In his first novel since winning the Nobel Prize in 2014, Patrick Modiano has spun an absorbing tale of mystery and suspense. He is a French novelist who also won the Austrian State Prize for European Literature in 2012 and the 2010 Prix Mondial Cino Del Duca from the Institute of France for lifetime achievement. His other prestigious awards include the Prix Goncourt The Street of Obscure Boutiques in 1978 and the 1972 Grand Prix du Roman de L’Académie for Ring Road. His work has been translated into more than 30 languages. Most of his novels had not been translated into English until he was awarded the Nobel Prize.
Jean Daragane is a
novelist who is in a funk and living as a recluse in Paris. One day he discovers he has lost his address
book, and he receives a phone call from a stranger, who found the book in a
train station. His first thought is
blackmail, but he agrees to meet the caller, Gilles Ottolini, who brings a
woman friend, Chantel Grippay. Jean
retrieves the book and leaves. The next
day, Gilles calls again, and wants to talk about an entry in the address book –
Guy Torstell. Jean has no memory of who
this man is or even why he is in his address book. Gilles reveals Jean also used the name in his
first novel, 30 years ago. The mystery
thickens when Jean receives a call from Chantell and reveals several apparently
coincidental items, which connect Gilles and Jean. The next day, Chantel calls Jean, and ask him
to meet at her apartment. Modiano
writes, “She leant over to him, and her face was so close to his that he
noticed a tiny scar on her left cheek.
Le Tremblay. Chantel. Square de Graisvaudan. These words had traveled a long way. An insect bite, , very slight to begin with,
and it causes you an increasingly sharp pain, and very soon a feeling of being
torn apart. The present and the past merge
together, and that seems quite natural because they were only separated by a
cellophane partition. An insect bite was
all it took to pierce the cellophane. He
could not be sure of the year, but he was very young, in a room as small as
this one with a girl called Chantel – a fairly common name at the time. The husband of this Chantel, on Paul, and
other friends of theirs had set off as they always did on Saturdays to gamble
in the casinos on the outskirts of Paris: […] and they came back the following
day with a bit of money. He, Daragane,
and this Chantel, spent the entire night together in this room in square du
Graisvaudan until the others returned.
Paul, the husband, also used to go to race meetings. A gambler.
With him it was not merely a matter of doubling up on your losses”
(31-32).
As Modiano expands
on this peculiar web of coincidences, the suspense rises. Chantel gives Jean copies of notes for an
article about Tostel. It is not apparent
that she had permission to do so. Later,
Jean examines the copies, and notices a passage from his first novel, Summer Night. Modiano reads from his novel, “In the Galeris
de Beaujolais, there was indeed a bookshop behind whose window some art books
were displayed. He went in. S dark-haired woman was sitting at her desk.
//. ‘I should like to talk to Monsieur
Morihien.’ // Monsieur Morihien is away,’ She told him. “But would you like to speak to Monsieur
Torstel?’” (41). The tenuous threads, which hold this story together, create a tale of mystery and suspense, which you can finish in a day.
The more clues Patrick
Modiano supplies, the more mysterious the story becomes. So You
Don’t Get Lost in the Neighborhood is a good introduction to a writer for
those interested in a good mystery mixed with fine literary fiction. 5 stars
--Chiron, 12/29/15
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