The Gendarme by Mark MustianMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book was not what I expected at all. I struggled a lot with the shifting timelines. The writing itself was very good, although there were a lot of paragraphs filled with "meh" descriptions that I skimmed through. The ending was a little vague. I recommend this for anyone who likes those forgotten bits of history.
Synopsis: A haunting, deeply moving novel-an old man comes face-to-face with his past and sets out to find the love of his life and beg her forgiveness.
To those around him, Emmet Conn is a ninety-two-year-old man on the verge of senility. But what becomes frighteningly clear to Emmet is that the sudden, realistic dreams he is having are memories of events he, and many others, have denied or purposely forgotten. The Gendarme is a unique love story that explores the power of memory-and the ability of people, individually and collectively, to forget. Depicting how love can transcend nationalities and politics, how racism creates divisions where none truly exist, and how the human spirit fights to survive even in the face of hopelessness, this is a transcendent novel.
Recommended Reading:
The Elephant's Journey by Jose Saramago
The Secret Kept by Tatiana de Rosnay
Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna
Room by Emma Donoghue
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