Alphabet
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Simon Austen tatoue sur sa peau les noms dont on l’a affublé au fil des années : boulet, tordu, menace pour les femmes, meurtrier. Condamné à la prison à perpétuité et éventuellement soumis à des thérapies novatrices visant la reprogrammation comportementale, il plonge dans un angoissant processus au cours duquel il devra accepter de voir son identité réduite en morceaux pour mieux être reconstruite de façon « acceptable ». Mais à quel point, au bout du compte, un homme peut-il réellement changer ?
Dérangeant et profondément émouvant, Alphabet est une exploration psychologique de la démarche incertaine et bien souvent terrifiante d’un homme vers la réhabilitation, ainsi qu’une réflexion saisissante sur le pouvoir des mots lus, dits et reçus.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Page's gritty and illuminating sixth novel, originally published in 2004, and shortlisted for Canada's Governor General's Literary Awards in 2005, follows Simon Austen, a convicted murderer, through a series of inner triumphs and small victories as he makes his way through the British penal system. Fascinating from the first page, readers watch Austen as he learns how to read, becomes a letter writer for his fellow inmates, and "gets into education, big time," eventually earning all his high school credits. He decides to address the issue of his inability to relate to women, on his own at first, by corresponding with various women. His description, in one of those letters, of the events that lead him to strangle his girlfriend sends him into a tailspin as he begins to face the underlying reasons behind the impulsive violent act that has defined his life. He is sent to an intensive therapeutic program that forces him to face many of his most serious issues. The journey Austen makes is primarily an inner one, a slow peeling back of the layers of protection he uses to shut everyone out, including himself. As he starts to let people in, in a series of increasingly authentic interactions, we bear witness to his slow and inspiring transformation.
