Soft in the Head

This has to be one of the sweetest books that I have read this year - Soft In The Head may be gruffly spoken but it has an undeniably warm heart. The protagonist introduces himself with the words 'I've decided to adopt Margueritte. She'll be eighty-six any day now so there seemed no point putting it off. Old people have a tendency to die.' Germain Chazes is forty-five and is fairly at piece with being known in the neighbourhood for being 'soft in the head.' Functionally illiterate, the frequent butt of his friends' jokes and living in a caravan at the bottom of his mother's garden, Germain is someone with a tendency to trudge through life. Until, that is, one day in the park, he meets Margueritte.

Bonding over a mutual interest in counting pigeons, Germain and Margueritte take to each other immediately and Germain is surprised how much he enjoys it when the old lady starts reading to him. There has been little kindness in Germain's life - with a runaway father and a mother who blamed him for all of her misfortunes in life (getting pregnant, traumatic labour, lifelong poverty ...), Germain has never been encouraged to better himself. Margueritte by contrast is ready to think the best of him, pleased to see him and interested in what what he has to say.

One glorious day, Marguerritte begins reading to Germain and from there a beautiful world is opened to him that he never imagined could have existed before. I loved the way that Marguerritte praises Germain for being a good reader since 'reading starts with listening'. I loved how even when he was confused by the content, the reader can see how Germain's mind is being broadened by the experience. Most of all, I loved the idea of how a chance encounter has the power to alter someone's life for the better. His friends are astounded when Germain begins making reference to the work of Albert Camus and stops telling off-colour jokes. Germain has grown to be a defensive soul, he tries hard to down-play his interest in books, to protect himself from the prospect of mockery but he cannot help himself - he wants to hear more.

I was reminded of The Rosie Project at several points in this story - like Don, Germain is adrift in a world that has little time for him. Previous to his relationship with Rosie, Don too had a bond with an elderly lady, until it was tragically cut short by her worsening dementia. The biggest parallel though was how both Don and Germain gain a better understanding of love - Germain is handicapped more so than Don perhaps due to his lack of intelligence, we see him make crushingly insensitive remarks while attempting to comfort the newly-dumped cafe-owner and then wandering off unawares while she dissolves into tears - but yet, I found him easier as a protagonist to warm to than Don; Germain is frank, even blunt, whereas Don was always heavier on tactlessness. What was obvious from the beginning too though was just how starved of affection he has been - he is not someone who fails to understand love, he has simply never experienced it.

We see him wary of showing too much interest in Marguerritte lest she will reject him, embarrassed of revealing his difficulty in reading in case he earns her contempt - but instead, she is briskly understanding and brushes past any embarrassment. The bond between the two of them is so beautiful - I spent large tracts of the novel with a fizzy nose and fuzzy eyes. I always like novels that feature relationships that have a great complexity than a simple romantic will they/won't they. We know from the opening paragraph that Germain is looking to adopt Marguerritte as his grandmother, ostensibly so that in case of emergency, he can trundle up and find out information without difficulty. It reminded me of my relationship with own stepgrandparents; it was a long journey before I was happy referring to any of my step-family without the four letter prefix, but it is a relief to set aside. Above all, I loved how Soft in the Head depicts how there are relationships in life which are more profound than 'friend' - the people who change us, who wander into our lives and who we will never want to let go.

This is such a warm book - a true elegy to friendship no matter your age, background, education, whatever - there are two good people who both count pigeons and they form an iron-clad friendship. But also, I loved how beautiful its perspective was on reading. From Marguerritte's first reading to Germain to the finale when he is at last able to return the favour, the power of books is valued highly. I imagine we hear the voice of Roger herself when Germain observes 'books should not be loved selfishly' - for the boy Germain who was scared off reading so long ago, books have been closed to him. As he begins to venture beyond the cover, we feel his mind open. As observers from his perspective, we can see how his very voice has been changed through his exploration of the dictionary - a whole host of new words have been unleashed.

Soft in the Head is a lovely novel for the summer, managing to be life-affirming without being saccharine - Germain never has to stop being himself, there is not a redemption story, but rather one of a belated blossoming. I did feel like something of a failure for not having read it in the original language though - no matter how high the quality of the translation (and this one is very good), there is still a certain something about texts in translation. Anyway, in the course of my research, I discovered that it was made into a film six years ago starring (who else) Gerard Depardieu in the lead role - definitely one to watch out for, it is a wonderful piece of casting and now I can't picture Germain as anyone else! Fans of The Hundred Year Old Man and The Library of Unrequited Love are sure to enjoy this lovely story, a book to truly treasure.

