From Publishers Weekly
A former Communist radical recalls his revolutionary cell's late 1960s glory days as he drives around contemporary Paris and explains "the movement" to Marie, the daughter of a comrade who died under questionable circumstances. Back in the day, Martin and others in the cause wreaked havoc on the bourgeoisie, from vandalizing the villas of the rich to kidnapping the CEO of a company that was selling bomb components to the U.S. Air Force. But now, the aging idealist has trouble confronting the realities of the new millennium, with former comrades selling real estate and frequenting trendy bistros. In the end, the death is still a mystery to both Martin and Marie: was it suicide, or a stoned man's accident? And does it matter which? Shortlisted for the 2003 Goncourt Prize, the novel's emphasis on French politics, combined with the second-person, nearly stream-of-consciousness narration—though superbly translated by Cloonan—will make Rolin's latest rough sledding for American readers not already into dense French lit.
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Review
"The year 1968 was tumultuous not only in the United States but also in France, as this novel reminds us. It takes place during one evening as a conversation (more like a monolog) between an ex-revolutionary and Marie, the daughter of one of the cohorts of the Cause, as the 13-member revolutionary group was called. The narrator talks as he circumnavigates Paris several times, a premise that allows him to relate to Marie what happened to her father, who died when she was four, and also the events of that turbulent year. Unfortunately, the storytelling comes across as repetitive, impersonal, and long-winded; we don't get to know the characters very well and probably wouldn't care much about them if we did. Even Marie seems inattentive at times. In the end, the novel requires some background knowledge of the places, historical events, and literary allusions that, while well known to the original French readers, are considerably less so to Americans. The revolutionary ideals couched as Maoist and Marxist ideology,which the author espouses, seem dated in the new millennium. Recommended only for comprehensive collections of contemporary Continental literature". Library Journal -Lawrence Olszewski, OCLC Lib., Dublin, OH "Through these histories, Rolin philosophizes about Big Ideas like aging, lost idealism and the weight of past wars on future generations. It sounds like heavy going, and it is. Rolin's use of the second-person and the recurring shifts back and forth in time can be disorienting; but there are also treats that make the car ride worth taking, some serious (like Rolin's observations -- often pessimistic -- about the human condition) and others delightfully comic (like the young revolutionaries' many botched missions). When the journey to the end of the night is over, the impression left behind (at once comforting and disturbing) is that history will make a paper tiger of every high hope and feared foe alike, no matter how seemingly imperishable." New York Times Book Review
