Camille Bordas

Loved this story about a French boy trying to make sense of his crazy family and the crazy world. Ran across the author from a fine short story she had in The New Yorker, so looked her up. This is her third novel, but the first two are in French. (She grew up speaking French and Spanish, but she has lived in the US for a while and this book was written in English.)

Looking forward to reading more by her. I was sad when the book ended!

Here’s the short story I liked: rel="nofollow" target="_top">https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/06/28/offside-constantly
… (más)

“”Your pants,” I said, “your shirts—all beige. Or . . . oatmeal, maybe.” “Oatmeal” sounded less aggressive. I’d been told I was a little mean at times, in my choice of words.”

I’m sorry but I laughed WAY too hard at this. If someone said I had an oatmeal color shirt on, I would die.

The main character is a huge control freak, but I understand that she quit smoking cold turkey. I would be on edge too. Her family seems toxic so I could relate to that. Nothing really happened. The main characters obsessive nature seemed funny.… (más)

The Mazal family are a bit clever. The older five children have each skipped numerous grades; the oldest are completing Ph.D.s before “regular” people even finish college. The youngest Mazal, however, is not like his siblings. Isidore hasn’t skipped any grades. He believes he’s not especially smart. And to be honest, he’s feeling a bit isolated, or alienated, or, frankly, just lonely. Izzy, as he wishes to be called though no one does, considers his plight and that of his siblings and parents over the course of two pivotal years between the ages of 11 and 13. Although his clever family is startlingly successful in academia, they aren’t terribly good at life. Indeed, they tend to look toward Dore (see what I mean about not getting them to call him Izzy?) as both their exemplar and guide as to how to behave with regular people. The trouble is that Isidore doesn’t feel especially adept at that himself.

Bordas writes with charm and assurance, liberally sprinkling her prose with humorous scenes and witticisms. It could become tiresome if it weren’t for the honest, even literal, perspective of young Isidore. Bordas also avoids veering toward unearned profundity, always a risk in the quirky-family novel. The tone is light even when some of the events are dark indeed. I enjoyed the writing and spending time with Isidore, though the rest of his family might be a bit much.

Gently recommended.… (más)