Appearing in English for the first time, these two volumes capture Nobel Prize winner Modiano in self-defining mode. Published in 1981,
Young Once reveals the author shaking off maximalist language and exposition as he shows Louis and Odile looking back at their early, shadier years in Paris. Uneasy nostalgia may be common, but Modiano's take—and wonderfully scraped-down language—is not.
In the Café of Lost Youth, which followed in 2007, is even more distilled, representing Modiano at his height. In 1950s Paris, a young woman nicknamed Louki haunts a café called the Condé, casting a decided allure yet remaining mysterious and unknowable. A young hanger-on, the husband she abandoned, the detective searching for her—all try to grasp her and fail. Not unexpectedly, Modiano withholds her secret life to the end.
VERDICT Two more great examples of Modiano's writing, with Young Once somewhat more accessible and In the Café of Lost Youth perhaps the better book.
Comment Policy:
Comment should not be empty !!!