Heatwave

Product Information

L’atmosfera del campeggio, la musica martellante sparata dagli altoparlanti, gli annunci ripetuti, gli animatori ossessivi, il senso di perenne festa, la vacanza che impone il divertimento a ogni costo… Niente di questo aiuta Léonard, che appare sempre più un pesce fuori dall’acqua.

Léonard voelt zich niet goed in zijn vel - hij heeft er de leeftijd voor - en het kunstmatige campingleven met zijn opgedrongen groepsgevoel, de apérospelletjes, de aquagym maakt het er allemaal niet beter op.You devour this book, but its effects linger, so strongly does it reverberate with destinies sacrificed to the yawn of the void’ Le Point Translated by Sam Taylor — French author Victor Jestin’s short yet forceful debut novel is part dark coming-of-age novel, part morality tale. Set over the span of a weekend, it tells the story of a 17-year-old who witnesses another teenager dying and chooses not to save his life even though he is able to. The rest of the novella then follows Leo’s guilt at what he has done. As you’re probably confused at his actions, he is too. We find passages of him beating himself up about the circumstances of what has happened, leading to these existentialist questions of why he had to find Oscar and why did he have to be the one to bury him. Someone on Goodreads compared this to The Stranger by Albert Camus and quite frankly I agree with that comparison. It’s like a strange fever dream, which I guess this would be like what our main character is feeling. Tense and brief, this text plays with the codes of a first novel to paint a portrait of a sad and aloof teenager.”— L’Humanite Ma è una sensazione che dura poche pagine. Non si tratta di quell’apatia esistenziale, di quell’indifferenza nei confronti del vivere.

For his first novel, Victor Jestin displays a stunning literary talent. It's short, pitiless, polished, perfectly realized' Livres Hebdo Come Meursault anche Leonard, adolescente confinato controvoglia in un campeggio estivo, è estraneo a se stesso e al mondo. Booker Prize-winner Banville is a heavyweight contender on the Historical Dagger longlist for April in Spain (Faber), while the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger sees the award-winning Finnish author Antti Tuomainen with The Rabbit Factor (Orenda Books) and the French author Victor Jestin, for his dark, coming-of-age-novel Heatwave (Scribner) in the longlist . E, dunque, Oscar ha diciassette anni: la sera ha ballato con Luce sulla spiaggia, si sono baciati, poi lui si è impiccato con la corda dell’altalena. The young author of this first novel keeps all promises, with writing of a rare precision, mature and carnal... Moving and cinematic' La VieThis drawn-out wandering of a boy outside the norm has been brought to life by the incredible precision of this young author's voice' Prima During a sleepless night, Leonard wanders to the beach where he witnesses a tragedy and does nothing to intervene. The existential question posed is: Is doing nothing the very worst thing a person can do?