The Last Summer of Reason
Translator Marjolijn de Jager
First Written 2001
Genre Fiction
Origin Algeria
Publisher Ruminator Books
My Copy library hardback
First Read February 11, 2025

The Last Summer of Reason

Notes

It's only February 10 and so far this is the second book about a bookstore owner?

Noted on February 11, 2025

Quotes

Could all the humiliations and suffering he has been subjected to, all the violence that has come out of it, be mastered? For a short while now, Boualem has been convinced that he is capable of violence. Secretly, he is even preparing for it, for he knows that one day he will be forced to use it. In his mind, killing has almost become a symbolic and conciliatory act, a simple rite of exorcism whereby violence and blood come close to being purely abstract.

He also knows that there are thousands like him. But mistrust is everywhere. How can those who want to fight meet when mistrust has been raised to the level of neurosis? You are afraid to reveal yourself to your neighbor, but also to your friend, your brother, and your offspring. Everyone is barricaded behind a bulwark of hypocrisy and artificial piety.

Quoted on February 27, 2025

Ex Libris Kirkland is a super-self-absorbed reading journal made by Matt Kirkland. Copyright © 2001 - 2026.

Interested in talking about it? Get in touch. You might also want to check out my other projects or say hello on twitter.