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Today, "Crocodiles on the bitumen" by Diane Frachon published on October 20, 2022 by Éditions Hugo Roman.
Holly Goli, blogger, bookstagramer and contributor to the 20 Minutes Books reading group, recommends
Des crocodiles sur le bitumen
, published on October 20, 2022 by Éditions Hugo Roman and signed Diane Frachon, whom she met.
Interview.
"Crocodiles on the asphalt" evokes the audacity to step out of one's comfort zone against a backdrop of themes such as photography or urban exploration. What inspired you to explore these themes? What message do you want to send with?
Urban exploration, abbreviated as urbex (from the English
urban exploration
, Ed) consists of visiting abandoned buildings.
Discovering these buildings, one experiences the same mixture of fear and excitement that characterizes the changes of life.
They are also places where one is often isolated (even if in the novel, Adèle, the heroine, has incredible encounters there), disconnected from reality and where one feels both very free and very vulnerable.
This reflected the emotional journey of the character who must show a lot of willpower to overcome his fears in his urbex adventures but also in his life.
As for photography, it is an art in which everyone can project themselves.
For the heroine, it's a new profession at odds with her job in auditing.
This makes his professional retraining all the more difficult.
If there was a message,
it would be to encourage those who yearn for change to find comfort in discomfort.
We often have this somewhat cliché image of the person who leaves a boring job and who suddenly becomes fulfilled at every moment.
I believe that changes are rarely crystal clear, and should rather be approached as a path to believe in.
When my character embarks on an icy road trip in a rotten motorhome, she is anything but serene but she remains daring, well most of the time...
You are one of the winners of the Grand Prix du roman AuFéminin 2021, but also an author of children's books. What made you want to try out another genre, like the feel-good contemporary novel?
Indeed, being a winner was a tremendous springboard.
I was personally encouraged by famous former laureates, and that allowed me to believe in it until it was published.
Draw came in a second time, during confinement, in parallel with the novel.
Whatever the genre, my desire is the same: to tell a story.
Besides, my Instagram account is called @diane_raconte.
Whether in a novel, a children's album, or an everyday anecdote, I try to make the reader smile, to get away from it all and make him forget the news and his worries while reading.
The idea for the novel nevertheless came to me at a time in my professional life when I hesitated to staple my hand every Monday morning so as not to have to return to the office.
I longed for big changes,
Do the unusual places that serve as the setting for surprising encounters in the novel exist in reality?
Yes, most of them are real places that I have visited.
The sites of Detroit are must-sees for local urban tourism, the abandoned psychiatric hospital also really exists, I just added the swamp around it… The school itself is inspired by an abandoned school that I had visited in Bosnia in an area deserted because of the war, it was one of my first experiences of urbex and the intensity of what had happened there a few years earlier was still palpable.
It is in memory of this visit that the novel begins in an abandoned school, on a much lighter register.
The idea of the abandoned swimming pool comes from much closer: a public swimming pool at the end of my street in Arcachon had been closed by the city, I had plenty of time to observe it before its destruction.
Disused places fascinate me, the feelings you experience there are quite unique and I found it original to mix my plot there.
They are moving places where time has been frozen and where you can imagine a whole lot of things based on what has remained in place.
Three words to describe "Crocodiles on the asphalt"?
Humor, Poetry, Road-trip.
His favorite quote:
She began by adding, as an additional instruction, that the wishes should concern only herself: this avoided running up against the obligation to ask for an end to misery, global warming and Pokémon.
Why this book?
Because it is one of the winners
of the Grand Prize of the AuFéminin 2021 competition chaired by Raphaëlle Giordano.
It is an original and humorous novel that seduced the jury.
Because this novel is
certainly a feel good but it is also a road trip through the United States.
Adèle, the heroine, drops everything to go to Detroit in a motorhome and photograph everything that passes through her lens.
Because the themes chosen
by Diane Frachon are very interesting.
First, the comfort zone.
Everyone has one, but sometimes it's good to get out of it to see the world differently.
That's what Adele does.
She leaves for the unknown, leaves her comfort zone to end up finding herself at the end of the road.
In another time, there is the Urbex.
Adèle explores abandoned places that are often difficult to access and takes photos.
I found it very interesting to the point of asking for more.
Because Diane Frachon's pen
is soft and poetic.
Full of humor, she puts the heroine in sometimes atypical and crazy situations but which really make you travel and have a good time.
All the characters are treated on an equal footing, there is not one that takes the place of the other.
We let ourselves be carried away by their different characters, their stories and above all, we do not see the pages scrolling.
The essentials in 2 minutes
The plot.
On a whim, Adèle drops everything and goes to Detroit, photographing atypical places along her journey.
She lets herself be carried away and meets a whole bunch of characters, each more unique than the next.
What if it allowed her to find herself?
Characters.
Adèle of course but also Josel and the group of survivalists or even Maël.
Places.
The story takes place on the road, between New York and Detroit, in abandoned places or not.
The time.
The story takes place in our time.
The author.
Freelance in marketing and passionate creative, Diane Frachon is Laureate in 2021 of the Prix AuFéminin for her first novel.
His humor and originality convinced the jury chaired by Raphaëlle Giordano.
This book was read with.
fun and laughter.
I loved this funny story with sometimes crazy scenes.
I let myself be carried away by the pen of Diane Frachon to follow Adèle and her quest for self.
The humor and the characters take us on a road trip that we are not about to forget.
A pretty nugget!
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