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Today, “The Porcelain Warrior” by Mathias Malzieu, published on January 12, 2022 by Éditions Albin Michel.
Audrey Escoin, contributor to the 20 Minutes
Books reading group
, recommends
The Porcelain Warrior
by Mathias Malzieu, published on January 12, 2022 by Éditions Albin Michel.
Her favorite quote:
“Since the chain of disasters, I have spent a tremendous amount of time in my head. Everything is strong, all the time. It might snow under my head that I wouldn't even be surprised. As if I had lived three lifetimes while I was I'm only 9 and a half years old. "
Why this book?
Because it is the story of Mathias Malzieu's father when he was a child
that this novel delivers to us. At the end of spring 1944, a little boy lost his mother. His father cannot take care of him and sends him to Lorraine, so that his grandmother can take care of him. After crossing the demarcation line, hidden in a hay cart, he arrives in a small village, located on the German border. There, he meets a whole family. His grandmother, an aunt and uncle Emile. Mainou, has nothing to do here, and will have to respect the codes and be discreet.
Because it is the description of a daily life punctuated by nights
in the bunker cellar due to the German bombardments.
Mainou thinks a lot about his mother, and finds in this village some memories which connect him to her.
He talks to her a lot, confides in her and writes to her.
He seeks comfort and answers from his family, new encounters, but also from storks or other country animals.
Because Mathias Malzieu delivers a story full of modesty
and through this family history, it is also the history of a region that he traces to us.
He describes how so many people experienced forced cohabitation with the Germans.
Born Germans themselves, who became French again, they were again asked to renounce this France and its language.
Because it's a very intimate novel and yet it will touch
many readers.
By closing this book, you will only be able to look kindly at the boy on the cover.
This gaze that illuminates and through which its entire history pierces.
Mathias Malzieu had accustomed us with his previous novels to more fantasy and poetry.
Here it is a whole different genre, more sober but terribly human and bearer of hope.
The essentials in 2 minutes
The plot.
In June 1944, Mathias' father, nine-year-old Mainou, had just lost his mother, who died in childbirth.
We decide to send him, hidden in a hay cart, across the line of demarcation, to his grandmother who has a farm in Lorraine.
Characters.
Mainou, a little boy.
His grandmother, his aunts, his uncle.
His mother left too soon.
The Germans.
The stranger in the attic.
Places.
A Lorraine village, on the German border.
La Frohmühle, like a house of happiness.
A bunker, an attic, a forest.
The time.
From June 1944 to May 1945.
The author.
Mathias Malzieu began his career as a poetic man in 1993 by founding the rock group Dionysos.
Not inclined to choose between his vocation as a singer and an author, he has since developed a universe in the form of books, records and films.
This book was read with
interest and curiosity.
I enjoyed spending these few months with Mainou despite the horror of the war and its history.
I found the epilogue to the novel brilliant and intelligent.
Mathias Malzieu, with this novel, launches a nice snub to those who swear by the withdrawal and rejection of others.
Buy this book on Amazon
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