En bataille par by Olivier Hervy (review)

effects on her spirit are particularly believable. In addition, the story convincingly conveys how a woman can stay despite the violence and violation. Despite its potentially off-putting framework and social mission, Gibirila’s fiction beautifully expresses her final message of taking destiny into our own hands. She convincingly conveys the emotions, choices, and fears of diverse women as they face many challenges—whether sexual violence, kidnapping, family restrictions, forced marriages, bullying, or social norms of beauty. In addition, in today’s politically divisive world, where women are subjugated in societies that express hatred in alarming ways, this skillfully written work proves both timely and compelling. Augusta University (GA) E. Nicole Meyer Hervy, Olivier. En bataille. Talence: L’Arbre Vengeur, 2016. ISBN 9-791091-5044-23. Pp. 141. 10 a. This is the fourth book of amusing short observations, a sentence or two at most, published pseudonymously by an information officer at the municipal library of Nantes who is said to belong to a family of writers. A resident of Cholet, he often comments on shops, neighbors, parks, and street activities he sees. His observations focus on apparent contradictions, paradoxes, and word choice. The ideal way to read the pieces is probably one per day, or as he posts them from time to time on Facebook and Twitter, so putting them one after the other in a book takes away some of their charm.Yet they keep their piquancy, as when he points out that today one may be just as distressed by the absence of bees in a garden as our grandparents were by their presence. How can a tractor be ticketed for going 130 kilometers an hour, and why won’t the administration cancel the ticket? Isn’t it odd that the loser in musical chairs is the last person standing? If reviewers always say that a film made from a book is less good than the original, why don’t they conclude that literature is more valuable than cinema? Isn’t it odd that he is always putting his daughter’s yoyo away upstairs and finding it downstairs? Or that the book on origami cannot be fitted inside the mailbox? Observations dealing with how words are used include bonsai trees offered for sale at “RapidFleurs” (11) or the shoes without laces being marked as 20% off. Others note the cloître that is open every day (37) and the request for“un demi-pain complet”(48). Hervy also points out that “Les Hors-Série en forment une” (33). Other people’s unawareness is another theme, shown for example by the woman who won’t wear a watch on vacation but is constantly asking others what time it is. What of the friend who explains that in aikido the idea is to use another person’s force against him and then goes on to “me demander de le déposer chez lui, puisque j’ai ma voiture” (128). The spirit of the comments is wry and gentle, and no friend nor neighbor whose eccentricity or inconsistency is revealed, is identified by more than a single initial, and not always by even that much. The observations’ main point is usually to make us 272 FRENCH REVIEW 90.4 Reviews 273 smile rather than to excoriate our illogical actions and incongruencies. Hervy’s criticism of muddle and incoherence is the bataille in the title, but the book’s tone is teasing rather than warlike. College of San Mateo (CA) Susan Petit Hussein, Mahmoud. Tenir tête aux dieux. Paris: Gallimard, 2016. ISBN 978-2-07017979 -4. Pp. 167. 17,50 a. This novel, recounted in the first person by its protagonist, is the story of a young freedom-fighter in Nasser’s Egypt. The action takes place in 1959, but the narrator intersperses flashbacks about the hero’s past while recounting events in the narrative present. The unnamed protagonist is an idealistic young medical student in Cairo who seeks to revive and advance the dignity of his nation and its people in reaction against its former colonial masters, especially Great Britain. Unfortunately for him, his democratic ideals, tinged with communism, have gotten him into trouble with the totalitarian authorities...