LEURS ENFANTS APRES EUX Nicolas Mathieu

    Nicolas Mathieu's second book is a moral novel, which takes place in a small town in the eastern part of France. The events take place over a period of 6 years - each chapter is a fragment of another year, in succession 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998. Each one of them also has the title of a song, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" or "I Will Survive".

    "Leurs enfants apres eux" is a story about a few teenagers (in 1992, the main character - Anthony - is 14 years old). They all come from poor families who are still struggling with financial problems; some are immigrant children. The characters enter into adolescence and all this turbulent process is described in detail. Teenagers are experimenting with drugs and alcohol. They experience the first love of elation, for some it is a time of sexual initiation. The book is about the collision of fantasies and dreams of young people with reality. The world presented by Matthieu is very brutal, vulgar. The language of the heroes is often primitive, rich in potocyzmy. However, the third person narrator draws events and space very accurately. He also describes the emotional states of the heroes, not limiting himself to Anthony's world. We observe changes in the lives of heroes, their transformation into adults.

    The first scene - when Anthony and her cousin steal a motor boat to meet the girls on the other side of the lake - shows what kind of events will be presented. We are witnessing many meetings of young people, parties and pub visits.

   In addition to the relationship between teenagers, the teenager-parent relationship is also extensively described. These young people often grew up in pathological environments, with alcohol addicted fathers, aggressive ones. Nevertheless, the author does not show them in a completely bad light, he also writes about good times (for example, when Anthony's mother wants to help him, save him from his father's wrath). It seems to me that the title of the novel refers to these relations. The characters, in a sense, follow their parents' footsteps, you can certainly talk about social determinism here. 

    This book, despite the fact that her language is very lively and full of humor, is not easy to read. The descriptions are dense, there are a lot of difficult words, but also potocisms that I did not know before (even drug-related nomenclature). The author uses the passe simple time, with which I have practically never encountered before. I must admit that - because of the time pressure and just the length of the book - I could not read it as accurately as I would like. Certainly I would like to return to this position for some time and devote enough time to it.