David Foenkinos is a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter and director who studied both literature and music in Paris.
His novel La d茅licatesse is a bestseller in France. A film based on the book was released in December 2011, with Audrey Tautou as the main character. His novels have appeared in over forty languages, and in 2014 he was awarded the Prix Renaudot for his novel Charlotte.
Growing up in a home with few books and often absent parents, David Foenkinos read and wrote little during his childhood. At 16, he required emergency surgery as a result of a rare pleural infection and spent several months recuperating in hospital, where he began to devour books, learning to paint and play the guitar. From this experience, he says, he kept a drive for life, a force that he wanted to convey through his books.
He studied literature at the Sorbonne and music in a jazz school, eventually becoming a guitar teacher. In the evenings, he was a waiter in a restaurant. After unsuccessfully trying to set up a music group, he turned his hand to writing.
After a handful of failed manuscripts, he found his style, and his first novel Inversion de l'idiotie: de l'influence de deux Polonais (鈥淚nversion of idiocy: influenced by two Poles鈥�), though refused by many other publishers, was published by Gallimard in 2002; the book earned him the Fran莽ois-Mauriac literary prize, awarded by the Acad茅mie Fran莽aise.
David Foenkinos is the brother of director St茅phane Foenkinos.
He had managed to navigate his way to the French language section of the bookshop; now he had no idea what to do. Some of the titles were at least recognizable. Madame Bovary... but surely she would have read it? And the same went for Du c么t茅 de chez Swann. Maybe this was not such a good idea after all.
"Can I help you?"
The assistant - a lapel badge said her name was Sophie - looked like she was in her late twenties. Short dark hair, earnest expression, French accent. He cleared his throat.
"I'm looking for a book. A present for - for a friend."
It occurred to him that he had no idea what the nature of their relationship was. Sophie ignored his confusion.
"You must tell me a little more."
What kind of books did she like? She always seemed to be reading something, and usually it was in French. He was sure of that much. The covers were tasteful. No swooning women or bare-chested men. So why did he imagine she read romances?
"I don't really know. Not literature, and not a romance. Well, maybe a bit of both. Does that make sense? And a short book, something that would fit in a handbag. She always carries them in her handbag."
At least he had come up with one concrete fact. He could see the handbag quite clearly in his mind's eye: he had a good sense for spatial relations, and it was obvious at a glance that most of the books were too big.
"Maybe this? L'Ecume des jours, of Boris Vian?"
It would certainly fit, but didn't it look familiar?
"No, I'm almost sure she was reading that last month."
"But we are getting closer! She likes a 尘茅濒补苍驳别 of tragedy and comedy, an inventive style. You agree? Now just one more thing about her, and I am sure we will find it!"
He tried to concentrate. Really, he hardly knew her at all.
"I believe her father is Swedish."
"Ah, but then I have it precisely. Here!"
She darted to a nearby shelf and returned with a slim volume.
"David Foenkinos, La d茅licatesse. A bit of sadness, a bit of love, a bit of play with the words. And the 丑茅谤辞蝉 is from Sweden. If she does not like it, I return your money."
She was so delighted with her find that he was too; for the first time that afternoon, he felt happy and confident. He had paid for the book and was halfway to Leicester Square station before he realized that what he really wanted to do was continue talking to Sophie. But when he returned to the shop, they had already closed.
J'ai ador茅 ce livre. La D茅licatesse est un petit joyau. Une ode 脿 l'amour, 脿 la vie - rempli de perles fines et d'objets rares. Les phrases surprennent et enchantent. Les personnages ravissent, m锚me dans leur faiblesse et laideur, mais surtout dans leur v茅rite et leur fragilit茅. Je suis tomb茅e sur ce livre et cet auteur par hasard. Un peu comme Nathalie sur Fran莽ois ou Markus. Quel cadeau divin! Je suis maintenant une convertie. David Foenkinos est un ma卯tre de la langue fran莽aise - un language clair et moderne, d茅licat, plein d'humour et de subtilit茅. Il me rappelle Boris Vian.