A beautiful and elegant story of a middle-aged man, always laughed at in school, belittled by his mother, even by current friends; and an elderly woman who meet in a quaint, old park while feeding pigeons. Unbeknownst to them, they both count the pigeons who arrive to peck for crumbs, and Germaine divulged that he names them! A wonderful conversation and relationship is born.
Margaritas is gentle with Germaine's uneducated and almost nonexistent skills. He cannot read or write, but she knows he's eager to learn. First, she starts reading to him, but then divulged her eyesight is failing because of macular degeneration. Ah ha, Germaine will learn to read so when the time comes he'll be ready.
So becomes the relationship of the gentle teacher and the eager and fond caretaker.
Naturally, there's more to the story, so I highly recommend you seek this book out when it arrives at your bookseller or library.
Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Publishers for the delight of reading this book.

This is such a gentle, charming story – tender, very warm, and very French. It’s the story of Germain, 45, whom even his mother calls a half-wit. Slow but by no means stupid, as later becomes all too evident, Germain is used to being the butt of jokes he doesn’t understand, and used to being a loner. Then one day he meets an old lady in the park – and discovers that she too counts the pigeons. From this unlikely beginning develops a friendship and a new life for Germain. Sounds a bit schmaltzy, admittedly, but the book is beautifully written and excellently translated and I very much enjoyed it. Filmed as My Afternoons with Margueritte in 2010 and starring Gerard Depardieu the book has been a long time coming to the UK, but it’s here at last, so read it and enjoy.

Germain is 45 years old and had befriended/been befriended by Margueritte, an old lady he meets in the park. Germain lives alone in a caravan and spends his life growing vegetables, whittling wood, defacing the local war memorial and counting pigeons. But meeting Margueritte changes the way he sees life and himself bringing about changes that no-one would have thought possible.

Despite his age, in some ways this is Germain’s coming of age story. Not until he meets Margueritte who doesn’t judge him, but encourages him, does he start to develop in ways he’d never believed he was capable of. All his life he has been told he was stupid, by his mother, his teachers and the army, who classified him as suffering from “mental retardation”. Bullied at school and with few friends, he knows he’s not clever and accepts this. He goes down to the bar where the locals accept him with varying degrees of patronising sneering and protective caring. He is a child in a man’s body, a body that Annette in particular, despite their 16 year age difference is very fond of. Childlike he may be, but he knows what to do when the occassion demands.

All this starts to change on meeting Margueritte, she too likes to count the pigeons, but she also likes to read and think about things. Activities that until now, Germain had not participated in. But when Margueritte starts to share her reading with him, it awakens, thoughts and feelings he’d never encountered before. Far from being stupid, he is really just the product of his upbringing and the fact he was written off from an early age which set the course of his life. As Germain begins to understand,
“just because you’re uncultivated doesn’t mean you’re not cultivable. You just need to stumble on the right gardener”.

The book is narrated by Germain, and it did take a while to get used to his thoughts. Not quite stream of consciousness, but he does flit and fly about as memories and thoughts come to him. Seeing the world through his eyes, isn’t always a nice place. Imagining his life growing up, with an uncaring single mother and bullying teacher and school mates, does not bode well for his adult life. However it’s Germain’s acceptance of the way he is and his unquestioning nature that helps him survive and it’s impossible not to warm to him and want the best.

I enjoyed this book, it really makes you think about what is important in life and what really makes a person. It’s about looking beneath the surface and accepting the gifts we all have. It was interesting following Germain on his journey as he starts to learn things about himself and becomes more of a man and starts to unleash his potential. It was a journey that also helped to change the lives of Margueritte and Annette, in ways that they couldn’t have forseen either.

It’s a fairly short read, but packs quite a lot into it’s pages and it made a welcome change from my usual crime/thriller and chick lit reads. Every once in a while, it does you good to read something that makes you think and question perceptions, and this does so in an entertaining and ultimately heartwarming way.

I received a free ecopy via NetGalley in return for an honest review.