"Quand Dieu boxait en amateur" GUY BOLEY

"Quand Dieu boxait en amateur" GUY BOLEY

The book at the very beginning made me quite negative about it: I personally do not like the first-person narrative, which we find from the first sentences. To my surprise, we quickly forget about it, because the work focuses on the narrator's memories. He tells the story of his father, his way through life. We start from the end of my father's life: from his death, illness. Later, however, the story goes on chronologically: from the youngest years, through interest in the title box, to the end of the main character's days.

An interesting theme are reflections on the role of the Church: the best friend René (the father of the narrator) becomes a priest and as a theater enthusiast tries to enrich the parish with a noteworthy theater art. However, there is a clash with the conservative pastor, who for years has been presenting the same during the parish festival and considers it the only thing clean and worthy of a beautiful church.

Anyway, the father becomes a boxer, which causes his closest fears: despite his achievements in amateur battles, i.e. the French championship, he feels that he is becoming too old for an amateur play, and he is not fit for work in this profession. The chance to dispel doubts and find a good way is given to him by his friend, who offers him the role of Jesus in the Passion, which he intends to exhibit in the parish. There are new ambitions of the main character.

The song is written in an interesting language, exceptionally rich (especially thanks to René's love of writing unknown words from Larousse), containing a dose of quite specific sense of humor, but he has, however, amused the "L'église Saint-Martin des Chaprais est assez laide" several times: il est préférable d'avoir la foi avant d'y entrer. " I am not sure if this is a book worth distinction, but everything will turn out to be read in comparison with other works. Regarding the reasons for doubts, I think that an important aspect when choosing a book worth winning in our competition is always the value for the Polish reader (as the books are translated into Polish) and the subject matter. This novel may actually be a tribute to the father of the narrator (and perhaps even the author, since it is probably autobiographical), but I do not see any exceptional values ​​that she could convey to the Polish audience.