Member Reviews

Beautiful short novel of love and a lost time. I really enjoyed this book and it pulled at my heart strings hugely!
Enjoyed the book. I found the plot really good and really enjoyed it. I also found the characters really interesting. Thank you netgalley for the chance to read this in return for a review.

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This book was so beautifully written and I absolutely loved it. It was so powerful, I didn't want it to end and still feel very sad. I felt like I knew the characters so well and it was so captivating I couldn't put it down.
I definitely recommend this book.
My thanks to NetGalley for my free copy.

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This novella starts by telling the story of two boys who develop a clandestine relationship, the difficulty is it's in 1984 and the world is not accepting as it is now and they decide to hide their relationship. Philippe is aware of his sexuality and accepts his choice although does not declare it, Thomas on the otherhand struggles to accept himself and lives a dual life.
It continues years later when Philippe, as an established author, has a chance encouter with Thomas' son and Philippe has the chance of discovering what happened to his lover.
I really enjoyed this story but you know from the outset that the ending is going to be painful. It is beautifully written and keeps the reader enthralled regardless of how you feel about the characters involved.

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This was an interesting story translated from the French Edition, about the love of two teenage boys with all the attendant fears. Delightfully written story.

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Such a sad little novel, tender, haunting, a tale of love, loss and longing that I found very touching. It’s the story of the love between two French adolescent boys who meet at school, a love that never leaves them in spite of their divergent adult lives. Spare prose, with not a word wasted or out of place, expertly paced and with deep compassion for his luckless characters, this is a book that will stay with me for a long time.

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‘Lie With Me’ is a novella of real depth and emotional honesty. Set in France, it’s a story of adolescent love, recounted after several decades by Philippe, the son of the local head teacher and now a respected author. So far, so predictable, one might think: the beautiful countryside, the tensions at social gatherings, the glances in the playground at school, the nod to 80s culture. However, this love story is unusual in that it’s about two boys, very different in their aspirations but unequivocally drawn to each other.
However, theirs is a secret affair. Whilst Philippe’s peers have their suspicions and he suffers from homophobic bullying, Thomas, a farmer’s son, is popular with the girls and a well-liked ‘copain’ amongst his group of friends. And, yet, it is Thomas who initiates their relationship and lays down the terms in which it is to be conducted.
The reader might expect that the climax of the story will be when the liaison is discovered – but it never is. What Philippe Besson gives us is a far more poignant and important idea: if you don’t live your true life, your secret will destroy you. We learn that taciturn Thomas spends decades living in turmoil, repeating mistakes and yet stuck in a mire of his own making. In the conservative countryside, he finds it impossible to own his sexuality.
All of this story is told through Philippe after he meets Thomas’ son. Besson’s skill in ensuring that we understand not only the narrator but also the lover from long ago, both as a boy and a man, is remarkable. It is a beautifully written quiet tragedy, made all the more unbearable because nothing can make up for the suffering of the past.
My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

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Short, sweet, beautifully written and totally heartbreaking. The tears are still flowing. I didn’t feel like this was a story, it felt so real and written from the heart as if I was being told something personally.

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An evocative and sensual tale of first love, reminiscent of Call Me By Your Name (to which is has been widely compared) and The Lover by Marguerite Duras. I found the style somewhat mannered, but nevertheless enjoyable.

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I felt that this story was one that the author needed to get off of his chest rather than one that others need to read. The descriptions and story telling a brilliant, but the content wasn't interesting enough for me.

I felt for Thomas, the fact that he was never happy with who he was even at the end.

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A story of first love between two boys, set in France. It's beautifully written despite feeling (in my view) somewhat dated. What it does convey is the suffering inflicted by the isolation arising from the attitude of society at the time towards homosexual relationships. The awards for this book are well deserved.

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I wasn’t sure about this at first but it really grew on me as the story progressed. Definitely worth a read.

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A hauntingly beautiful story of love, loss, life and sexuality for two young men fighting to keep their relationship hidden for fear of the homophobic backlash.

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A beautiful but sad story that deals with love, life, sexuality, loss betrayal and homophobia. It is a short book yet it has power behind it,
Thank you to both NetGalley and Penguin Books for my eARC of this book

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"Lie with Me" is a short novel translated from the French by Molly Ringwald. Philippe, the narrator, is a successful author with a biography and career identical to the that of the author. The novel opens in 2007 when Philippe breaks away from an interview on seeing a young man who looks exactly like his first love, a fellow pupil from his schooldays, Thomas Andrieu. The action then shifts to 1984 and the nowhere town of Besson's teenage years, a place where nothing happens and from which it is hard to escape. Besson successfully conveys the claustrophobia of the narrator's teenage years, his sense of difference (his snobbish description of a family wedding is excruciating), and the electrifying effect of his relationship with Thomas. However, overall, the book felt rather flat and slight and towards the end I found it difficult to remain engaged.

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A beautifully-written book. I found it rather short, and slightly insubstantial, but it would make a very enjoyable holiday read.

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A very simple story of love and loss. A bit too short to be be absorbing, and not really much story to it - maybe something was lost in translation?

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A poignant novella of teenage love and loss

A beautifully written novella, translated from French by the American actress Molly Ringwald. The story is one we can all connect with, first love and with that, the first heartbreak and loss, felt all the more keenly on the cusp of adulthood.

The title has been translated as Lie with Me, instead of the original Stop With Your Lies, but the English title is a clever play on words. The two young men in the story keep their love affair hidden as they maintain the facade that they barely know one another, and this adds to the element of secrecy and deception.

Philippe and Thomas meet in secret, discovering a passion that ignites a short-lived affair that shapes the rest of their lives. Philippe and Thomas lose contact with one another, but a twist of fate brings the past crashing into the present when Philippe encounters a young man that resembles Thomas to an uncanny degree. Philippe discovers the tragic truth about Thomas and the secrets that he carried for years as he lived a lie and never acknowledged his true self.

The story reflects their youth, to a time when they both discover that they share deep feelings for one another but chose never to disclose these to their family and friends. This decision shapes the rest of their lives.

A must-read, a coming of age story that lingers long after the last word has been read.

Gillian

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of this book to review

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A lovely, heartfelt story of true love, translated in style without losing its power. Very worthy read for any one with a heart!

It is too short in my opinion, so don't rush it.

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A beautifully written book which flashes back and forward in two periods of the protagonists life. I enjoyed the way the story unfolded to enable me to try to guess what was happening and also how the relationships evolved.

Thanks for allowing me to review this book

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My only criticism of this novel is that it’s too short. I was completely swept away by the flashbacks and the budding relationship the narrator describes and barely put it down as I hoped for a happy ending.

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