J
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- 15,99 €
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- 15,99 €
Description de l’éditeur
.Dans un monde postapocalyptique où le passé est un territoire dangereux, un homme et une femme tombent amoureux. Ni l’un ni l’autre ne savent d’où ils viennent, pas plus qu’ils ne savent où ils vont. Kevern ignore pourquoi son père plaçait toujours deux doigts devant ses lèvres pour prononcer un mot qui commençait par la lettre j. Ailinn a grandi dans un orphelinat et, privée d’ascendance, cherche un point d’ancrage. D’autres, en revanche, ont parfaitement conscience de leur importance à tous les deux et les observent, les étudient, en font les héros d’une vie que Kevern et Ailinn ne contrôlent plus tout à fait. Sont-ils tombés amoureux de leur propre chef ou bien les a-t-on poussés dans les bras l’un de l’autre ? Mais qui aurait pu les pousser, et pourquoi ? Quel héritage ce monde transformé par une catastrophe historique, événement passé enveloppé de suspicion, de déni et de contrition, laisse-t-il à Kevern et à Ailinn ?
J est un roman ambitieux, inquiétant, bouleversant qui remet en cause toutes nos certitudes.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Jacobson' Booker prize shortlisted dystopian novel is a pastoralist's 1984. Set in a quiet village after a global cataclysm referred to only as WHAT HAPPENED, IF IT HAPPENED the novel is initially as much concerned about the eccentrics down at the pub as it is with explaining what befell humankind. It slowly emerges that generations previously, a global movement named Project Ishmael persuaded the survivors to rename themselves, as well as all of the world's places, in order to obliterate all memory of the apocalypse that nearly destroyed civilization. Esme Nussbaum, formerly an analyst with the mysterious Ofnow organization (charged with monitoring public mood), has moved to the village after a near-fatal accident, and befriended Ailinn Solomons, an orphan with no memories of her past. Esme maneuvers Ailinn into a relationship with Kevern Cohen, a local woodcarver who cannot utter the letter J without putting two fingers to his lips. Kevern and Ailinn fall in love, which suits Esme's mysterious reasons for bringing them together. When a woman from the village is found murdered, and Kevern becomes a suspect, this handful of individuals become a proxy for urgent global concerns. Jacobson's (The Finkler Question) fusion of village comedy and dystopian sci-fi is a tour de force, although in many ways the story Jacobson doesn't tell is more interesting than the one he does. The chilling sketch that finally coheres about the fate that has befallen humanity may make readers lament not having had a more straightforward approach. Nonetheless, fans of dystopian fiction will find this to be a unique entry in the genre.
