Published in ebook 4th February 2020 (paperback 13th February 2020) by World Editions.
Read February 2020.
At home there are four bedrooms: one for her, one for her little brother Sam, one for her parents, and one for the stuffed animals her father has shot.
Her father's predatory ways assert themselves at home too. Her mother is submissive to his aggressive demands and passive under his fists, and they all live in fear of his temper.
To escape from the horror of their lives, our young narrator spends her days playing with Sam in the local scrap yard, spinning tales and giving reassurance to the hulks of the cars that rest there.
Only the call of the ice-cream truck pulls them from their games and gives them comfort, but after a brutal accident shatters their world everything changes...
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Real Life is one of the most disturbing books I have ever read - and this is from someone who ploughed their way through the work of authors like Stephen King and James Herbert in her teenage years.
Parts of this novel are very hard to read and I did struggle with the more violent and troubling parts - especially the cruelty towards animals. A few times, I did need to walk away from this stark and uncompromising debut novel from Adeline Dieudonne and read something a bit lighter for a while.
But this book is so compelling that I could not help myself picking it up again time after time, because I needed to know that our young narrator was going to be safe in the midst of the tragedy that was her life.
Her parents have no interest in parenting - her mother is so completely passive that she calls her an amoeba and her father so aggressive that it is best not to attract his attention at all. But she has her brother Sam and the sight of his smile and the sound of his laughter are all that she needs.
However, things start to change after the accident that brings death tragically to their attention and the presence of the eerie stuffed trophies in the spare bedroom starts to weigh heavily on the children. Sam no longer wants to be close to his sister and she can see that something is starting to eat away at him, changing his behaviour in most shocking ways.
Our young protagonist is convinced that she can put things right if only she can go back in time to before the accident and save her brother from his suffering. At first, she feels sure the way to do this is through magic, but as she gets older it becomes apparent this will not work so she dedicates herself to science and maths instead - which, as it turns out, she has a great talent for. She can endure all that is thrown at her now, in the sure knowledge that this can all be corrected once she has perfected a way to travel back in time. But going through puberty can be hell, and the pull of her new needs and wants is complicating matters.
As things start to deteriorate on the home front, the darkness that is swelling inside Sam brings him to the attention of their father and he goes about inducting him into the life of a hunter. He also begins to recognise that his daughter is becoming the enemy at the same time, as she gets older and develops into a young woman. Violence starts to be directed at our young protagonist, in increasingly more insidious and terrifying ways.
The tension builds almost unbearably until a frenzy of violence erupts in a thrilling climax, with the most delicious final twist that I did not see coming!
Real Life is essentially a coming-of-age story on the part of our young female narrator, whose name we never learn - whilst also being a horrifically thrilling tale, worthy of Stephen King. The lessons to be learned along the way are not ones which we would want our own children to have to learn, but courage and hope shine from within our heroine and although she is subjected to the most violent behaviour the flame within her is never extinguished.
This is not a book for the fainthearted, but the story completely draws you in, the writing is outstanding, and the premise is nothing short of brilliant. Real Life became a big bestseller when it was originally published in France, and this excellent translation by Roland Glasser should be just as well received here.
It is interesting to speculate on the intended meaning behind the intriguing title of this book. What does Real Life mean? Is it accepting that we must learn to live with the inevitable hard knocks that life throws at us? Is is realising that magic is not real and that we must look to science for our answers instead? Or is real life only something that can be experienced when there is no longer constant fear and a risk of violence? Read this book and make up your own mind.
Real Life is available now from your favourite book retailer.
Thank you to World Editions and Adeline Dieudonne for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Anne Cater of Random Things for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
From the cover of the book:
When the innocence of fairy tales meets the terror of a Stephen King thriller...
This international bestseller by French author Adeline Dieudonné is one girl’s bitingly funny coming-of-age tale within a violent, savage family.
At home there are four bedrooms: one for her, one for her little brother Sam, one for her parents, and one for the carcasses. Her father is a big-game hunter, a powerful predator, and her mother is submissive to her violent husband’s demands. The young narrator spends the days with Sam, playing in the shells of cars dumped for scrap and listening out for the melody of the ice-cream truck, until a brutal accident shatters their world. The uncompromising pen of Adeline Dieudonné wields flashes of brilliance as she brings her characters to life in a world that is both dark and sensual.
About the author:
A playwright and short-story writer, her first novella, Amarula, was awarded the Grand Prix of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles. Two further booklets were published by Editions Lamiroy in 2017: Seule dans le noir and Bonobo Moussaka.
Real Life was recently awarded the prestigious Prix du Roman FNAC, the Prix Rossel, the Prix Renaudot des Lycéens, and the Prix Filigrane, a French prize for a work of high literary quality with wide appeal.
Dieudonné also performs as a stand-up comedian.
About the translator:
ROLAND GLASSER is an award-winning translator of French literature, based in London.
Huge thanks for the blog tour support Sue xx
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