Hey guys :)
I've decided
to write a blog about a book which we’re reading in our French class at the
moment. It is called “Les Noces Barbares” (“The Wedding” in English) and was
written by Yann Queffelec, a French author.
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The story
takes place near the sea somewhere in France and is written in a narrative
perspective. Queffelec describes everything in a very objective way even though
the plot is very sad and should include lots of emotions.
The plot
It all begins
when Nicole, a young French teenage girl, falls in love with Will, an American,
who is many years older than her. He promises to marry her and even talks to
her parents about it. One day, he asks Nicole to spend a night with him and as she
is deeply in love with him, she comes to the place as agreed upon. When she
meets Will, the young girl realizes that he is drunk. The following part in the
book is described in extremely appalling detail. Will had invited two friends of
him and they variantly rape Nicole. This is probably the most important part of
the book because the subsequent story line is based upon it.
Nicole gets
pregnant and has a baby, Ludovic (called Ludo). She hates him more than
anything else because every time she sees him she is reminded of that nightmare
of when she was raped. Ludo is treated very badly. In the first few years, he
is kept in the garret and has almost no access to the world outside of it.
Nicole’s parents unwillingnessly look a bit after him but they don’t like the
child either as he is a dishonor for the family. The only person who is nice
to Ludo is his aunt but unfortunately she dies in the course of the story.
After some
years, Nicole decides to get married to Micho, a mechanic, who has already a
son called Tatav. After the marriage, Ludo and Nicole move to Micho’s house
even though Nicole is strongly against the decision to take Ludo with her. In
all the recent years that have passed she has never ever given Ludo the feeling
of love or affection. Her son suffers extremely from his heartless mother and
is always in hope that one day she would accept him as her child.
Time passes
and nothing changes between their relationship. On the contrary, Nicole suffers
more and more from the recurring nightmares and finally decides to send Ludo to
an asylum. The only persons who come to see him are Micho and Tatav. Nicole
never shows her face there which makes Ludo even sadder as he already is…
This is not
the end of the story but I won’t reveal it as someone maybe wants to read it on
his or her own.
Now that
you have read the beginning of the plot, I think that you all realized that
this book is not for the faint-hearted. I would recommend it only to those of you
who don’t weep easily because the story is extremely sad and I won’t promise a
happy end either…
