You’ve learned that the book you are about to read was banned in 1956. What comes to your mind first? You might think, as I did, that there won’t be anything in it that’s going to shock you here in 2007. I certainly was not bracing for anything when I picked up the English translation (by writer Thomas Armbrecht) of the French classic Wicked Angels by Eric Jourdan.
Wrong! Don’t be fooled by the softly-lit cover illustration. Herein lies what may be the most bloody coming of age story, ever. The beatings you’ll find described in gory detail would make even Victor blush. You don’t think so? Take a moment to recall your first kiss with another man. Now compare what you felt to this:
For me, Gerard transformed himself into two massive lips that I kissed. Numerous times we lost our breath and then recovered it by breathing the same air, without even pulling apart. Never had my heart been larger, and never had joy seemed so close to physical pain. My face kissed so much that it seemed to be made of ten thousand mouths. We were transformed. The past no longer existed. Our friendship took off its war mask and, slowly, love was going to put its hands on our new faces and gouge out our old hostile eyes.
You have to admit that aside from the violent foreshadowing, this is superb prose, particularly for a translation. Still, this is a happy scene. Imagine how things will go when jealousy, possessiveness, and control come into play in this highly unhealthy relationship.
Gerard and Pierre are 17 year-old cousins who live together with their fathers. The dads are brothers-in-law who chose to live together to raise their sons after their wives died. Ah! Is this the source of adolescent violence, you ask? No. In fact, the loss of the mothers never comes up at all. (This actually adds quite a bit to the grimness of these two characters.)
The book is in two parts; each boy gets a turn being the narrator; Pierre goes first. The plot proceeds mostly linearly over a single summer. The story is told in a manner almost opposite that of Kiss of the Spider Woman. Here, virtually all of the dialog in this book could fit on one page, which leaves you with a lot of ruminating. I cannot imagine trying to count the number of times the word “love” appears. Yet I’m left to wonder what love has to do with this story!
Indeed, this is a tale of how not to fall in love. Healthy love includes compromise and respect of individuality. These boys don’t merely want each other; they want to merge. They beat each other to exert influence, or to punish bad behavior, or even just for fun. Strange how the wounds heal so quickly.
Wicked Angels is technically a tragic tale, but the ending felt just right. These boys were incapable of handling a velvet society; I cannot imagine how they’d cope in the real world.
This is not a book to be liked. It is, however, superbly written and worth your time. It is a must read, but brace yourself for blood. There’s a lot of it!