Monday, August 14, 2017, at 8:10 p.m., a car crashed into the terrace of a restaurant in Seine-et-Marne. Seated with her parents and two brothers, Angela, 13, died instantly. This tragedy would not only be told on the airwaves of a national radio station, for which Justin Morin worked at the time, but also and above all seven years later through this novel, this X-ray of the links, of the relationships, of the intimate, of the family, of this force that takes hold of us one day, whether we are a mother, a father, a brother or a sister, and holds our hearts and never lets go again.
Stand up straight
From the first pages of “We’re No Longer Normal People”, two stories emerge and instantly move away from each other. The first is that of Angela, her father Sacha, her mother Betty and her brothers, the eldest Nikola and the youngest Dimitri. The victim and his clan.
The words and sentences of this first part of the novel gradually weave a web around Angela, between her and each member of her family. Sacha and Angela. Betty and Angela. Nikola and Angela. Dimitri and Angela. She is dead, she was killed. These bonds hurt, they are tense, snagged, damaged. But they do not break. Between the members of the clan, they tighten, and make them stand up straight.
She could have been called Lisa
The second is that of P. the culprit, the executioner, the young man who was driving on the evening of August 14, 2017. A letter to designate him, a portrait to represent him, the one made by his sister. A sister who could have been called Lisa.
Justin Morin creates this story, invents it, it is at this point in the story that the reality of Angela’s family gives way to the fiction of P’s. His family will be above all his sister. This sister who goes from “P’s sister” in reality to “Lisa” in fiction. This sister who never leaves her black notebook during the trial. This sister who stands behind her brother, no matter how much of an executioner he is. This sister who, as a teenager, goes to pick up her little brother when he gets off the bus, when he comes back from camp. “He hugs her, tighter than she expected, he starts to cry silently. Everything around them disappears. They are alone in their cabin.”
A wonderful novel about loss, absence, fear, about relationships that subjugate, and others that unite.
We are not normal people anymore
NOVEL
by Justin Morin, Editions La Manufacture de livres, 245 pages, 16.90 euros.
