First Blood: Last Tribute ★★★ ½

Sylvain Sarrazin
Press

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Patrick Nothomb tells us about a strange life, fatherless (died in the army), then sent to his paternal grandparents on vacation. There, he discovers Pierre Nothomb, a hard-hearted poet, and his family starved by an almost Darwinian rationing regime. Adult, married, he becomes consul and finds himself propelled to the Congo, before being entangled in a hostage-taking.

It is indeed the body of Patrick Nothomb which sails over the pages, but it is undoubtedly the eyes of his daughter which contemplate its vicissitudes; so much so that the reader occasionally forgets that a man is unfolding his story, rather perceiving the voice of Amélie behind the sympathetic father’s puppet. Precisely, thanks to her slightly crazy paw, she once again establishes this quirky atmosphere which crowns her with success. As always, it’s short, and some tantalizing characters are barely sketched (the multilingual energetic Hubert Durt), but having immortalized his father in this way, through the intermediary of his singular pen, conceals something poignant.