Ce livre ne m'a pas juste d茅莽ue, il m'a 茅nerv茅e. Le narrateur trouve 莽a parfaitement romantique d'aimer suivre les femmes dans la rue ou de changer de place dans le train pour se rapprocher d'elle. Il nous pr茅sente comme merveilleusement po茅tique d'estimer que le Coca Cola ne fait pas assez "femme". Nathalie n'est pas un personnage 脿 part enti猫re mais juste un fantasme masculin qui sert de pr茅texte aux hommes autour d'elle. Je plains les jeunnes femmes qui liront ce livre en se disant que c'est 莽a l'amour ou le romantisme.
Dictionary Definition of Delicacy 1. The quality or condition of being delicate, fragile or sensitive. 2. Discretion, tact.
Over apricot juice, Nathalie and Francois fall in love. A chance meeting on the street leads to two strangers having a drink together. It鈥檚 love. Everything falls into place, just like that.
Years pass in a whirlwind as they always do when you鈥檙e young. Living in the moment, still deliriously happy, plans are made to make plans. Until one Sunday, Nathalie is happily curled up on the couch reading a book, and Francois goes out for a run not to ever return.
One year turns to two, which becomes three, and Nathalie remains gripped in a world of grief. Until one day at work, the unprepossessing Markus (an uptight Swede who moved to France to become less uptight) comes to Nathalie鈥檚 office to discuss a file, and she kisses him. Not a peck on the cheek. Not a quick brushing of the lips. It was an absolute and overwhelming moment of passion and abandon.
鈥滻t was a long, intense kiss. The intensely adolescent kind.鈥�
For Nathalie, the kiss was a moment of madness. For Markus, it meant the world.
This book examines grief in a very gentle way. How people react to the one who has suffered a loss. And it looks at when it鈥檚 鈥渙k鈥� to take a chance and fall in love again.
This is the most beautiful book. Despite the topics being grief and loss and the outsider who never fits in, it flows calmly along. There are snippets of quirkiness and humour, as we see the thoughts swirling in Nathalie and Markus鈥� minds.
Yes, this is also a movie with Audrey Tatou and Francois Damiens which is completely delightful. Do both! Read the book. Then watch the movie. Then read the book again.
I鈥檝e now read this three times. Which is most unusual for me. It鈥檚 still utterly gorgeous, and with this reading, its charm has captured me in new ways.
Original review below.
I've read this twice and fall in love all over again. A gentle, beautiful story about finding love, losing it, and then finding it again.
4.5/MARAVILLOSO! La historia me ha encantado hasta decir basta! Y, claro que leer茅 algo m谩s de este autor: es m谩s, que se prepare, porque pienso descubrirlo!
I think this book thinks it's charming, but it just left me feeling gross. The main character is this woman who is barely even a person, just a beautiful face with vaguely strange habits. Of course, everyone loves her for no special reason. It just seemed like the author really wanted to fuck Audrey Tautou and decided to write a book about what he would like her personality to be, but he didn't even care that much and just put in a bunch of random crap to make it sort of like Amelie. Also, don't put in the book who you think should be in the movie. It's tacky. You know who else does that? Dan Brown.
wow. i can't believe how terrible this book is. it's a french novel that was apparently nominated for or won all five top french literary prizes. really, france? this book is honestly nothing but an ode to the shameless disregard for sexual harassment law. but i guess france is the same country that gave us dominique struss-kahn. maybe i shouldn't be surprised.
i put this on hold at the library based on a review that said it was about how a woman recovers after the sudden death of her young husband. for some reason, i love reading about young widows. i mean, i don't LOVE it, but there's something about the topic that i find strangely compelling. probably the fact that it would be such an unspeakably horrible thing to have to survive. i spend a shocking amount of time trying to imagine how i would carry on if jared were to die suddenly one day.
