Mend the Living
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15
Ratings1
Average rating2
Winner of the Wellcome Book Prize 2017. Longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2016. Now a major French film, REPARER LES VIVANTS/HEAL THE LIVING, directed by Katell Quillevere and starring Emmanuelle Seigner. A twenty-four-hour whirlwind of death and life. In the depths of a winter's night, the heart of Simon Limbeau is resting, readying itself for the day to come. In a few hours' time, just before six, his alarm will go off and he will venture into the freezing dawn, drive down to the beach, and go surfing with his friends. A trip he has made a hundred times and yet, today, the heart of Simon Limbeau will encounter a very different course. But for now, the black-box of his body is free to leap, swell, melt and sink, just as it has throughout the years of Simon's young life. 5.50 a.m. This is his heart. And here is its story. Translated from the French by Jessica Moore
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I'm not sure if it was just the translation that made this book feel strange but it felt more like a stream of consciousness rather than a proper story. This is the type of book you need to put aside time for and read in one sitting. It's set over a period of 24 hours and you see how a boy dies in a car crash and you follow the story of his heart as it's transplanted into another person. But it was pretty interesting, not the best, but I'm still glad I read it.
