The author, a witness to the tsunami that struck Sri Lanka, witnessed the grief of a mother who lost her daughter in the disaster. The book begins with this account and continues with the illness and death of his sister-in-law, a young judge, successful in her profession and with three small children, who is diagnosed with cancer. Based on interviews with the protagonists and their families, a collective story is constructed about grief and suffering, but also about love and helping others.
It is an excellent work from a literary point of view, as both the plot and the other narrative elements are extremely well-crafted and carefully executed: the impeccable prose, the extraordinary character development, which engages the reader in their struggles, and the exquisite treatment of language, create a well-achieved portrait —with a very French style— of the way of life of a group of left-leaning professionals.
Unfortunately, the book is interspersed with erotic passages —usually brief, but not always— including some rather crude ones. Transcendence, God, and religion are absent, except for one blasphemous remark about Jesus Christ.
T.R. (2011)