Léonard soffre il caldo in modo particolare, gli sviluppa un torpore che gli impedisce di ragionare con lucidità. I wonder if this novel is intended as a modern retelling of Camus’ The Outsider, because Leonard is certainly that - an awkward loner who doesn’t fit into society or really understand how to or want to fit in - and the story centres around a singular death (there are also more superficial similarities like the beach setting, the length of the novel and both authors’ French nationalities). That’s reflected in Leo’s character arc too, beginning with being inactive to ending with being active, even though it’s too late (for him/for the planet). This was a short and suspenseful read set in France in the midst of summer perfect for a lazy day on the beach or by a pool.

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Un breve romanzo cupo e perturbante, da leggere velocemente, col respiro teso e il fiato trattenuto.Victor Jestin’s debut novel Heatwave has an intriguing premise that unfortunately turns out to be only that as what follows isn’t particularly interesting or memorable. In the whole book Leo thinks of Oscar, he feels guilty, is nervous, wants to tell someone but he also pushes those thoughts away and tries to live his normal camping life.

Heatwave by Victor Jestin — Ashley Review and Summary of Heatwave by Victor Jestin — Ashley

As he wanders among the dunes, he sees Oscar, one of the cooler kids, drunk in a playground, hanging by his neck from the ropes of a swing. Mooi portret van een adolescent, die het gevoel heeft dat hij niet thuis hoort in de wereld waarin hij zich momenteel bevindt.Originally published by Flammarion under the title La Chaleur, it won the Prix Femina des Lycéens and was nominated for the Prix Medicis and Prix Renaudot. You devour this book, but its effects linger, so strongly does it reverberate with destinies sacrificed to the yawn of the void. On one of his last nights he witnesses a friend he made there's suicide on the children's playground. Leonard is 17 and hates having to spend the summer holidays with his parents in a tent on a giant, hot camping in Les Landes full of shallow people enjoying themselves.

Heatwave: The most deliciously dark beach read of the summer

While wandering on the dunes he sees Oscar, one of the cool kids, hanging from his neck, entangled by the rope of a swing. If so, could Leo be an unreliable narrator and, like in Camus’ novel, the death that occurs is a murder - did Leo actually murder Oscar, because he was jealous of his being with Luce, the girl he fancies, and Leo distanced himself from the crime like he distances himself from everything else in his life, pretending the swings killed him instead? Uncomfortable in his own skin and struggling to find his footing in the world, Leonard is clearly a fish out of water in a holiday resort where social constructs are enforced with partying, drinking and organised activities.But it was still very readable and in the end it's won a lot of awards and I'm not really sure I understood it. It's all about the complexity of human nature and the atmosphere that is determined by the different associations with heat. I had never heard of this young emerging author from France before, so I was shocked to find this in the new section of my library. The reader then spends the next 48 hours with Leo as he sulks around in the heat, attempts to lose his virginity, gets into a fistfight with a bully, and mostly has a miserable time as that classic archetype of the misunderstood teen.