Propriété privée ("Private Property")

A Le Devoir review made me want to read Propriété Privée by Julia Deck. Kobo makes the process of getting a book so easy that I was able to satisfy my desire right away, and after finishing my semester in school, I had a gem on hand that far exceeded my expectations.

The narrator and her husband, a rather ordinary couple about whom little is actually known, decide one day that it is "high time to become homeowners". As good middle-class people with a collective conscience, they find an eco-responsible building, a place where they can breathe while being close to public transportation, a place that promises happiness. Which won't last. The novel quickly turns into a thriller. The neighbors are so unpleasant that they are scary. The promiscuity becomes invasive, the heating system breaks down, we learn the heavy secret of the narrator's husband, a cat is savagely gutted, someone disappears, and we look for the culprit. I read the whole thing in two and a quarter hours, according to my e-reader.

I did not expect to be drawn into a story about suburbanites. With a refined writing, the author succeeds in building a grating, deeply disturbing atmosphere. The hatred that our main couple develops towards their immediate neighbors, we develop it at the same time as them. Conversely, the chapters where the narrator has tea with the neighbor across the street seem to us, as well as to the narrator, like a haven of peace. I never knew what to expect, and the pressure built up until the very end.

As a gift, it's ideal. It can replace a good movie: it lasts about the same amount of time, it provides an escape, and you don't want to stop until the end. Needless to say, I highly recommend it.