Clay
At the beginning of World War I, a French farmer enlists, leaving behind his wife, mother, and teenaged son to manage their small farm with the help of their neighbors. When a woman and her young daughter arrive to stay the duration of the war, long-held grudges, buried secrets, and hidden perversions come to the surface, disrupting and unsettling the close-knit mountain village.
Clay begins almost idyllically, lingering on descriptions of the landscape and the simple life of a rural French family. Teenaged Joseph takes care of the livestock and farm, hunts and fishes, and tries to stay out of the way of Valette, a disagreeable neighbor who has harbored resentment after a land dispute. The arrival of Valette’s sister and teenaged niece Anna brings a thread of young love to the quiet, bucolic scenes as Joseph and Anna find moments of happiness amid the long days working the farms. But the languid writing turns dark as the war intrudes on their pastoral peace and Valette’s true character is revealed. The scenes, the characterizations, and the writing itself become unsettling and difficult to read as Bouysse explores the darker side of the human condition and the horrors that can exist far from the battlefields.
Readers of literary fiction may appreciate the translation of this French novel, but animal lovers especially may want to take a pass, as the book does contain explicit scenes of bestiality and graphic violence against animals.
