Aires - Zulma

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  • Today, "Aires" by Marcus Malte, published on January 3, 2020 by Éditions Zulma.

Ticaribo, contributor to the reading group "20 Minutes Books", recommends Aires by Marcus Malte, published on January 3, 2020 by Éditions Zulma.

His favorite quote:

“The child is strong. He is stronger than us, to the extent that his capacity for joy and lightness allows him to face the harshness of existence. He has these wonderful weapons which we now lack. "

Why this book?

  • Because Marcus Malte has a kind of magic power to take us body and soul into original universes, offbeat, timeless, abundant, where we lose our bearings to better be immersed in our vision of the world.
  • Because this novel is a plunge into the daily life of people like you and me and yet a completely original approach of these protagonists gives us to see their life in an unusual light, which does not fail to question us and to destabilize us.
  • Because form and style perfectly contribute to making this text a successful bet: radio flashes that unfold news stories or advertisements, chapter titles naming the models of cars driven by heroes rather than the identities of the heroes themselves , introduction and conclusion written in a newspeak that treats our contemporaries as part of an old world, everything invites us to take a step back on our society in full drift.
  • Because the tragedy is slowly looming but the reader lets himself be caught without trying to understand, as each destiny, however banal, touches and captivates him, highlighting with finesse various social problems.

The essential in 2 minutes

The plot. 13 characters, unrelated to each other, drive on the highway and make stops on its areas. We learn snippets of each other's lives, but nothing allows us to guess the thread they have in common.

Characters. They are 13, unrelated to each other: a divorced father, a waitress whose brother is severely disabled, a married woman in full questioning, etc. All at a turning point in their lives. All with completely different life stories, but mostly dark most of the time.

Places. Highway areas. The highways where the protagonists drive.

The time. Nowadays. But the story is told by a human from a civilization in the near future.

The author. Marcus Malte has written several novels, the last of which, The Boy , also edited by Zulma, won the Fémina Prize.

This book was read with tension but never without interest diminishing.

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