After Fertilea first novel that tackled the question of femininity with sensitivity and gentleness, Anne Genest offers an incursion into the daily life of a drifting couple with Sweat is a desire to evaporate.
Posted yesterday at 9:00 p.m.
Running occupies a large place in the life of Anne Genest, who, in addition to devoting herself to writing, is also keen on ultramarathons with her husband, Joan Roch. We are therefore not surprised to see this sport occupying a central place in his new novel, with its pretty evocative title. We are more so when we discover that the author makes Bernard, Jacinthe’s spouse, the narrator of this intimate story which at times takes on the air of a psychological thriller. It’s because Jacinthe, a fifty-year-old dissatisfied with her life, takes up running overnight, for which she will develop a real passion, even an obsession. This causes changes in his physical appearance, but also in his personality and his mood, changes that Bernard relates with growing anxiety. A recently retired bookseller, a man without initiative who wants more than anything to keep things in their place and comfortable, Bernard will take very badly the new direction that Jacinthe gives to his life. How far will he go to stop his momentum?
The easy way, for Anne Genest, would have been to give voice to this female character who seeks to escape from a monotonous life. She rather takes the gamble of telling the story from the point of view of the man left behind, a soft and embittered character to whom it is difficult to attach, but whose psychological contours she traces well. She succeeds in setting up a dramatic tension that at times keeps us on the edge of our seat, but the story scatters and stagnates, then finally takes us where we least expect it. An interesting read, but which leaves us a little on our hunger.
Sweat is a desire to evaporate
Anne Genest
Free expression
192 pages