Christophe Dufosse

I looked over online reviews for School's Out, was taken aback by the hostility against so thoughtful and well-written a book, and wanted to add to the few web words of praise for it.

On one hand the novel is one of suspense, with a sense of the ominous causing tension that strengthens through the course of it even as Dufosse suggests, as the story progresses, reason to rather sympathise with the uncanny and violent students; on the other it's a convincing portrayal of a character, the students' teacher Pierre Hoffman. Hoffman is the reallest fictional character I've read about recently; the character is filled out bit by bit by those 'digressions' and 'ramblings' that caused complaint and like real people has an unfathomable bed of layers that fictional characters usually lack and that make him like real people essentially unknowable.

A good book.… (más)

***NO SPOILERS***

What School's Out is supposed to be about: a class of sinister freshman students with murderous tendencies. What it is instead: 321 pages of random tangents, plus five pages of an unfocused, yawn-inducing main plot. This is such a frustrating book. Here are just some of the tangents I was subjected to while impatiently waiting for the main story: a detailed memory of a punk rock concert; the narrator's ramblings about the television shows he likes to watch, the various sounds he can hear from his apartment, and his oddball neighbors; a television show the narrator liked to watch as a child, with special mention of the show's theme song; excessive detail of a home's gardens and property; and a bizarre out-of-the-blue incestuous encounter between the narrator and his sister. Just when Dufosse focuses on the main plot, just when the pace finally quickens the slightest bit, he switches back to some completely irrelevant, utterly boring, pages-long tangent. The pace then reverts to a snail's crawl. I was desperate for more details--about the students, the dead teacher, the history the students had with each other, something having to do with the main plot line.

Possibly the biggest problem with this book, though, is that there is considerably more telling than showing. A few characters mention these students are "peculiar" and "scary," but the students never are shown actually doing anything criminal; my curiosity never was piqued much. I was supposed to accept these kids are threatening and clannish simply because they are. As for the few creepy student-teacher moments...they're laughably underwhelming--at least to modern readers hardened by stories of real-life school massacres.

The characters in this book are so cardboard, though, that I'm not even sure seeing them commit a crime would be that scary. The most dimension Dufosse gave each student, for instance, was a first and last name--at one point even listing all twenty-four full names--as if full names are the most important kind of characterization. The students barely even speak. Additionally, this book has at least twelve extraneous non-student characters; they in no way relate to the main plot or serve any purpose at all, really. It feels almost as if Dufosse mistakenly believed that to achieve a certain level of literary sophistication he had to cram his work full of characters.

Stylistically, School's Out is flawed, without a doubt. Many, many sentences are wordy and convoluted to the point of nonsense, which means reading this book is slow going. I'm not sure whether the fault lies with the translator or the author. Could this have been better translated? Or is Dufosse just an extremely wordy writer? Regardless, it's pure torture: "The well-proportioned quasi-neutrality of her silhouette, of her appearance, even in a seated position, the fragile rectitude of it all, evoked in me an irreversible negation, flaws concealed beneath a deceptive classicism." Gobbledegook like this completely halts the pace about every two pages.

The ending is supposed to be dramatic and shocking but is just meaningless. Again, because Dufosse barely focused on the main plot and failed entirely to flesh out his main characters (and show them acting criminal), the ending has zero impact and frankly, doesn't even make sense.

I honestly can't praise a single thing about this book. As a short story or novella, this tale could have turned out beautifully, as Dufosse would have been forced to zoom in on main characters and main plot only. The premise is provocative, and it seems clear Dufosse wanted to create something chilling and memorable, but unfortunately, he failed entirely in its execution.… (más)

Na de zelfmoord van een vereenzaamde leraar Aardrijkskunde en Geschiedenis neemt Pierre Hofmann diens lessen in klas 3F over en tracht zich een beeld te vormen van die in zichzelf gekeerde groep, die, naar hij te weten komt, vanaf de basisschool steeds bij elkaar is gebleven. Naast de onbestemde dreiging die hij in de klas proeft en die hem uit zijn evenwicht brengt, moet hij als jonge leraar en vrijgezel ook nog eens de schoolse beslommeringen en zijn persoonlijk reilen en zeilen op elkaar zien af te stemmen. Dat levert een vileine sfeertekening van de onderwijscultuur en tal van andere fraaie scènes op: leraren bij elkaar op bezoek, bureaucratische manipulaties, een vergadering van de oudercommissie, een avondje zappen in zijn eentje, herinneringen aan de eigen jeugdjaren, enz. Zeer herkenbaar. Maar het bizarre organisme dat deze klas vormt, laat zich niet doorgronden noch sturen en bereidt een noodlottige vlucht voor. De auteur (1963) verwierf met deze veelzijdige debuutroman de Prix du premier roman 2002.… (más)