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Brodeck's Report by Philippe Claudel (view source)
Revision as of 10:47, 28 September 2020
, 10:47, 28 September 2020no edit summary
{{infobox infobox1
|title= Brodeck's Report
|author= Philippe Claudel
|buy= Yes
|borrow= Yes
|pages=288
|publisher= MacLehose PressQuercus|date= February 2009January 2010|isbn=978-1906694043 1906694685 |amazonukcover=<amazonuk>1906694044</amazonuk> Claudel_Brodeck|aznuk=1906694680|amazonusaznus=<amazonus>1906694044</amazonus>
}}
Brodeck is a part-time writer, in that he gathers local information and nature notes for some agency that might not even care. But events and circumstances are forcing him to spend more time in his shed, fingers working at his broken-down typewriter. His story is one of great innocence amid great horror, but it's not just his own story he is impelled to tell.
The style might put a couple of readers off, as different flashbacks and reminiscences are introduced to us with no introduction, but I enjoyed everything here. It never becomes too much to concentrate on the different colours of this story, as Brodeck weaves his autobiography into the very realistic sensibilities of this time and place, which are equally finely portrayed.
This builds in a lovely fashion to its conclusion, and makes for a great novel of strong artistry and enjoyable story. It is a lovely blend, and I can only declare it one of the best European novels I have come across in a long while. I can only hope the author gets a great success here – he wins prizes in his native France, but has a woeful [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Claudel Wikipedia page], so seems to be someone the English-speaking world has been ignoring for some time. I don't think this will be the case for long.
I must thank Quercus for the Bookbag's review copy. We also have a review of [[Monsieur Linh and His Child by Philippe Claudel and Euan Cameron]].
This deserves to be as big a hit as the very different, but also commendable, [[The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies]]. You might also appreciate [[Good People by Nir Baram]]. We think you'll also enjoy [[The Investigation by Philippe Claudel]].
{{toptentext|list=Top Ten War Novels}}
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[[Category:Literary Fiction]]