Lie With Me: A Novel

Amazing love story - the author does such a great job with all the parallel meanings and metaphors. He gives you not only a fantastic love story, but so much to think about. When I read it immediately again, I saw so much more! It's a book that paid for itself TWICE! You really shouldn't miss this one.

In November 2021, the core members of the book discussion group at The LGBT Center in NYC had a great two-hour discussion about this "novel." We were pretty united in our belief that this is a well told story and a terrific read. The reason it didn't get five stars is because it is too short, the coincidences too convenient, and the plot unoriginal. Many of us are suckers for a romantic story and "Lie With Me" offers plenty of meaty emotion, although told with a cool and slightly distant tone. The basic coming-out story is exceptionally well ordered and affecting. It seems very cinematic, from the opening prologue before the major flashback to the lovely scenes between the secret lovers. The two meetings between the narrator Philippe and Thomas' son Lucas later in the novel are full of poignant possibilities. On first reading, the novel seems hopefully romantic in a nostalgic way but on careful re-reading, it's easy to identify with the hidden, secret nature of Philippe's and Thomas' doomed affair. The whole novel is very French: grave rather than merely sincere; with many examples of uninteresting and unnecessary philosophizing, much of which is appropriate for a teenager; and completely aware and engaging with the negative aspects of the romantic situation. We were also vaguely interested in the LA, porn star life that the narrator alludes to. The narrator seems to have a rich, full life in many ways. A serious question arises: Is this a fake memoir, perhaps an "aspirational memoir," as Derek referred to it? The narrator is also named Philippe and the novel is dedicated to Thomas Andrieu (1966-2016). The narrator refers to his actual other novels. Besson also says "I know how lies need to be cloaked" as he lies to his mother. Maybe Philippe (in the novel) is an unreliable narrator who depends on us to join him in creating his lies. Frank pointed out the conclusion of 2019 The Guardian review by Tessa Hadley: -- We don’t feel enough of Thomas’s separate reality. When for once, after lovemaking, Thomas is actually talking and telling Philippe about his life, on the page Philippe repeatedly interrupts him, intruding fragments from his own experience as if he can’t bear not to be the centre of his own novel’s attention for even a moment. I once picked grapes too! I too learned how to milk a cow! Oh, you live there – that’s where my grandmother died! The narrator spends too much time backing into his own limelight, and in the end the whole tragic story seems narrated so as to validate and enhance Philippe’s famous-writer persona. Thomas may have been the unattainable love-object, inarticulate and desirable and other, yet everything he did turns out to have been because of Philippe, or addressed to Philippe. Well, maybe it happened like that. "Lie With Me" is full of Proustian echoes. It’s worth remembering that in Proust’s novel Albertine can’t belong to anyone, no matter how hard they try to possess her: not to the character Marcel, nor to Marcel the writer. -- I'd also like to point out that in the novel, Philippe checks out the Proust "Remembrance of Things Past" from the high school library, another Proustian echo. The English title "Lie With Me" (versus the French title "Stop With Your Lies") fits very nicely with this idea of both the author and the reader joining to create this fake memoir. Compared to other novels we've read, "Lie With Me" also echoed the affair in "Call Me by Your Name" by André Aciman as well as the small-town French homophobia and violence of "The End of Eddy" by Édouard Louis. In some ways, it also reminded me of the two gay men in "Mysterious Skin" by Scott Heim, who take very different approaches to their gayness. We all rejected Elle magazine's calling of the novel "a French Brokeback Mountain." If you continue to question my idea that the plot is unoriginal, I can point out two movies in the same vein. Steve K. pointed out that the movie "Summer of 85" ("Été 85") is a 2020 French-Belgian drama film written and directed by gay director François Ozon, partly based upon the 1982 novel "Dance on My Grave" by Aidan Chambers is a very similar French high-school story. "Summer of 85" is available on Amazon Prime Video. Lloyd pointed out that the 2016 French film “Being 17” ("Quand on a 17 ans") also picks up the theme, set in the same area of France and involving high school students who live on farms. It's written and directed by gay director André Téchiné (who also directed "Wild Reeds"), and is available on Amazon Prime Video. On a personal note, I was irritated by the random and completely unnecessary paragraph breaks in the text, which got worse as I noticed them more and more.

Love this book so much and it made me cry 😢 but super high quality and thick pages

⭐️ 5/5 🌶️ 0.25/5 (sexual situations are mentioned but are non-explicit) Page count: 152 This story is told in first person, and follows the relationship between Philippe and Thomas Andrieu. It’s been days since I read this novel and I’m still not entirely sure how to write a review about it. The writing is gorgeous and (I assume) beautifully translated from French by Molly Ringwald. This story is part memoir and part fiction, blurring the lines between a real and very meaningful experience in the author’s life and his fictional embellishments. The story explores first love and deep desire, the intensity of longing, and the lasting impact people and experiences can have on your life. I loved it because it made me feel, and I hated it because it left me devastated.

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.

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.

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. ◾︎

I hate to compare two books to one another but the similarities to ‘Call Me by your Name’ are hard to miss. Lie With Me felt like a much more fast forwarded version, it had all character driven monologue but enough plot for me. It’s a very quick read and the actual story between the two main characters is over fairly quickly. Very quick read but not the most interesting

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

While the high school romance with Thomas was brief and exhilarating, the beauty of this novel was in Philippe's encounters with Lucas. The title should reflect that instead. I don't care for graphic descriptions of sexual intimacy. Telling it well is a delicate art that not many people are gifted with, and this novel is a good example where the details left me feeling icky instead of aflutter. Best just mention them in passing instead but that's just me. Overall, a somewhat decent effort. I felt heartbroken for (view spoiler) Hence, there was no closure for me. 3.5/5* rounded up.

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.