The Mussel Feast

I know we did #France in July and we're now in August, but here's one last #FoodAndLit post for the quintessential Northern French (and also Belgian) meal we had for lunch today. I'm allowed - I had an early Japan post in July 🙃

Graywacke Uh, yum! 2y

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andrew61

The Mussel Feast | Birgit Vanderbeke

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At 105 pages i was slowly unnerved as the extent of a father's mistreatment of his 2 children gradually revealed itself in a narrative told by the daughter. The story opens with the mother cooking mussels, a celebratory meal for a father returning home to announce a promotion but as she + the 2 children wait the picture of a happy family disintegrates. Written in 89 the author references a tyrranical father and a German saga a story of a country

Tamra Sounds interesting! 2y

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ReadingEnvy

The Mussel Feast | Birgit Vanderbeke

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A mother and her two teenage children sit at the dinner table. In the middle stands a large pot of cooked mussels. Why has the father not returned home? As the evening wears on, we glimpse the issues that are tearing this family apart.

'I wrote this book in August 1989... I wanted to understand how revolutions start. It seemed logical to use the figure of a tyrannical father and turn the story into a German family saga.'

ReadingEnvy Peirene intentionally publishes shorter, read in one sitting, translated works - it would have been hard to take much more of this one in the sense that you really get a sense of the dictator father and how his behavior has controlled the family. It is told from the perspective of the oldest daughter, and at least in the ebook there are no chapter or paragraph breaks. It's like being in the family yourself, oppressed with no end in sight ⤵️ 4y

ReadingEnvy .
I loved the ending, and will look for more from this press. I was happy to read this from the books I already had for Women in Translation month; this is translated from the German. 4y

LeahBergen This sounds great. Stacked! 4y

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jhod

The Mussel Feast | Birgit Vanderbeke

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Positive outcome of all this number xy: new online translated fiction book club, tonight run by Pierene book press, great discussion and a fascinating read! Every Thursday at 8pm GMT

squirrelbrain Sounds great! Have you seen this @charl08 ? 4y

charl08 What a great idea! 4y

jhod @squirrelbrain @charl08 see you next week?! Book is

Where the Wild Ladies Are

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charl08 Do you have a link you could share? 4y

jhod @charl08 https://mailchi.mp/peirenepress/announcing-the-translated-fiction-online-book-cl... 4y

jhod Hopefully that works! 4y

charl08 Thank you! @squirrelbrain 4y

squirrelbrain Thanks @jhod - no problem @charl08 - I know how much you like Peirene! 4y

charl08 I have ordered the next book: thanks again 😀 4y

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