Tragédies en kit by Bruno Gibert (review)

satisfaction and retribution. Île Bourbon, a mountainous and volcanic island, in the archipelago known as “Les Mascareignes,” provides good hiding places. The “marrons” (runaway slaves) have fled to the mountains. Their leader is hell-bent on revenge against the whites who inhabit the island, most of them landowners or government officials. He believes that he is called and pre-destined to effect a savage cleansing of the island. The darker side of plantation life is explored through the lens of strong racial animosity between blacks and whites. Bongo Moussa, leader of the marrons, camping in the mountains, is gathering strength for war against the island’s white inhabitants. When he speaks to his followers he incites them to hatred: “Haine aux blancs, mon peuple! Durcis ta colère comme une muraille” (24). While outright hatred is thriving among the runaways, the behavior of plantation owners is no less malignant: “Emporté par la colère, je [...] redouble à la besogne. On se rassemble [...] on murmure, on interroge [...]. Je n’entends rien. [...] mon bras fatigué laisse tomber les verges” (12), and “Pour lui rabattre son impudicité, je l’ai mise à garder et nettoyer les pourceaux. Elle est devenue puante encore plus que ne l’est sa race” (96). When a frivolous but insolent plantation owner’s daughter is kidnapped, she is subjected to severe physical and sexual abuse, in effect becoming a slave herself. The treatment she receives mimics with ferocious intensity the capricious, despicable situations in which she took part while at home. The marrons that have enslaved her treat her as their négresse. Before her capture the haughty beauty of her bearing had made it comparable to that of a bird of paradise. Bourbon was called an insular paradise or Isle d’Éden by the first European habitants. Thus the concepts of négresse and paradise are connected by the book’s title. The end of the tale is related in two very different accounts, the first hearsay and the second offered as information that has been kept secret. A compilation of memory and dramatizations, this book offers a study in slavery and revenge. Neumann University (PA) Maria G. Traub GIBERT, BRUNO. Tragédies en kit. Paris: Léo Scheer, 2011. ISBN 978-2-7561-0333-4. Pp. 149. 17 a. Set in Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport during the spring 2010 Icelandic volcanic eruptions, this novel depicts the crisis through the eyes of Patricia, a Montreal native, who was on her way to Egypt when air travel was halted. What initially appears as a means for the reader to “people watch” through the eyes of Patricia slowly evolves into the protagonist’s journey of self-discovery. Via Gibert’s elegant prose we learn that Patricia initially decided to take the trip to Egypt as a break from her husband Ben, a struggling artist whose unfaithful behavior has strained their relationship. His terse text messages give us some insight: “L’important c’est qu’on soit tous vivants, non?” (19); and, “Toi qui étais partie pour réfléchir te voilà en situation idéale” (46). The novel centers on Patricia’s encounters with three intriguing characters. First is Ali, an airport maintenance employee , who after repairing an automated hot beverage machine, accepts Patricia’s gesture to buy him a coffee. She next meets Ingrid, a KLM flight attendant from Holland, who with her seducing stories of paid trysts, awakens Patricia’s memories of Mariah Diaz, a university classmate and upon whom Patricia had a crush 788 FRENCH REVIEW 86.4 which consequently had caused her to question briefly her sexual orientation. Patricia then meets up again with Ali and decides to stay with him rather than camp out at the airport since her airline paid for only two hotel nights. She hesitantly offers him her credit card and PIN: “Pour obtenir la confiance, il faut d’abord faire confiance” (61). It is during a frantic moment with Ali when she is unsure of her safety after he has indeed abused her credit card, that her cell phone battery dies and as a result, so does her contact with Ben. Returning to the airport as she knows no one...