There are many subgenres in the kings of the house (children are kings), this very good novel by the French Delphine de Vigan, her latest work translated into Spanish. We have the thrillerin its dynamics of suspense; the classic police, with its winks of clues, inspectors and suspicions; the pure drama, narrated with a denouncing eye on a problem gestated in times of hyperconnectivity, but that exposes a fundamental issue that crosses all eras. Also, dystopia, used here very intelligently as a proposal for a historical reconstruction.
This underlying issue that crosses all eras focuses on children’s rights: children used to fulfill other people’s mandates and satisfy parental ambitions. The rest is history and framework that converges there. This 350-page book is also a pretext to expose these educational arbitrariness, the damage that narcissistic demands projected onto children cause in their emotional development, under the format of an agile and intense literature.
But what makes one can not stop reading the book? There is a story that seduces from the beginning from her plot point: a YouTube user posts videos of her two young children until the mysterious disappearance of one of them occurs. From there, a plot rich in rhythm, tension and conflict explodes that will activate a network of thematic relationships that will range from the loss of privacy and the enslavement of the child figure to the fantasy and enjoyment projected by screens and social networks. All of this under the umbrella of a police investigation that a young inspector, with a past of infrequent and unstable ties, must solve against the clock. Posed in this way, the characteristic pieces of a full-fledged detective story can be appreciated without surprise, but the deviations of the plot and the formal architecture will be the milestones of its originality.
The contrast between the personalities of the two main characters, the mother youtuber and the police, is an element that also helps motorize. Mélanie and Clara fascinate for what the reader reproaches, one, and appreciates, in the other, that valued concept that will mark the territory of the facts: intimacy –and what each one does with it–. While one exposes her with relish, the other protects her with the modesty of a fleeting treasure, even at the cost of putting her fragile happiness at risk.
The fear of the gaze of others, from completely opposite impulses, will nevertheless place both women on an equal footing in the face of their own demons. Its consequences will lead to an ending perhaps kneaded with a sobering whiff, but resolved with the precision and power of round stories.
- The kings of the house. From Delphine of Vigan. Anagram Publishing House. 340 pages. $4,950.