This is indeed a novel in the spirit of the times – a brilliant novel, both political and ecological, and which, although it did not cross the line of finalists for the Goncourt and Renaudot prizes, did, however, win the Interallié and Jean Giono prizes in recent weeks.
We could say a priori that it is a fable about earthworms, since the story begins with a conference on earthworms attended by two agronomy students, on the campus of a French university.
This conference will be decisive for Arthur and Kevin, not only because it marks the starting point of their friendship, but also because it will influence their future. On the one hand, Kevin, the son of modest farmers, will climb the social ladder to become a fashionable eco-entrepreneur by developing a revolutionary vermicomposting technique which could well solve the problem of waste management on a large scale. worldwide. On the other hand, Arthur, son of a lawyer, renounces his university ambitions and sets out to resurrect his grandfather’s land, made unusable by the prolonged use of pesticides.
However, success will not be without pitfalls, neither for one nor the other. If some passages turned out to be rather dry reading, notably the technical details on vermicomposting and the detailed presentations on earthworms, the surprise was to discover that the novel turns into a terrifying dystopia in its last quarter, a pretext for the author of shedding light on these eco-libertarians who think that the planet is “damaged” and that it will have to be reborn from its ashes.
Engaging while being informative, Humus is a unique novel that shines the spotlight on the real political and economic issues behind environmental decisions.
Humus
Observatory Editions
379 pages