Tag Archives: Belgium fiction
The Train by Simenon
“It was the hour of my meeting with Fate, the hour of an appointment which I had had a long time, which I had always had, with Fate.” The Train, an excellent roman durs (hard novel) from Simenon, is another fine example … Continue reading
Dirty Snow by Simenon
I’m glad I read Simenon’s Three Crimes and Patrick Marnham’s excellent biography of the author before arriving at Dirty Snow. That’s not to say that you can’t read Dirty Snow on its own merit, but I arrived at the novel … Continue reading
The Grandmother by Simenon
”I’m not nice and I’m too old to start now.” The Grandmother by Simenon focuses on the relationship between two women, an affluent young woman and her elderly grandmother. When the novel begins, Sophie Emel is living with her friend, … Continue reading
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The Widow by Georges Simenon
“When he came out of prison, he had also gone to eat ice cream. They handed him some money, two hundred-odd francs–he did not know exactly why. He had taken a bus. He had slept in one town, then in … Continue reading
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The Bells of Bicetre by Simenon
“For Rene Maugras, dates and times of day did not exist, and only later on was problem of elapsed time to trouble him. He was still sunk at the bottom of a pit as dark as the abyss of ocean, … Continue reading
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The Venice Train by Simenon
“I know what happens to men once they’re on their own.” In Simenon’s novel The Venice Train, middle-aged, portly Justin Calmar returns home to Paris from his annual holiday in Venice, leaving his wife and two children behind to spend … Continue reading
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Striptease by Simenon
“Did he realize that he was making a fool of himself? He thought he’d put his ‘mark’ on the new girl, to use his phrase, but in fact it was she who had out her mark so oddly on him.” … Continue reading
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Red Lights by Georges Simenon
“She needed a lesson.” The characters in Simenon’s romans durs always make me think of rats stuck in traps of their own making. Steve and Nancy Hogan in Red Lights experience a nightmarish event that is entirely avoidable–but in a sense it’s … Continue reading
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The Man Who Watched Trains Go By by Georges Simenon
“The impossible suddenly breaches the dykes of everyday life.” Kees Popinga is a respectable middle-aged Dutch businessman who works in the office of a major shipping company. Popinga is extremely smug about his boringly predictable life and is particularly proud … Continue reading
