Patrick Modiano

Georges Borchardt

A novel set in 1960s Paris, where, in classic Modiano style, a student is drawn into contact with a criminal cell by his love for an enigmatic young woman whose dark past is only revealed decades later

The Black Notebook

Andrew John Kinney

This was my first Modiano book, and I really enjoyed it, though from my perspective, it started slowly. The conclusion was strong, and it caused me to go back and re-read the first few pages, now that I knew the ending. The many descriptions of walking through Paris made me nostalgic for the city. It is an interesting, low-key story about memory, how time changes us and our surroundings, and about longing for lost youth. 

This book won the Nobel, and I get it, though I imagine it is more powerful when read in the original French; my French is sadly not that good, but it was still very good in translation. It is short, and I think a good way to be introduced to M. Modiano.

Rohit Arondekar

A writer searching his memories, notes and dreams in the hope of figuring out what happened. Beautiful writing makes you feel the confusion and lethargy tiding over the protagonist. Hunting ghosts in the past trying to grasp what was real and what was a dream with time and space modulated expertly.

I found the expectation of knowing Paris and its streets a little jarring in the beginning, but got used to it as it's done so naturally, just how a real person would try and remember, with no unnecessary explanations, just the names and memories associated with streets and corners of a city you've lived in.

The Black Notebook

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