First Blood

Fictionalized story about the author's father and his childhood.
 
Patrick Nothomb recalls his childhood while a hostage in Stanleyville, Congo, in 1964. He remembers his unconventional mother, maternal grandmother, and grandfather. One day, grandfather decides that they should send him on a vacation to the Nothombs (paternal grandparents) to toughen him up.
 
It's been quite some time since I last read Amélie Nothomb, and while reading this slim novel, I realized that I missed her writing.

 

Goodreads

Excerpt from the Book:

My love for my mother was a desperate one. I did not see her often. Every Sunday at noon she came to her parents’ for lunch. I would see this magnificent woman and run toward her with my arms spread wide. She had a special way of avoiding an embrace: she would hold out her hands to me so as not to have to pick me up. Was it from a fear I might spoil her lovely outfit? With a tense smile, she would say, “Hello, Paddy.”

Anglicisms were in fashion.

She inspected me from head to foot with a kindly disappointment that I was at pains to analyze. How could I have understood that she was still hoping to one day see her husband in me?

 

Details:

• author: Amélie Nothomb
• full title: First Blood
  
• genre: literary fiction
  
• format/type: bookfiction
• country: Belgium
• topics: #familyhistory, #childhood
  
• publisher: Europa Editions
  
• publish date: May 2, 2023
  
• pages: 109
  

My Rating of the Book:

• content: 💙💙💙💙

 

Prizes

• Prix Renaudot (2021), 
• Premio Strega Europeo (2022)
  

 

About the Author: 

Amélie Nothomb, born Fabienne Claire Nothomb, was born in Etterbeek, Belgium on 9 July 1966, to Belgian diplomats. Although Nothomb claims to have been born in Japan, she actually began living in Japan at the age of two until she was five years old. Subsequently, she lived in China, New York, Bangladesh, Burma, the United Kingdom (Coventry) and Laos.
She is from a distinguished Belgian political family; she is notably the grand-niece of Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb, a Belgian foreign minister (1980-1981). Her first novel, Hygiène de l'assassin, was published in 1992. Since then, she has published approximately one novel per year with a.o. Les Catilinaires (1995), Stupeur Et Tremblements (1999) and Métaphysique des tubes (2000).
She has been awarded numerous prizes, including the 1999 Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française; the Prix René-Fallet; and twice the Prix Alain-Fournier.

Other Works by this Author: