Gay & Lesbian Fiction, Family & Friendship - Fiction, European Peoples & Cultures - Fiction & Literature
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Overview
Why does Great-Aunt Louise wreck the apartment of her sister Suzanne? What are the documents she is looking for, and do they really concern a thirty-year-old scandal involving the narrator's mother? And why does his father flee Nice, abandoning a job and a fiancee and turn up in Paris wearing no socks? It seems that every family contains its share of mystery and violence as well as love. In My Parents, Guibert blends autobiography and fiction in the captivating mix that is the hallmark of his writing: the book confirms his position as one of great French writers of the fin de siecle.Editorials
Library Journal
First published in Paris in 1986, five years before Guibert died of AIDS at the age of 36, this autobiographical novel sketches the author's life to within eight years of his death. Nearly everyone in his unconventional family has a few skeletons rattling in the closet: the mother, pregnant by the parish priest; the father, on the lam from a pregnant girlfriend in Nice; and the author, discovering and exploring his homosexuality. Despite these secrets, the family is also ordinary in many small ways: the mother fussing over the children; the civil-servant father working dutifully decade after decade; and the author seeking and finding acceptance from his parents. The novel is filled with gentle and endearing moments touched by flashes of anger and disgust that nearly always end with understanding and love. The style is sparse, the plot is linear, and the characters are true to themselves. The reader will wish the story had continued until the end of the author's life.Book Details
Published
November 15, 1993
Publisher
Serpent's Tail
Pages
160
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9781852422868