Literary back to school: 3 first novels to read urgently

Roxane Gay, Difficult Women

From the great African American academic Roxane Gay, we knew the proud sages bad feminist And Hunger. Two texts published by Denoël from which emanate a communicative revolt and a feminism as uninhibited as it is uninhibited. With Difficult women, we find his furious breath mixed with a feather that gives us back. This collection of short stories collects the first literary writings of the writer who, at the time, was unable to get them published. The 21 stories – more or less long – collected here, portray explosive and unconventional heroines struggling with the violence of life and human relationships. And above all men. We discover two sisters, who have become almost Siamese, after being kidnapped and raped by their kidnapper. The underside of an elegant Florida residence. A woman who punishes herself for the accidental death of her son by dating a man who abuses her. Another pretending not to know that her husband and twin brother regularly swap places … Far from the resilience we use and abuse at all costs, Roxane Gay offers a gallery of torn, damaged or unfit women of society. Her chiseled and sometimes cruel writing delves into despair but also suggests the possibility of happiness. A powerful, sometimes disturbing book, a must read!

Difficult womenby Roxane Gay, translated from English by Olivia Tapiero, Mémoire d’encrier, 338 pages, € 23

Sylvie Pouilloux, Clandesti

The news continues to remind us: the right to abortion is never taken for granted. But a struggle, far from won. With Clandesti, Sylvie Pouilloux, tells the story of this struggle, immersing us in a crucial moment in the pro-abortion movement in France. In the aftermath of the Bobigny trial, in the early 1970s, the struggle for women’s rights, and in particular for the free disposal of their bodies, was in full swing. Jane, whose father, a prominent physician, openly supports the conservative pro-life association “Let them live”, tries to understand why her sister was suddenly exiled to Spain. Her investigation led her to get involved in the pro-abortion movement alongside Pierre, a young doctor from the Health Information Group (GIS). If we recommend this first novel, it is not – let’s be honest – because of the inventiveness of his literary style. But because this highly documented text, which stands on the border of the historical narrative, plunges us entirely behind the scenes of a cause that affects us all.

illegal immigrants, by Sylvie Pouilloux, Blast, 207 pages, € 17

Polina Panasenko, Keep your tongue

Favorite of our selection – but also of many booksellers and critics – Keep your tongue it is a gem. The story of a little girl, born Paulina in Moscow and became Pauline after her family’s exile in France after the fall of the USSR. The story of a great and sometimes heartbreaking gap between two languages, two countries, two cultures. From the duplication of a little girl who “wears French” when she goes out, she takes it off when she comes home and builds herself between “Minikeum” and holidays in dacha of his grandparents. Finally, of an adult who she decides to recover her name and comes up against an almost Kafkaesque conception of integration. ” What I want is to wear the first name I received when I was born. Without hiding it, without inventing it, without modifying it. Without being afraid of it. He writes to the prosecutor that he must decide his case at the Bobigny court. With this first partly autobiographical novel, Polina Panassenko offers a wonderful reflection, at the height of a child, on the complexity and barriers of language. It is also a humorous, often tender, sometimes touching account of what exile is all about. All this, carried by a feather as insolent as it is imaginative. Not to be missed.

hold your tongue, by Polina Panassenko, L’olivo, 186 pages, € 18

Cover photo: Unsplash / Asal Lotfi