Unforgivable by Philippe Djian


Unforgivable
Title : Unforgivable
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 143916441X
ISBN-10 : 9781439164419
Language : English
Format Type : Hardcover
Number of Pages : 224
Publication : First published January 1, 2009
Awards : Prix Jean Freustié (2009)

Francis, a sixty-year-old author, has not written a word in the twelve years since his first wife and eldest daughter died in a tragic accident. Now his surviving daughter, Alice, a famous actress, has vanished, leaving her husband and twin daughters clueless as to her whereabouts. Francis’s second marriage of ten years, to Judith, is also falling apart, and his distress is compounded by his anxiety over Alice’s disappearance. He finds comfort in the company of an old friend, Anne-Marguerite, along with her son, JÉrÉmie, a laconic criminal attempting to remake himself in the outside world. But when Francis employs them to uncover evidence of his second wife’s affair and to help find his daughter, things go from bad to worse.


Unforgivable Reviews


  • Laurent

    In his own style, Djian describes how a man, a writer, can't figure how to keep people around him. Touching but irritating, mature but childish, this man could have everything and has nothing. Parents-children relationships, husband-wife relationships, he fails no matter how much he tries, whether he forgives or not. He shows us how difficult it is to live and be loved.

    Dans son propre style, Djian decrit comment un homme, un ecrivain, n'arrive pas a trouver le moyen de garder les gens pres de lui. Touchant mais penible, mature mais pueril, cet homme pourrait tout avoir et n'a rien. Les relations parents-enfants, mari-femme, il y echoue quel que soit ses efforts, qu'il pardonne ou pas. Il nous montre combien c'est difficile de vivre et d'etre aime.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Brozart

    Bis zur Hälfte durchgehalten und abgebrochen. Aufrichtige Entschuldigung dafür.

  • Rose

    I read this in English, and the translation wasn't very good. I could tell there was a good story, but many of the important points were muddled.

    Je l'ai lu en anglais, et la traduction n'est pas tres bonne. Il y a une bonne histoire, mais quelques parties sont confusées.

  • Linda

    Could not finish this. Pretentious sounding and rambling. Then they die. Except the one you think was already dead. I should just give up on foreign book prize books.

  • Michael

    Perhaps I am not reading it correctly but it came across as distanced and cool and almost tough for a reader to get into the plot/writing.

  • Oyku Oztas

    This is my second time reading one of Philippe Djian’s books. And he never ceases to amaze me. It is as direct as life itself. However there is just one thing that made me a bit cut off from the book; at first the vanishing of Alice seems to be the main deal in the book and then it feels like Djian changed his mind halfway through. Other than that, it is a beautiful harmony of life’s grey zones explained in carefully chosen words. It was a peephole through a wavy french beach. %100 recommend it.

  • Aytuğ

    The philosophical theory behind this book is existentialism. Main character’s psychological problems which are obsession, lightheartedness etc. effects his all life and his being. I really like the way that writer’s useage of flashbacks. You can still read the main story but it comes with past and this maintains deep emotions comes with philosophical thinking. So I really like it but for me Roger’s story is missing.

  • Chet

    Bien écrit et facile à lire ce livre nous narre l'histoire de Francis, un écrivain qui a perdu sa femme et une de ses filles dans un accident et sa difficulté à en faire le deuil.
    Francis a également des rapports conflictuels avec son autre fille et son beau-fils. D'autres personnages viennent alimenter les soucis de Francis.
    Une histoire de famille et de pardons, parfois impossible.

  • Micah

    Quelle intrigue angoissante. La dernière page n'a pas pu arriver plus tôt. J'espérais beaucoup plus du style d'écriture. Il y a eu même au moins une douzaine de "." que les éditeurs ont manqués.

  • Evrim Eylem

    Mütiş çeviri!

  • Jeannette Aryee-Boi

    Not my style...but interesting depiction of human interactions

  • Pat Chaloux

    Tout ça pour ça ??...

