Lie With Me: A Novel

This short memoir was initially released in French as ‘Arrête avec tes Mensonges’ which is translated directly as ‘Stop With Your Lies.’ The book is separated into three chapters; the first begins with two high school boys at a small village in the French countryside. The two begin a clandestine affair that starts as a physical relationship and merges into something more. As these lovers navigate into adulthood, we see their relationship change as summer begins. We learn of their families, backgrounds, ethnicity, and class status. Then everything changes. I don’t want to say much more because I was quite surprised about the back half of this personal memoir. Though only about 150 pages, so much emotion is packed into this book that I couldn’t put it down and I finished it in two quick sittings. I didn’t expect the ending of this book and the final page blew me away. I’ve never read a memoir quite like this, and it almost seems impossible how the events unfold. Besson writes an amazing story that flows and weaves with asides and tangents that pull the reader through a complex story only to build to a final heart wrenching climax. The writer challenges his own memory and questions the reliability of memory. It’s also in some ways a cautionary tale, a warning of what happens when people aren’t free to be themselves. I think the original French title fits this book better than the English, but overall the translation was excellent. I hope many people take a moment to read this during pride month to remember where we have been, what is at stake, what we have already lost. • Scribner Books • ★★★★★ • Hardcover • Nonfiction - Memoir, LGBT • Recommended by @jananav and several other people on Instagram. • Purchased online. ◾︎

On paper, there's a lot to like about Lie With Me: 1. It's short. Many of today's novels are 500+ pages, so it's nice to pick up something that requires a shorter time commitment. 2. It's widely acclaimed. Some of those folks must have opinions worth respecting, right? 3. It's beautifully written. Besson clearly know how to describe a scene, conjure an image, unspool a story. 4. It's a great translation (at least I *think* it is). I haven't read the original French, but the English version has a very particular, very bold voice. 5. Molly Ringwald. And yet, it took me forever to finish the book. So what gives? Ultimately, I think it's the main characters. There's not a lot of plot to Lie With Me, so the novel is really driven by Thomas and Philippe, and unfortunately, I'm not a fan of either. I can't identify with them, I don't know who they are. To be honest, they don't feel entirely real. I mean, why are they so intent on being miserable? How can anyone live by such laughably absolute, grand pronouncements? ("I'll never call him", "It's the last time we'll see one another", etc.) Thomas and Philippe inhabit a world of black and white, but the world I know is a lot grayer--not to mention gayer. (Don't get me started on the novel's pervasive internalized homophobia, even though it's set in the late 20th/early 21st centuries, when being gay isn't an especially big deal, even in rural areas like the one I grew up in.) There's something about Lie With Me that reminds me of French literature from 70 years ago. There was plenty of great work written in post-war France, but most of it has a particular bleak tone that Lie With Me has in spades. It's like a love story written by Albert Camus. It's the most Existential thing I've read since No Exit. Even Genet could've dreamed up something more realistic. But of course, this is solely my opinion. The fact that it's brief and that it's well-written makes me inclined to give it four stars instead of three. And the ending really packs a punch, I'll give it that. Maybe you'll enjoy Thomas and Philippe more than I did.

Such a GREAT book. I read it two years ago and it's still on my mind.

Do not pigeonhole Lie with Me as a “gay novel.” This beautiful and heartwrenching novel charts first love and lust between two adolescents: the continuing obsession of the one into adulthood, the tragic consequences social convention and filial duty lay upon the other . . . and they happen to be same-sex. If you have ever been in love, desperately in love, overwhelmed with intense and insatiable desire, then suffered the all-consuming heartbreak of loss . . . this is the book for you. Brilliantly translated from the French by Molly Ringwald (yes, THAT Molly Ringwald), the prose practically sizzles off the page with eroticism, all the more so as the details of sex are couched in terms of passion and desire. As Julian Barnes has written, "Most of us have only one story to tell. I don't mean that only one thing happens to us in our lives . . . but there's only one that matters, only one finally worth telling." This is Besson’s story, whether it’s confessional memoir or fiction (there is the double-entendre of the English title “lie” with me) or some combination of both. If Duras, whom Besson quotes in the opening epigraph and imitates with his narrative style, speaks to you, thrills your senses with the pain of recognition, then, regardless of sexual preference, Besson will grip your heart too. Love, longing and loss are universal.

It’s only been recent that I have found the author Philippe. But his words and stories are so carefully and painfully crafted. This book is short, too short but maybe that’s the point. His stories are often about fierce passion; first loves. This story does an amazing job portraying the different struggles of homosexuality. More than that it is a perfect example of so many first loves. They are often chaotic, confusing, passionate and too short. First loves are small blimps in our lives yet they stay with us forever. I encourage ANYONE who is thinking about reading this to please read it.

Receive this book in a very good condition, Nice packaging.

I had a hard time moving on from this book. What an incredible thing this short book was - Intimate and moving, it reads like a memoir. It is achingly poignant, lyrical, and heartbreakingly poignant, evoking the intense emotions of first love as they unfold. This book made me ugly cry, Philippe Besson took me on a journey and I had a hard time finding my way back. “Everything is in its place, everything reassures me. Except that I miss Thomas. I miss him terribly. And that changes everything. Have you noticed how the most beautiful landscapes lose their brilliance as soon as our thoughts prevent us from seeing them properly?” My gosh, the writing in this book was so beautiful and poetic that I can't even begin to imagine what it must have been like in French, as that's how it was originally written. The books that appeal to me most are retrospective in nature. As the novel progresses, the characters reflect on their lives and the events that led them to where they are now. And, Philippe Besson perfectly evokes the sense of nostalgia, that you can feel radiate off the pages. We do not know if the book is based on the author's own life, but the protagonist is called Philippe, and the novel is dedicated to Thomas Andrieu. However, I don't believe that's significant. Ultimately, it's the journey the characters take, and most importantly, the message we, the readers, take away from the book. A new favorite book of mine, I think it might be worth brushing up on my French so I can read it in its original language. “I’m seventeen years old. I don’t know then that one day I won’t be seventeen. I don’t know that youth doesn't last, that it’s only a moment, and then it disappears and by the time you finally realize it, it’s too late. It’s finished, vanished, lost.”

Surprised by the translator but thought since I can read French I am buying it in French. This is a sad coming of age story but not typical. The shortness of the work gives it a breathlessness. It reminded me of the extremely short story by Bernard Cooper, "Capiche?", 5 paragraphs. I liked it from the beginning and read only three pages per day to make it last. I also bought it for a friend as a gift. I still do not know if it is true or false, I am hoping for the latter. Good story writing, excellent writing.

Compassionate short novel recounting adolescent love between two French teenagers in the 1980s. Exquisite writing lifts this novel above the average. Reads more like a memoir than fiction. A classic work which leaves a deep impression on the reader.

A beautiful but aching tale of first love, shame, and the devastation that comes from denying who you truly are. Two young men, seventeen and on the brink of adulthood, spend one transformative summer together. Many years later, one of them — now a successful writer — looks back on that time after encountering a man who reminds him of his first love.