“Micocouliers Alley”, by Laure Naimski: the cemetery monologues
Published on
In "Allée des Micocouliers," Laure Naimski uniquely explores contemporary solitude and the anxiety of passing time. RAPHAËL GAILLARDE/HÉLIOPOLES
Subscribing allows you to gift articles to your loved ones. And that's not all: you can view and comment on them.
Subscriber
Review In this third novel with a tragicomic tone, the writer creates a small shadow theater in which the complaints of the living echo the wounds of the deceased. ★★★☆☆
Madeleine Jacquemain doesn't mince her words when she speaks to her shrink, Dr. Mandelbaum. She has a dark sense of humor and a sharp tongue. Because she resents him for dying, leaving her with her unhappiness. So, she continues her consultations at his grave. What she doesn't understand are the messages he sends her demanding money. A large sum. Unless her phone has been hacked. Madeleine doesn't give up her monologues at the cemetery, Allée des Micocouliers, where the members of her Polish Jewish family, the Jakubowiczes, her original name, are buried. A handful of camp survivors.
Familiar residents of the place, Fabrice the caretaker, the enigmatic Simon, and Pierre, the anti-Semitic marble worker, interrupt the acerbic remarks of this woman troubled by her midlife crisis. Not to mention the deceased who address each other from one grave to the next. In this third novel with its tragicomic tone, Laure Naimski creates a small shadow theater in which the complaints of the living echo the wounds of the deceased.
Article reserved for subscribers.
Log inWant to read more?
All our articles in full from €1
Or
Topics related to the article
Le Nouvel Observateur