& speaking of jared, he had a motherfucking field day making fun of me for reading this book. i hadn't seen the cover before i picked it up from the library, so i had no idea it would looks this romance novel-y, with a big fat photograph of audrey tautou staring up at me. i was so embarrassed. the good thing is that it only took like 45 minutes to read this book. the writing quality is about on par with a sweet valley high novel. if you're looking to kill 45 minutes in a doctor's office or on the subway or something, i highly recommend picking up one of the books in the sweet valley "evil twin" mini-series over this piece of crap. it'll be a lot less embarrassing too, if anyone happens to sneak a peek at the cover.
Je ne pardonne pas la puanteur du sexisme qui exsude de chacune des pages.
Je ne pardonne pas les volont茅s forc茅es d鈥檃bsurdit茅 po茅tique et d鈥檕riginalit茅 stylistique.
Je ne pardonne pas la langue si pauvre qu鈥檈lle en dessert les sentiments, v茅ritables orphelins de ce roman. Je n鈥檃i jamais lu un livre sur le deuil et les histoires d鈥檃mour 鈥� deux sujets pourtant tr猫s forts 鈥� aussi mal incarn茅.
脌 la limite, Markus m鈥檃 un peu 茅mue par sa sensibilit茅, 莽鈥檃urait pu 锚tre un bon personnage. Mais il est noy茅 dans tout le reste, et reste trop peu creus茅 pour en valoir le coup.
Ravie que la lecture soit aussi courte, je n鈥檃urais pas perdu beaucoup de temps. D茅go没t茅e que ce soit aussi nul, alors que le titre et le pitch auraient pu pr茅sager un succ猫s.
Enfin, je suis sur le cul que David Foenkinos ait gagn茅 un prix gr芒ce 脿 莽a. Vraiment, je ne comprends pas. Et, l脿 non plus, je ne pardonne pas.
J'avais esp茅r茅 un roman plus nuanc茅 sur l'amour naissant apr猫s la perte mais au lieu de cela on patauge dans les st茅r茅otypes et dans le sentimentalisme. L'茅criture est correcte mais comme les personnages et les situations sont soit fades ou m茅lodramatiques, il est difficile de rester int茅ress茅e. Markus, cet homme qui fait preuve de la d茅licatesse du titre, est juste un gars attentif, sinc猫re et amoureux. Une esp猫ce en voie de disparition en France? Je crois que c'est parce que je suis Am茅ricaine que je n'ai rien compris...Markus, page 87: "Vous parlez comme une Am茅ricaine. Ce n'est jamais bon signe." Et 莽a dans la bouche d'un Su茅dois sous la plume d'un Fran莽ais.
Hay libros que nos atrapan por su intensidad, por sus giros inesperados o por la complejidad de su trama. Y luego est谩n esos otros libros, m谩s raros y especiales, que nos envuelven con su sutileza, con su manera de hablar de la vida sin levantar la voz. La delicadeza de David Foenkinos es uno de esos libros. Desde la primera p谩gina, la sensaci贸n es clara: esta no ser谩 una historia de amor convencional. No habr谩 promesas eternas ni grandes tragedias melodram谩ticas. Lo que encontramos en su lugar es una narraci贸n que se mueve con ligereza, pero que deja huella. Al comenzar la novela, me encontr茅 con Nathalie y Fran莽ois, una pareja cuya felicidad parece casi irreal. Su amor es simple y luminoso, una de esas relaciones que dan la impresi贸n de que nada podr谩 romperlas. Pero la vida 鈥攐 mejor dicho, la literatura cuando est谩 bien escrita鈥� no funciona as铆. Cuando Fran莽ois muere repentinamente, el golpe no solo lo sinti贸 Nathalie, sino tambi茅n yo. No hay dramatismos excesivos, solo la sensaci贸n de un vac铆o que se instala de manera silenciosa pero devastadora. Es un duelo que se vive en los detalles: en la forma en que Nathalie sigue adelante sin saber exactamente c贸mo, en su manera de perderse en la rutina, en la torpeza con la que los dem谩s intentan acercarse a su dolor. En este punto, me sorprendi贸 la capacidad de Foenkinos para transmitir emociones sin necesidad de extenderse en descripciones sentimentales. El dolor no se explica, se siente. Y entonces llega Markus鈥o les cuento nada m谩s, tendr谩n que descubrirlo con la lectura de la novela. Uno de los aspectos m谩s singulares de la novela es su estructura. Entre los cap铆tulos narrativos aparecen peque帽os fragmentos que parecen sacados de un cuaderno de notas: listas, definiciones, datos curiosos. Al principio, esto puede parecer un capricho del autor, pero pronto se vuelve parte de la magia del libro. Son como peque帽os respiros que te hacen sonre铆r en medio del relato.
