At no point is she allowed to suggest to her husband that he might do some housework, to make her feel better, for example even as the new Camille, she’s still putting herself down for not doing some cleaning, and she’s really pleased when she has time to make dinner. Camille is encouraged to see herself as both the problem and the solution, taking her frustrations with her husband, son and patronising rude workmates and changing her ways in order to get them change theirs. The feminist in me did bristle at parts of the book, some of which I think might be a reflection of French culture, but nevertheless. (Claude would, I’m sure, tell me that my dislike of the title is part of my negative energy and I should change it. I’ve read business books with narratives before so it’s a tried and trusted technique and works nicely here too. From here the novel is basically a self-help book, with Claude offering tips on how to make time for what’s important and discard negative energy. For we’re all Camille, aren’t we? Claude goes on to help Camille reconnect with her life and her sense of self. The symptoms are almost always the same: a lack of motivation chronic dissatisfaction feeling you’ve lost your way in life finding it hard to feel happy even though you have more than enough material goods disenchantment world-weariness…” It’s a sickness of the soul that affects more and more people in the world, especially in the West. “You’re probably suffering from a kind of acute routinitis.” Her self esteem is rock bottom and, when she has a tyre blow out one night in a rain storm, she seeks help in a nearby house to call a mechanic and finds much more.Ĭlaude, an older handsome Frenchman, is inside the house and as Camille breaks down from stress he comes to her rescue. She doesn’t like her job, her work colleagues laugh at her, she’s lost connection with her husband and she spends time shouting at her son and hating herself for doing so. Your Second Life is about Camille, a normal working mother who, like all of us, is trying to juggle her life and finding it hard. ‘The novel that made 2 million people happy!’ reads the strapline. It’s rather cute to look at, a small hardback with a Tiffany blue cover and the title in red. Published three years ago, word spread and it’s now a bestseller, staying in the French top ten for over a year, despite its terrible title. Phew! What a title! Your Second Life is a French phenomenon.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |