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1StevenTX
My review:
The Sea Wall is the first of three autobiographical novels Marguerite Duras would write about her teenage years in Indochina. She lived both in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) and on a small coastal rice plantation in what is now Cambodia. The latter is the setting for this novel.
The author's alter ego is named Suzanne. She lives with her mother, referred to only as "Ma," and her older brother Joseph. Ma and her husband had immigrated to Indochina in 1899, lured by the government's promise of easy wealth. The husband had died soon after Suzanne's birth. Later Ma had applied for a land concession, and been granted 100 acres of supposedly prime rice land. Too late, she had discovered that all but five acres of it was inundated by the sea every monsoon season. Ma had gone deeply into debt building a sea wall to keep out the salt water, only to see it collapse the very first year.
The story takes place in the early 1920s when Suzanne is 17, her brother 20. The trio are subsisting on wild game, fish, and the little rice they can manage to grow while Ma staves off her creditors and nurtures the hope of somehow rebuilding the sea wall. She pins her hopes on Suzanne, whose beauty is bound to attract a rich husband some day. Their dreams seem about to be realized when Monsieur Jo, the spoiled son of a wealthy colonist, falls in love with Suzanne. But he has no intention of marrying her, and Suzanne makes no secret of the fact that all they are after is his money.
The Sea Wall is a bleak novel. Its unlovable characters are condemned to poverty, not for lack of energy or ambition, but for a lack of vision. Ma doggedly fixates on the sea wall as her only hope and on marketing her daughter's virginity as the key to realizing it. Her two children think only of escape, but are incapable of breaking with the daily routine to find a way out.
The first half of the novel is sharply focused on the family and the affair with Monsieur Jo. In the second half, however, Duras broadens the vision to include the native population of the cities and countryside. There are gut wrenching scenes of poverty, disease, and injustice with the youngest being the ones who suffer the most. In addition to a tense family drama, the novel becomes a bitter indictment of colonialism.
Duras re-told the story of her youth in her most famous novel, The Lover, but with substantial changes in both plot and style. The Sea Wall more closely resembles the writing of Louis-Ferdinand Céline with its hard-boiled, grim and nihilistic tone.
2edwinbcn
Un barrage contre le Pacifique
Finished reading: 30 September 2013
In English: 
Un barrage contre le Pacifique (English: The Sea Wall) is essential reading for readers interested in Marguerite Duras. It is an autobiographical novel about the author's youth in French Indo-China, particularly that part of Cambodia, now part of Vietnam. The author appears in the novel as Suzanne, who lives on a concession with her Mother and older brother Joseph.
From the earliest parts of the novel, the theme of decay dominates the story. Everything around the family is old, or broken or flawed. The books opens with Joseph's purchase of an old horse. The animal is so old and weak that it dies in a matter of days. This episode is followed by episodes about the family's ancient car, and, most importantly, the concession which Mother had leased, which turned out to be the worst plot of land in the district, as it is inundated most of the year. Only the bungalow, where they live remains dry. Mother was assigned to this useless plot of land by corrupt officials.
The economic decay surrounding the family lowers their status, and makes them vulnerable. The son of a wealthy Chinese merchant, Mr Jo, makes use of this weakness by approaching the family, and showing his interest in the young Suzanne. He gives her expensive presents, but wants something in return:
"Demain vous aurez votre phonographe, dit M. Jo. Dès demain. Un magnifique VOIX DE SON MAÎTRE. Ma petite Suzanne chérie, ouvrez une seconde et vous aurez votre phono."
The novel dwells upon the final days of colonial power in French Indo-China, as decay and corruption spread, while the status of the white colonists erodes, and wealthy Asians, particularly the Chinese begin to manisfest themselves. In autobiographical writing, published many years after the novel, Duras declared that the nationality of Mr Jo was Chinese. Likely, "Jo" is the francophone form of the Chinese name Zhou.
Despite the air of decay in colonial society, Suzanne and Joseph find freedom and release in the lush wilderness of the forest that surrounds their concession.
The novel build up slowly, and dwells long on a limited number of motives, to bring each to full bearing upon the story.
Other books I have read by Marguerite Duras:
Les lieux de Marguerite Duras
Écrire
La maladie de la mort
L'Amant de la Chine du Nord
Finished reading: 30 September 2013
In English: 
Un barrage contre le Pacifique (English: The Sea Wall) is essential reading for readers interested in Marguerite Duras. It is an autobiographical novel about the author's youth in French Indo-China, particularly that part of Cambodia, now part of Vietnam. The author appears in the novel as Suzanne, who lives on a concession with her Mother and older brother Joseph.
From the earliest parts of the novel, the theme of decay dominates the story. Everything around the family is old, or broken or flawed. The books opens with Joseph's purchase of an old horse. The animal is so old and weak that it dies in a matter of days. This episode is followed by episodes about the family's ancient car, and, most importantly, the concession which Mother had leased, which turned out to be the worst plot of land in the district, as it is inundated most of the year. Only the bungalow, where they live remains dry. Mother was assigned to this useless plot of land by corrupt officials.
The economic decay surrounding the family lowers their status, and makes them vulnerable. The son of a wealthy Chinese merchant, Mr Jo, makes use of this weakness by approaching the family, and showing his interest in the young Suzanne. He gives her expensive presents, but wants something in return:
"Demain vous aurez votre phonographe, dit M. Jo. Dès demain. Un magnifique VOIX DE SON MAÎTRE. Ma petite Suzanne chérie, ouvrez une seconde et vous aurez votre phono."
The novel dwells upon the final days of colonial power in French Indo-China, as decay and corruption spread, while the status of the white colonists erodes, and wealthy Asians, particularly the Chinese begin to manisfest themselves. In autobiographical writing, published many years after the novel, Duras declared that the nationality of Mr Jo was Chinese. Likely, "Jo" is the francophone form of the Chinese name Zhou.
Despite the air of decay in colonial society, Suzanne and Joseph find freedom and release in the lush wilderness of the forest that surrounds their concession.
The novel build up slowly, and dwells long on a limited number of motives, to bring each to full bearing upon the story.
Other books I have read by Marguerite Duras:
Les lieux de Marguerite Duras
Écrire
La maladie de la mort
L'Amant de la Chine du Nord
3chlorine
Just finished reading it. I have nothing to add to both your reviews, but I wanted to point out that "Ma" seems to me to be a poor translation. In the book she is only referred to as "la mère" (the mother).
This book made a striking impression on me and made me want to explore more of Duras' work.
This book made a striking impression on me and made me want to explore more of Duras' work.