Y hablando de sonrisas, sorprende de esta novela que, a pesar de la tristeza que la atraviesa, nunca se siente como un libro tr谩gico. Hay humor, hay iron铆a, hay momentos absurdos que recuerdan que la vida sigue adelante incluso en las circunstancias m谩s dif铆ciles. Foenkinos tiene una habilidad especial para equilibrar la melancol铆a con la ligereza, para hacer que pasemos de la emoci贸n a la risa sin sentirnos manipulados. Cuando lo cerr茅, sent铆 que hab铆a le铆do algo especial. Y, al final, eso es lo que m谩s busco en un libro.
Quer铆a una novela as铆, tierna y dulce. David Foenkinos, alej谩ndose de la suntuosidad, entrega una historia sencilla con personajes 煤nicos; hasta el narrador es especial, busca que seas su c贸mplice, su compa帽ero de cotilleo. Me ha gustado mucho el protagonista masculino, no me hubiera querido separar de 茅l, un personaje honesto y digno, de madurez infantil y divertido, todo en conjunto lo hace encantador. Si bien, es un romance, no cae en cliches, carece de edulcorantes. El 煤nico "pero" a mi juicio, es que me da la sensaci贸n de que la novela daba para m谩s...quiz谩s no sea un pero, sino m谩s antojo de Foenkinos. Una novela que me deja una sonrisa y tibio el coraz贸n. Linda!
El titulo de la novela ya lo define todo, es una historia con mucha delicadeza, es tierna, sencilla y encantadora, nada pastelosa y muy cercana. Markus es un amor, una joya de persona. Y menos mal que al final Nathalie abri贸 los ojos.
j鈥檃ime beaucoup l鈥櫭ヽriture de l鈥檃uteur, le livre se lit bien. apr猫s, il faut quand m锚me avouer qu鈥檃vec la mani猫re dont les personnages f茅minins sont d茅crits 鈥� je pense surtout au personnage principal 鈥�, il est tr猫s clair que le livre a 茅t茅 茅crit par un homme鈥� tout tourne autour de la sensualit茅 de Nathalie, de l鈥檈ffet qu鈥檈lle produit sur les hommes qui l鈥檈ntourent, et finalement je trouve que ce qu鈥檈lle ressent vis-脿-vis de Fran莽ois, son deuil, n鈥櫭﹖aient pas exploit茅s comme ils auraient pu l鈥櫭猼re?
et puis, 莽a c鈥檈st un d茅tail, mais j鈥檃i trouv茅 la blague que fait Nathalie sur l鈥檃utisme (un passage o霉 elle accuse Markus d鈥櫭猼re autiste simplement parce qu鈥檌l refuse de la regarder dans les yeux) 茅tait d鈥檃ssez mauvais go没t鈥� il n鈥檡 avait aucun int茅r锚t 脿 茅crire cette r茅plique !
Magnifique, incroyable d茅couverte de cet auteur qui sais jouer avec les mots comme personne. J鈥檃i 茅t茅 茅mue , touch茅e, j鈥檃i ri, frissonn茅, presque pleur茅.. un voyage du bout des doigts.