Amélie Nothomb : My Belgian French-speaking Love

This was love at first Book .

Baroness Amélie Nothomb is a French Speaking Belgian Writer from a great lineage  of diplomats and writers ,  My love for her started when I borrowed her book 'AntéChrista' , from the French House "Maison de France" ( its the French consulate and Média-bibiliotheque/Library)

I instantly fell in love with her writing style , so I kept them coming , there was this whole collection of her books in the Library and I just couldn't help but going on a reading spree of her books , I consumed around 11 books in less than 2 months , I technically borrowed 2/3 books each 2 weeks sometimes I read the books I got prior to the deadlines and then I go again and borrow more !

I will leave AntéChrista without a preview , because i don't want to ruin it for you guys .

The second book was "Tuer le père" or "kill the father" , when you read the title for the first time , you'll most likely think of Freud's Oedipus complex , your intuition is not  entirely false . 

This book is about a teenage boy who have been abandoned by his mother and her boyfriend, Being an aspiring magician 14 year-old Joe  , met a couple and they eventually took him in as an adopted son , the couple  then ,had to adjust to having a teenage boy around , the rest is for you to discover , if you ever see the book grab it and give it a chance .

After these two books I kept on reading more and more of her work , I dived into older books like :

Hygiène de l'assasin - Hygiene of the assassin ,was her first Novel :

A famous novelist Prétextat Tach has Elzenveiverplatz syndrome a kind of cancer invented by Amélie in her book . Many journalists rushed to interview him after knowing that he only has two months to live . after the first few interviews, the reader realizes that Tach is an obese and obnoxious misanthrope of the worst kind: sarcastic , intolerant and  a misogynist , who can not tolerate any kind of questions about his private life . He has the audacity to turn  the interview into the most disgusting experience a journalist can ever have , but what will happen when Nina shows up ?

Her second novel was Les Sabotage Amoureux - Loving sabotage :

As the daughter of a Diplomat Amélie experienced so much in her life , and lived in different countries and cities which allowed her to use that in her writings , this book is situated in Bejing, China , This Novel follows the seven-year-old narrator living in communist China .Along with the numerous children of various nationalities spend their time fashioning an elaborate and ruthless game of war, designating the East German contingent as the enemy. Among these children is the indifferent Elena, who the narrator quickly becomes infatuated with and goes to great lengths to win her adoration.

Then came Les Catilinaires - The stranger Next door : 

which was about a retired couple Emile and Juliette Hazel , no body lives near their retirement home except an old doctor and his wife , so out of politeness the Hazels payed a visit to their only neighbors , Thus they came in contact with Palaméde Bernadin and his wife Bernadette , things took a different path when Palaméde took a weird habit of paying them a visit on a daily basis from 4pm to 6pm , being present in their household but without uttering a single word for his whole stay .

Attentat 

This  is another Novel I loved , this -as most of other novels written by Amélie- deal with the recurrent question " what is a norm? " Amélie created  two apposing characters Ethel and Epiphane as a pretext to discuss the issue of Societal norm . this main question engenders more questions , do we make our own judgments or are they strictly dictated by the society we live in  ? Are one's views on a given topic, fact, or idea a result of personal reflection or the absorption of a societal concept which has not yet been refuted? what is normality ?

Quote : 

"Mes parents sont frère et sœur comme leurs parents. Dans ma famille, on est crétin des Alpes depuis des générations. Cette consanguinité s'arrêtera avec moi : même ma sœur me trouve trop moche."

Métaphysique des tube -The Character of Rain  :

This Novel is most likely  an autobiography of Amélie , this Novel describes the world as seen by a three year old child born in Japan to a Belgian Family it deals with topics of language acquisition , bilingualism ,self-awareness  and developmental psychology . In Japanse Culture babies and toddlers under the age of 3 years are treated as Okasoma (Lord Child or Little Gods).

Quote:

"Notre unique spécificité individuelle réside en ceci : dis-moi ce qui te dégoûte et je te dirai qui tu es."

"Il existe depuis très longtemps une immense secte d'imbéciles qui oppose sensualité et intelligence. C'est un cercle vicieux: ils se privent de volupté pour exalter leurs capacités intellectuelles, ce qui a pour résultat de les appauvrir. Ils deviennent de plus en plus stupides, ce qui les conforte dans leur conviction d'être brillants - car on n'a rien trouvé de mieux que la bêtise pour se croire intelligent."

Cosmétique de l'ennemi - The Ennemy's cosmetic

I am just gonna leave you with this quote from the book

"Without wanting to, I have committed the perfect crime: nobody saw me coming, except for the victim. The proof, I am still free."

Journal d'hirondelle -Swallow's journal :

This is by far my utmost favorite Novel written by Amélie , its about a hit-man who calls himself "Urbain" who got an assignment to kill a minister and his family (His referring to the minister) then bring back the Minister's briefcase, Urbain has no moral problem with his job , But things get complicated in the process , and he gets his hands on the content of the briefcase which turned out to be a personal diary "journal intime" , Urbain's life changed completely due to its content (the rest is for you guys to discover I don't want to give all of it out)

Quote :

"Mais allez étudier par cœur ne serait-ce que les solos de basse de Radiohead, qui sont à peine une couche de mystère ! Le casque sur les oreilles, je m’isolais dans une sorte de caisse sensoriel où j’écoutais en boucle Amnesiac, Kid A et Hail To The Thief. Cela agissait comme une seringue m’inoculant en continu la drogue la plus délectable…"

Voyage d'hiver - The Winter Journey :

Arriving early to the airport he decides to write down his plans before he boards his last flight.

 Near the end of Le voyage d'hiver the narrator, Zoïle, explains that when he goes through with what he has planned he will be thinking of the Schubert song-cycle, Winterreise.
I will leave the rest for you to discover .

Meanwhile there are still several short stories and novels written by Amélie that I still didn't read yet and that are worthy of being bought , i'll try to get hold of them as soon as I can .

 YES ,her face is  almost on most of her book covers whether hard copies , ebooks or regular paperbacks , deal with it .