A group of tourists from all over the world
gather into a chateau in France, intending to enjoy the
holidays in the company of near strangers. They slowly
learn secrets about each other while keeping their own
secrets as best they can. The seductive lure of change
and experience goes to the heads of the children and
adults alike. The world slips by like syrup flowing,
until the body is discovered. The murder of one of their
own leads them to discover the truth about their lives,
and about love, and about why they are THE UNLOVED.
THE UNLOVED is a novel of the mind, a real
cerebral experience. The astounding prose takes on that
most difficult of themes: what it really means to be
loved. Each character, down to the young children, has
their own take on what it means. Cruel parents watch as
their children fall and the children give as good as they
get. THE UNLOVED must listen to the stories of the loved,
their passions and failures laid before the world.
The surest sign that a novel is a life-changer is
that even your criticism can only help the experience of
the book. That which confused me can be saved by virtue
of slow and careful reading. If I came to this novel with
any expectation, it was that I would understand the
narrative. Unfortunately the novel had other plans. It is
beautifully written but it is often hard to discern who
is speaking, and why. I strongly advise reading this book
in chunks, taking the time to savor the beauteous
language and to discover what motivates these characters
to behave as they do. THE UNLOVED is an exploration of
hurt. Read the book to share their burdens and lift the
load from their shoulders.
The image is instant. It whirs out of the camera and they
all watch it develop in silence. "Here." He gives the
photograph to the perfect flawless woman without looking at
it, by way of apology. When everyone gathers around Luciana
to admire it, Gustav clicks again. The unloved look
brave. The unloved look heavier than the loved. Their
eyes are sadder but their thoughts are clearer. They are not
concerned with pleasing or affirming their loved one's point
of view. The unloved look preoccupied. The
unloved look impatient.
A group of hedonistic
tourists--from Algeria, England, Poland, Germany, Italy,
France, and America--gathers to celebrate the holidays in a
remote French chateau. Then a woman is brutally murdered,
and the sad, eerie child Tatiana declares she knows who did
it. The subsequent inquiry into the death, however, proves
to be more of an investigation into the nature of identity,
love, insatiable rage, and sadistic desire. The
Unloved offers a bold and revealing look at some of the
events that shaped European and African history, and the
perils of a future founded on concealed truth.