Étiquettes
Blackwood, Critique de livre, Fantastique, idées de lecture, lecture, Little Brown, Livre, Michael Farris Smith, quoi lire, roman, Roman noir
Les premières phrases
« Colburn was standing with his mother in the kitchen when she said go fetch your father. The long light of an August day bleeding through the windows. His face and hands dirty from playing football in the neighbor’s yard. His mother wiped the sweat from his face with a dishtowel. Held his chin in her hand and gazed at him. You’ll be twelve soon. I can’t believe it. He asked where his father was and she said out back in the workshop. Go tell him it’s time for supper. The boy noticed the empty bottle on the counter, beneath the high cabinet where his father kept his whiskey, and he picked up the bottle and unscrewed the cap and sniffed and it burned through his nose and his mother laughed when he winced and then told him that should teach you all you need to know about that stuff. Don’t ever bother with it. Not now nor ever. And then the smile left her face and her eyes drifted out of the kitchen window and into the backyard. Her eyes drifted toward the workshop where his father hid most days when he came home from work. Sometimes the buzz of a saw or pouding of a hammer but mostly silence from the workshop. Her eyes drifted and an emptiness came across her face. »
Circonstances de lecture
Parce que Michael Farris Smith fait partie de mes auteurs préférés.
Impressions
Michael Farris Smith nous plonge avec « Blackwood » au sein d’une petite ville du Mississippi en apparence sans histoire… jusqu’à ce que Colburn, parti alors qu’il n’était qu’un enfant, y remette les pieds, et qu’un couple étrange accompagné d’un jeune garçon traînent leur misère et leur caddie dans le centre-ville, pour y faire les poubelles. L’ombre du passé refait alors surface.
Voici une histoire sombre à l’atmosphère envoûtante, avec une pointe de fantastique. On ressent l’oppression du kudzu, cette plante grimpante qui semble vouloir recouvrir la ville et ses habitants, et les faire sombrer dans la folie. Encore une fois, Michael Farris Smith signe un très beau livre. Un auteur américain à ne pas rater !
Ma sœur m’a offert cette superbe édition à Noël. Il devrait sortir en français chez Sonatine en avril 2021.
Michael Farris Smith – Blackwood – Mars 2020 – Little Brown