The Widow - A Simenon thriller filled with grungy, gritty women and men right off the pages of a novel by the king of grungy and gritty - Jim Thomson.
All the Simenon romans durs (hard novels) I've read so far, when set in Europe, take place in a town or city, frequently Paris. The Widow does not; we're on farm out in the country and the characters are vintage Jim Thompson grubby right down to their filthy toenails.
As if adding powder and more powder to a keg of dynamite, Simenon brings together a number of characters:
Tati, a 45-year old, not very attractive farm widow;
Jean, recently released from a five year prison sentence (he committed murder) who begins working on Tati's farm;
Couderc, Tati's randy father-in-law who works on the farm and on occasion has shared Tati's bed;
Félicie, Tati's 16-year-old red-haired niece who nearly always carries her baby with her;
a number of Tati's in-laws who would like nothing more than kick Tati out and take over the farmhouse.
In his essay on Simenon, Irish author and critic John Banville writes, "The is existentialism with the backbone of tempered steel."
And in his Introduction to this New York Review Books edition, Paul Theroux notes, "The novel (The Widow) becomes implicitly existential, though Simenon would scoff at such a word: there is no philosophical meditation in the narrative. Jean has been put on a road to ruin by Simenon - been set up, indeed."
How set up? Why would Simenon do such a thing? Read this steely tale to find out.
Georges Simenon, 1903-1989
“It just happened. As though a moment comes when it's both necessary and natural to make a decision that has long since been made." - Georges Simenon, The Widow
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