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I still remember the day I first laid my eyes on the cover of this book clearly. It was me and my best friend -more like my soulmate she was- returning from a class. As a habit we used to have, we stopped by the local bookstore. I was wandering around purposelessly while she was looking for what she wanted and then, it caught my eye. “Je l'aimais�� it read. As teenagers we were, an interesting title would be enough for us to mark the book as i-want-to-read-this! So I picked it up and as I was reading the back paper, she’s joined me and was reading along. We read quietly, then exchanged a look and smiled. It read:

Brutal coldness of winter, a sonata on the corner of the fireplace, a tear that is shed from a young woman’s eye. Two children are asleep beside her. A man that collapses down in the silence of a moonless night. A secret is revealed. And a life.
[How long does it take to forget the smell of someone who loved you? And when do you stop loving them?]
[“Right to make mistake�� is a very small combination of words, a minuscule part of a sentence, but who will give you this right? Who except yourself?]

There was only one left of the book. I know she liked it, I knew she’d want it. I gave it to her and unlike she usually would do (refusing and forcing me to buy the book for myself) she took it. She bought it and gave it to me. A gift! So the fact that it was a present from a person whom I loved the most, made me enjoy reading the book even more.

In my second read, that was today, in another edition and another language, it felt like some parts were written as a play and I thought a really good drama could be born of this piece. I like Ms Gavalda’s writing style; maybe because it’s a bit similar to my own! Besides, she did a good job interpreting a love story of confusion and complication. At first, you assume the novel is about a woman and her two daughters and what is going to become of them; how will Chloé put herself together. But no, it’s not a story of abandonment, it’s a story of passion and desire and not by the role of Chloé, but her ex-father-in-law, Pierre.
Pierre was young once. Pierre had lost a brother once. Pierre had loved someone once. And Pierre had lost her beloved once. He tells his story, sitting on an armchair across from his lovely daughter-in-law; whom he erratically loves. Is he justifying the ill-advised act of his son or only finding the right person to open out his heart to?
As Chloé said to him when Pierre wanted not to continue, “I like a good story.�� And this novel “Someone I Loved��, is a good story.