The result of the France Bleu Book Prize – Page des libraires will be known May 23.
In the running, 5 French novels. I present to you today “La patience des traces” by Jeanne Benameur published by Actes Sud. In this story we will follow Simon, psychoanalyst installed near the ocean who for many years has listened to the stories of others but who one morning, by simply breaking a bowl, thinks that he is time to listen to himself. And to confront his story, the youthful trio he formed with two friends and which still haunts him today. So he will leave everything and go to an initiatory journey to meet himself. A departure date but not a return date.
He then takes a one-way ticket to the subtropical islands of Yaeyama, which are not very popular with tourists. There, he will be hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Itô, exceptional beings with whom he will gently sympathize.
We go track slow rebuild of Simon in contact with the marvels of nature, the resilience of his hosts and the introspection that he will impose on himself. He explains to us that the encounter with oneself goes through the encounter with the other even if we do not speak the same language, on the contrary things can even be simpler that way.
It’s a book where you take your time, you stop running, we put life on hold and yet we devour it so much we are carried away by the journey of our hero. I found the subject very original, and the subject very intelligent. Jeanne Benameur explores all the facets of Simon’s psyche, the good and the most shameful, she returns to the passion, the complexity of love, friendship, the place to be found in life. It’s very fair and it transports. And then she has a feather in which I found what I liked in Japanese literature: contemplation, subtlety. Closing it I thought that Simon was giving us a gift, we should make the same trip as him.