  • Bookaholic

    Cine ascultă muzica elveţianului Stephan Eicher ar putea fi interesant şi de omul care se află în spatele versurilor în franceză – Philippe Djian, prolific autor francez de origine armeană, câştigând celebritatea odată cu romanul 37°2 le matin, care a şi fost ecranizat de Jean-Jacques Beineix. Printer cele mai recente cărţi ale sale se numără Les Impardonnables (2009), tradus şi la noi anul acesta la Editura Trei, cu titlul Greşeli de neiertat, o dramă de familie, în care relaţiile disfuncţionale, trădările şi chiar cruzimea nu mai lasă loc iertării sau împăcării. Romanul lui Djian răstoarnă clişeul că în familie există întotdeauna un drum al întoarcerii, o mică portiţă ce ne rămîne deschisă indiferent de greşelile pe care le-am comite. Dar atunci cînd greşelile se tot repetă, cînd sînt făcute cu luciditate şi cu conştientizarea totală a răului provocat, atunci sângele… se poate face apă.

    Un roman al interiorităţii, Greşeli de neiertat este centrat pe figura scriitorului Francis, încă de succes, în ciuda unei vieţi care nu a fost deloc blândă cu el şi care l-a deturnat adesea de pe traseul creaţiei. Perspectiva naraţiunii îi aparţine în totalitate lui, astfel că avem acces la lumea observată prin prisma unei personalităţi puternice, care primeşte lovituri peste lovituri şi îi sunt permanent puse la încercare răbdarea, puterea de a iubi şi de a se vindeca. (cronică:
    http://bookaholic.ro/infernala-masina...)

  • Ju

    J'ai devore ce livre. Le style est un pur plaisir de lecture, et j'ai beaucoup aime la facon dont l'histoire se deroule a son prore rythme; on ne comprend pas tout des le depart et cela implique qu'on laisse les personnages s'installer, leur psychologie doucement se reveler et, finalement, le recit se met en place. Cette famille deja dechiree connait un nouveau drame qui, loin de souder les liens entre ses membres, la casse au-dela du reparable.
    La seule critique que je lui fais, c'est que j'ai trouve que le dernier tiers du livre est trop rapide. Bien sur, la rupture du rythme est liee au developpement de l'histoire, mais j'ai ete legerement decue de passer si vite a la conclusion; je voulais en savoir plus, comment ces changements drastiques ont eu lieu, pourquoi... et en meme temps, l'ellipse parle d'elle-meme. C'est la vie, finalement. Pas toujours logique, pas toujours juste...

  • Yves Gounin

    Impardonnables sort ce mois ci au cinéma, adpaté par André Téchiné, avec André Dussolier, Carole Bouquet, Mélanie Laurent.
    Les critiques sont mitigées : le film ne saurait choisir entre ses différents registres : polar ? comédie de moeurs ? réflexion sur la crise de la cinquantaine et sur l'angoisse de la page blanche chez l'écrivain ?
    Le livre a ce défaut là : il tangente différents genres et perd en route le lecteur. On croit pendant cent pages que la disparition d'Alice sera au couer de l'intrigue. Elle réapparaît soudain - sans que jamais on comprenne clairement les motifs de sa disparition.
    Et puis il y a le style Djian. On crie au génie ! On dit qu'il a inspirer la nouvelle école française, Virigine Despentes en tête ! J'avoue honteusement n'avoir pas été touché par la grâce djianesque. Nombriliste, prétentieuse, répétitive, sa façon d'écrire m'a plus encore horripilé que l'inconsistance de son histoire

  • Alex Goetze

    Powerful, subtle, clear - a typical Djian. Decades after "Betty Blue" and "Pas de Trois" still a master of words, wrapping situations and moments into honest journeys. Less rebellion but still a cynic, a connoisseur of life.

  • Marco

    che disastro di famiglia.

  • Leslie

    Hard to describe; well worth reading.

  • Sean

    A bit flat, too French for me. Nice ending though!