Home »
Fred Vargas is a writer to pay attention to
Book Review
By Derryll White
Vargas, Fred (2017). This Poison Will Remain.
Fred Vargas (Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau) is an archaeologist/historian/scientist by training and a French slightly surrealist writer by passionate calling. This is her latest work just released, translated very adeptly by Sidn Reynolds.
Vargas is delightful as she reads widely and has a character, Danglard, who has a genius for throwing Hugo, Nietzsche, Vivaldi, Balzac and a whole host of others into the dialogue. It is exhilarating content.
Inspector Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, the central character in this novel, is an eclectic genius fuelled by keen observation and sharp wit. He understands people and, unhampered by lineal thinking, pulls clues and partial understandings from the most obscure places. Adamsbergt drives his talented team of officers crazy, but makes each of them better at their job and life by pushing them relentlessly.
Fred Vargas creates a complex world in rural France populated with psychological oddities, only some of whom are on the police force. She embraces her historical training while catching the world most of us live in; order on the surface and chaos underneath. History allows her the context to understand some of the chaos. She also brings in symbolism and myth to enhance the central story. Vargas is a writer to pay attention to.
****
Excerpts from the novel:
THE REMAINDER – “A child can be willing to kill for a glass marble. But he doesn’t kill anyone, he shouts, he has a tantrum. An adult, who is greedy for possession, can kill; he can run over – twice! – a woman who weighs fifty-two kilos, a woman with a charming laugh. But that’s because the marble has turned into two million, one hundred and thirty-eight thousand, and a hundred and twenty-three euros. And fourteen centimes = let’s not forget the centimes. Because they are the surviving echo of that glass marble.”
FAIRY TALE – “And believe me, there’s so much that’s improbable and unreal in the story of our recluse that it isn’t unlike some kind of fairy tale.”
“A fairy tale?”
“All fairy tales are cruel by nature, that’s their distinguishing feature.”
NEW WORLD – Before obeying the doctor’s orders, Adamsberg consulted his text messages. The psychiatrist didn’t seem to realise that now people had mobiles it was impossible to go to sleep. Or to wander about watching the gulls fly over the dead fish in the river, or to allow the bubbles of gas to bounce around inside your head.
– Derryll White once wrote books but now chooses to read and write about them. When not reading he writes history for the web at www.basininstitute.org.
