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George Ilsley's Reviews > Lie With Me
Lie With Me
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by
Stop with your lies
This short novel has three chapters, labelled with the years 1984, 2007 and 2016. The first chapter (the longest) revolves around the affair between two teenage boys, and is told in the voice of one of them, a writer, looking back at his youth.
There's a saying I often reflected on reading this book: "Youth is wasted on the young." When I was young, I didn't really appreciate what this meant. Another related expression is "If only I knew then what I know now."
This is a first person narrative, told from the perspective of a writer named Philippe, and dedicated to Thomas (the other boy), so this raises questions about what really happened? Is is true? We only see things from Philippe's point of view; Thomas was always someone who couldn't talk about himself or his needs, and remains mysterious. Yet this is often true of relationships, no matter how much talking happens. How much do we truly know ourselves, much less another?
After I finished reading I discovered the original title was Arrête avec tes mensonges which throws a whole different light on the text. The English title "Lie With Me" evokes affection, not the telling of lies, but the French title "Stop with your lies" is confrontational. But who would be saying this or hearing this in the book? [Ha! Now I suddenly remember—this expression is from the very first page, and is something his mother said to Philippe when he made up stories about people—an obsession that became his career.]
Overall, a remarkable beautiful book about the limits of true storytelling and the true nature of fiction. Now I have to read more from this author!
This short novel has three chapters, labelled with the years 1984, 2007 and 2016. The first chapter (the longest) revolves around the affair between two teenage boys, and is told in the voice of one of them, a writer, looking back at his youth.
There's a saying I often reflected on reading this book: "Youth is wasted on the young." When I was young, I didn't really appreciate what this meant. Another related expression is "If only I knew then what I know now."
This is a first person narrative, told from the perspective of a writer named Philippe, and dedicated to Thomas (the other boy), so this raises questions about what really happened? Is is true? We only see things from Philippe's point of view; Thomas was always someone who couldn't talk about himself or his needs, and remains mysterious. Yet this is often true of relationships, no matter how much talking happens. How much do we truly know ourselves, much less another?
After I finished reading I discovered the original title was Arrête avec tes mensonges which throws a whole different light on the text. The English title "Lie With Me" evokes affection, not the telling of lies, but the French title "Stop with your lies" is confrontational. But who would be saying this or hearing this in the book? [Ha! Now I suddenly remember—this expression is from the very first page, and is something his mother said to Philippe when he made up stories about people—an obsession that became his career.]
Overall, a remarkable beautiful book about the limits of true storytelling and the true nature of fiction. Now I have to read more from this author!
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Reading Progress
May 8, 2021
–
Started Reading
May 8, 2021
– Shelved as:
to-read
May 8, 2021
– Shelved
May 8, 2021
– Shelved as:
fiction
May 8, 2021
– Shelved as:
historical-fiction
May 8, 2021
– Shelved as:
gay
May 8, 2021
– Shelved as:
french
May 10, 2021
–
Finished Reading
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Doug
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rated it 5 stars
May 10, 2021 10:40AM
I really liked this too - and how odd that it was translated by Molly Ringwald! I'd also recommend, if you can find a copy, his book 'Son Frere' .. which was also made into an interesting film. Unfortunately he only has one other book that has been translated into English - which I need to get to soon.
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Doug wrote: "I really liked this too - and how odd that it was translated by Molly Ringwald! I'd also recommend, if you can find a copy, his book 'Son Frere' .. which was also made into an interesting film. Unf..."Thanks for the rec! I have "In the Absence of Men" on its way, and that is about Proust so I'm already excited. I see the library also has "His Brother" as well as a few others only in French. He seems fond of writing shorter novels, and the more I look at his other novels I wonder more about the autobiographical elements of "Lie With Me".
George K. wrote: "Doug wrote: "I really liked this too - and how odd that it was translated by Molly Ringwald! I'd also recommend, if you can find a copy, his book 'Son Frere' .. which was also made into an interest..."I had to get 'Son Frere' from the library also, as it is OOP, and very $$ to buy. It also seems suspiciously autobiographical, as the narrator in that is also named Phillippe, and in reading his Wiki bio, it seems he had a brother in similar circumstances to the one in the book. The Proust one, obvs. is NOT autobiographical :-).
Doug wrote: "George K. wrote: "Doug wrote: "I really liked this too - and how odd that it was translated by Molly Ringwald! I'd also recommend, if you can find a copy, his book 'Son Frere' .. which was also mad..."I noticed the brothers are called Thomas and Lucas. In Lie With Me, Thomas's son is named Lucas, which Philippe said was a name he often used in his novels. The author might be toying with the reader, or making some sort of comment on the impossibility of completely extracting the writer from the text, even in fiction. Now I've requested the movie Son Frere. Thanks!
George K. wrote: "Doug wrote: "George K. wrote: "Doug wrote: "I really liked this too - and how odd that it was translated by Molly Ringwald! I'd also recommend, if you can find a copy, his book 'Son Frere' .. which..."Oops ... ok, mea culpa! I remembered the narrator of Frere as being named Phillippe - but it's been awhile! Mind like a sieve.... :-( Lemme know how you like both book and film! If nothing else, both actors have lovely hairy bods! LOL
Beautiful review, George! I enjoyed seeing it all happen again in my mind by your words. I'll soon write my review on this book. It is one of those that remains throughtout life.
Márcio wrote: "Beautiful review, George! I enjoyed seeing it all happen again in my mind by your words. I'll soon write my review on this book. It is one of those that remains throughtout life."Thanks Marcio. I appreciated that the book was quite short, yet contained so much about "real life" and what we go through, the mysteries we navigate, and the regrets we dwell on.
But I am not lying! Regardless of it being true or not, I still have troubles with this book, 3,5, I liked, but I detested the older Phlippe.
