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Katie (868 KP) rated Suzanne in Books

Jul 1, 2018 (Updated Jul 1, 2018)  
Suzanne
Suzanne
Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette | 2017 | Biography, Fiction & Poetry
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Suzanne is a fictionalized biography of the author's grandmother. Anais Barbeau-Lavalette's grandmother, the eponymous Suzanne, abandoned Barbeau-Lavalette's mother and uncle at a young age and went on to live on the fringes of important artistic and political movements throughout most of her lifetime.

From the first line, I was hooked. Barbeau-Lavalette's writing is beautiful and poetic. Suzanne is written in the second person and the reader is invited to empathize with a mother who left her children, a woman who alienates herself from family while searching for her place in society.

This book is more the author's way of learning to love her estranged grandmother than a straightforward biography. Many feelings are evoked for Suzanne, empathy, anger, disgust, and admiration to name a few. But in some ways, along with the author, we start to understand Suzanne and maybe forgive her.

I really enjoyed Suzanne and found it hard to put down. Suzanne Meloche is a very interesting figure who I loved learning about. Reading this book gave me some insight into history but mostly an insight into parts of the human experience that are sometimes difficult to understand.