Multilingual Matters, 2013. ISBN 978-1-78309-0297 . Pp. 202. $49.95. Canada has long been a leader in immersion initiatives for language learning, with the popularity of French programs increasing. While the official languages have probably garnered most of the interest on the part of linguists and educators, it is also true...

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