Firstly, thank you to Netgalley for letting me read this in exchange for and honest (but late) review. I do feel I wasn’t the right audience for this book however, it was a queer coming of age story and I really couldn’t connect with the characters at all.

I’m also not sure if it’s semi-autobiographical or not.

Another issue I have is with the layout, I just get confused by novels that don’t have speech marks for anything spoken. Even though it was indicated I still
got lost.

The main part of the story is told to use by the writer/narrator as he tells us about his relationship with a boy, Thomas, whilst at high school- including the details of their sex lives too. I liked this part of the book best and seeing their relationship develop was nice to read.

It felt very obsolete though when it came to their adult hood. They drifted away, didn’t contact each other and it isn’t until the narrator meets Thomas’ son that we have any idea what happened after.

It takes a surprisingly sad turn towards the end that I didn’t see coming and there’s no direction it’s going to happen.

3/5 stars.
Sweet little queer romance book.

A beautifully written, very moving and powerful novella about two young men who fall in love at age 17. The story then jumps ahead in time so that we can find out what happened later in life. Written in the style of a memoir / autobiography, and extremely well translated, I enjoyed this book and will seek out the author's other books.

A brilliant book about desire, love and memory - and how social class can shape those things.

Opening in 1984 in the French countryside, a romance ignites between two boys. However, differences in social class and heteronormativity forges a separation. Later on in the novel, the story of the boys continues and fates are revealed.

This is a thoughtful and intimate story about love, loss and regret. The prose is lyrical and moving, and the story will stay with you long after the final page.

I requested this book after seeing it reviewed in a newspaper that absolutely raved about it. It was exquisitely written, achingly beautiful and tender. I felt emotionally exhausted by the end but in a cathartic way, Highly recommended.

Lyrical and elegiac, Philippe Besson’s Lie With Me chronicles a teenage love affair in provincial France in the 1980s. As much a story about class, religion and family expectation as about love, the novel looks back from the present with a clear-eyed sadness.

I really enjoyed this book. It was very interesting and trundled along nicely in France. Highly recommended.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Great book. I loved reading it. Very interesting and covers alot of information

This has been compared multiple times with Call Me By Your Name, but beyond the fact that both have similar themes, I can't say that they were that alike. In terms of style and writing, it reminded me more of The Song of Achilles. I far preferred this to CMBYN. The prose is elegaic and dreamy - Ringwald is a surprisingly great translator! - and it's one of those books which is deceptively short, but shouldn't be read quickly. It's one to be savoured, and one that I've already bought for several people. A definite must-read for anyone who likes literary romantic (but not romance) novels.

Philippe & Thomas were once a couple they had a secret afraid during their childhood- forbidden, hidden, illicit. It was never forgotten. Although they moved on, followed separate paths, these memories never faded. This was written in French by Besson but I must say Molly Ringwalk did a remarkable job translating it into English. It was emotional, heartfelt, beautiful. It’s a book that’s not to be missed.

This is an absolutely beautiful tale of a love affair. I highly recommend this to anyone. The writing style is literary and stunning.

This was boring and dragging and it didn't go anywhere, and I couldn't bring myself to trudge to the end because even halfway through, I didn't know or care what was going on. Major disappointment.

A beautiful, lyrical read that really captures the fragility and power of early love.

It feels like there aren't nearly enough novels that capture the young gay experience in the 80s in a way that is so pure and healthy; two boys of the same age, mutually consenting, discovering their sexuality. I so much prefer this to yet another novel about an adult man and a teen boy.

This story is just exquisite and beautifully told. I have been reading lots of memoirs recently and this felt like a memoir to me. It was just beautiful and heartbreaking, powerful escapism. It follows the relationship of Philippe and Thomas who enter into a doomed from the start relationship. This story will stay with you, highly recommend.

Lie With Me is the touching story of two young men on the cusp of adulthood, knowing that they are headed in very different directions. It isn’t a long book, but the depth of emotion it captures is wonderful.

In Thomas, we are presented with a character who is extremely reticent, and it feels like you never really get to know him, except perhaps through the eyes of his son, and I wonder if this reflects Philippe’s own thoughts on how well he really knew Thomas.

Philippe himself is a romantic soul, and this is echoed in the beautiful language in which the book is written. He is a young man who finds his own sexuality intriguing, and rather than being concerned about being considered different from his peers, he revels in this difference, happy to not be one of the pack – although this being 1980s France, he understands the wisdom in not announcing it to the world.

Lie With Me is presented as a novel, and throughout the book, the narrator, also a writer called Philippe, born in Barbezieux, takes pains to stress that he writes only fiction. However, the book reads as a memoir, and with many of the fictional Philippe’s books mirroring the titles of the author’s, you are left wondering just how much of Lie With Me is fiction and how much is fact.

I have read books translated from French before, but something has always seemed to be lacking, and the emotion of the book hasn’t always carried through. In Lie With Me, Molly Ringwald has created a beautiful, lyrical translation that flows so wonderfully and is overflowing with emotion.

Lie With Me isn’t a book filled with great drama and thrilling moments. Instead it is a beautiful coming of age story, and an exquisite love letter to a long lost love, perfect in its simplicity.

A devastating novel full of love. Not a word is misplaced. The prose is gorgeous. I never wanted to leave these characters. A modern day masterpiece that left me longing for more.

This is work of 'autofiction' is based on an experience that Call Me By Your Name author, Philippe Besson, had in his youth. Like a lot of queer film fans, I read it simply because I was still all over-hyped on the aforementioned film. This book covers similar territory, being focused around the longing of youth, but it is an entirely different story. No fruit was Hammered in the making of this story. This tale is a little less bittersweet and a bit more tragic, making it more realistic I think. It's definitely a wistful story that will appeal to queers aged 30+ as it takes a long, transportive look back at how much your formative years shape you. For additional campy points, the book was translated from French by Molly Ringwald.

Lie With Me is gorgeous, aching love story of young desire, struggle between freedom and fear, but also the disappearing youth and changes that growing up brings. In the setting of rural France in the 1980s, a fragile and forbidden relationship blooms between Philippe and Thomas. Besson tells the love story in lyrical language, with magnificent flow that makes reader live the moment with the boys. Absolutely unforgettable, Philippe and Thomas's story will stay with me for a long time. I barely have words to describe the novel, it is one of those best experienced by just reading it. I highly recommend it, it has been some time since I have read anything as aching and beautiful as Lie With Me.

Besides reading the book, I listened the audiobook and I highly recommend it; it is amazing, the narrator nails the feelings and the flow of this hauntingly beautiful novel.

Who wouldn't love this book!? The characters make you feel you are part of their lives, you experience their highs and lows just as you would in your own lives with the hope that the ending would turn out well for them, after all a love story always does doesn't it? Set in wonderful Bordeaux this is a fabulous book, humorous, poignant and a true reflection of modern life. A great read - highly recommended.

A moving love story. It meandered slightly in the middle, but it was worthwhile. The character felt vivid, and his story heart-felt.

The translation was also excellent, and by Molly Ringwald no less!

We need more books like this. Books about LGBTQ+ people that are so heart-achingly romantic and beautiful that you cannot help but be consumed by it. I have never read a book by Philippe Besson before, and I am so glad I started with this one. The romance between the two boys is almost palpable, and when ti ends abruptly it felt as if I had had the rug pulled from underneath me. It comes back to haunt the protagonists many years down the line. Living a lie leads to some very intense consequences.
This book blew me away.