It took me some time to get through this book only because my French is awful. With that being said the words were moving and thought provoking! Very well written! ( )

My French was not good enough to do a review of this book justice. I have passed it on to an expert and will update my review when I hear back. The impression I got from the parts I understood reminded me of the beginning of the movie Up. It was looking back on life and dealing with death. ( )

Hoarau collection rests comfortably on the penumbra between prose poems and poetic prose. Ashes and foam mix in every changing configurations to remind us that "There is often a moment in the history of a man when God appears to him as the only being without whom it would be illusory to live." Readers may not agree with Hoarau's take on the divine, but even at the most reticent they will be highly tempted to surrender to his writing.

English review below the French

Chaque phrase de ce petit livre est dense, lumineuse et finement ciselée, comme un joyau exquis. Le vocabulaire est recherché. Sur deux pages, j'ai dû chercher dans le dictionnaire la signification de vénusté, de vulnéraire, de glèbes. Chaque phrase demande, et mérite, beaucoup d'attention pour en appréhender le sens.

Ce qui me pose un problème. Je pense à l'expression "les arbres cachent la forêt". Car si je dois passer tant de temps à apprécier la poésie des phrases, quand elles sont mises ensemble je ne vois plus le sens du récit, qui traite d'un deuil profond.

J'ai l'impression d'être inadéquate, et j'ai mis longtemps à venir au bout de ces 79 pages de pure poésie en prose. Moi qui peut facilement dévorer 1000 pages en un weekend...

Troublée, j'ai demandé à plusieurs connaissances leur avis, y compris un étudiant en rhétorique. Ils m'ont tous dit que c'était très beau, mais ils ne se sentaient pas assez intelligents pour comprendre.

Ce qui est dommage.

Pour ces raisons, je ne classe pas le livre avec des étoiles. Je le passerai plus loin.

Livre reçu grâce à Early Reviewers et Nombre7 éditions.

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Each sentence of this small book is dense, luminous and finely carved, like an exquisite gem. The vocabulary is precious. On just two pages, I had to look up the meaning of vénusté (grace, beauty), vulnéraire (healing), glèbes (cultivated land). Every single sentence requires, and deserves, careful attention to fully catch the sense.

Which poses a problem. I am thinking of the expression "can't see the trees for the forest". For if I have to spend so much time trying to appreciate the poetry of the sentences, when they are all put together I no longer understand the sense of the text, which is dealing with deep mourning.

It gives me the feeling of being inadequate, and it took me a long time to get to the end of these 79 pages of pure prose poetry. Me, who can easily get through 1000 pages in a weekend...

As i was unsure of myself, I asked a few acquaintances what they thought, among them my grandson who is studying rhetoric at college. They all said that it was beautiful writing, but they didn't feel intelligent enough to understand it.

Which is a shame.

For these reasons, I am not rating this book with stars. I will pass it on.

Thanks to Early Reviewers and Nombre7 éditions for sending me the book.

This book is in French. I had heard lovely things about it with regard to mourning, and have experienced a great deal of loss as of late - either unexpected, from illness, or even suicide. Because I am not fluent in French I have struggled to complete reading this. Each piece that I complete is insightful and thought-provoking. ( )