An image of Dua Lipa in all white sitting on a stairwell holding a blue book.
"So, I recently finished a book that completely hijacked me, and I can't stop thinking about it: The Son Of Man by Jean-Baptiste Del Amo, translated by Frank Wynne. This chilling and beautifully written novel explores family, masculinity and the terrifying inheritance of violence. It pulled me in from the first page and refused to let go, building an atmosphere of dread that quietly tightened its grip - and has stayed with me long since finishing it.
After an unexplained absence of several years, a man walks back into the life of a woman and their young son.
Right away, something about him feels off. He's unpredictable, almost feral, and when he insists they all go together to Les Roches, an abandoned house in the mountains, a sense of dread creeps in and never leaves us, the readers.
Later, we find out that this is the same house where the man lived his brutal teenage years with his own violent and deranged father. At this point, I was getting The Shining vibes - and the ending of this tense novel is no less climactic. In fact, I should probably warn you: this is a dark book, even by my standards. And yet, there's also real beauty here. The language is cinematic and poetic, which translator Frank Wynne captures perfectly in English.
Jean-Baptiste Del Amo, one of France's most exciting contemporary writers, so cleverly illustrates how violence can be passed down from one generation to the next - especially from fathers to sons. I was on the edge of my seat from beginning to end, and the story of this fragile family and the legacy of inherited trauma keeps coming back to me. The hope at the end of this novel rests on breaking this cycle.
The #SERVICE95 Book Club by Dua Lipa has announced next month’s book as “The Son of Man” by Jean-Baptiste Del Amo (English translation version).
The novel explores family, masculinity, and illustrates how violence can be passed down from one generation to the next. 👥