Book review : Madeleine.

First, the bad news : 

 

1.   This novel needs editing. Some sentences hardly make sense at all.

2.   Dialogues need ironing out. At the end of a question or a reply, there is no need repeatedly to mention a name, especially when only two characters are involved.

3.   Emma Nichols does her best to describe the emotions that Claude and Madeleine experience, but somehow she does not manage to make the reader share these emotions.

4.   The same goes for surroundings : we are aware of their existence, but we don’t feel much.

Had the novel been told in the first person, with either Claude or Madeleine as the narrator, it might have touched the reader more effectively.

Now, for the good news :

The story includes some key elements of a good novel :

1.   Clear characterization.

2.   Evolution of the characters. None of them is quite the same at the start and at the end of the novel. Madeleine’s mother becomes less judgmental ; Gustave, following his car accident, turns into a more decent human being. The whole village, in fact, comes around to accepting Claude, as do her fellow workers.

3.   Interesting twists in the plot. There is Gustave’s accident, of course and the return of Raoul which introduces an element of menace and dread. Other twists, like the arrival of Raoul’s first wife, revive the overall optimism. 

There is a certain cinematic slant in the conduct of the story ; and because it takes place at Christmas time, I can see Madeleine being turned into one of these Christmas movies that are so popular on television these days. I sincerely hope it happens.