Benjamin is 38 years old, 24 years after that summer, but he still dreams of the same scene: in his dreams there is always a mirror-like lake, there are black fish in the lake, and sometimes you will see Summer at the bottom of the lake, his eyes are wide open, his mouth is open as if he wants to say something, but he reaches out and touches the seaweed, or the black animal, and slides through his hand.
His sister Summer has been frequently seen in his dreams lately, and Benjamin, with the help of Dr. Todd, looks back at the summer when his sister disappeared and the perfect family he once had, in order to solve his sudden onset of anxiety.
Summer's disappearance came in the summer, three weeks after she had just turned nineteen and celebrated her birthday. She seemed to evaporate, no body, no life or death, no more news. But for some reason, he always felt that this was something that was bound to happen.
Who will evaporate in this world? This would not have happened, or it should have happened to the most unfavored member of the cursed family. "I know something. But I didn't say anything, I didn't do anything, I abandoned her, I thought it was her fault... It's actually my fault. ”
In that summer, the family was united by making the same mistakes, and they were planted in their own destinies, like falling into one abyss after another. The unsolved summer has passed like this, and it has not yet happened, or it is too late...
Unfinished Summer is a new work by the emerging French writer Monica Zapolo, a psychological suspense novel shortlisted for the Goncourt Literary Prize, the highest honor of French literature. Through the psychological portrayal of the characters, the book presents and restores rich details, making the characters vivid. Step by step, the story reveals the motives of human nature, the misleading appearances, and the suspense and mystery that run through it.
The Unfinished Summer
It belongs to the typical stream-of-consciousness novel, the beautiful language throughout the book, special sentences, very imaginative metaphors, these eye-catching strange ways of expression, convey strong emotions, directly hit the reader's heart, making the whole novel very moving.
The picture presented in the book is summer, but beneath it lies a silent violence and evil. In the seemingly chaotic narrative, a prominent middle-class family is gradually presented, with repressed emotions beneath the glossy exterior—they are "like insects trapped in a glass," and the hidden dark side of their lives.
Summer in memory
The smell of paint from the new office renovation once again opened the floodgates of Benjamin's memory.
That summer, they moved to a new house by the lake, six bedrooms, two living rooms, the whole kitchen, and the spiral staircase smelled of paint. Benjamin looked at his sister and parents in the house and felt that he had the happiest family.
"Father with a triumphant smile, mother with a delicate and dazzling face, wearing an almost transparent skirt, Summer in shorts and sleeveless pullovers, tied with a high ponytail, braids dangling between the shoulder blades, these three people are so radiant - oh my God, I love them so much, my heart is pounding - this is my family... They are more beautiful than the guests on the lawn. ”
The handsome father was a lawyer, and in his memory, he was full of charm, attracting the attention of almost every woman in his every move. The mother was equally radiant, with a large wavy curl, smoking gracefully, full of confidence, but sometimes she would wear a loose T-shirt printed with a skull and look like a rebellious punk girl. Summer perfectly inherited the virtues of her mother.
And he seems to be one of the family's outliers. He had the chest of a sick man, long slender legs, and a sad face. He was born with tics, "a throbbing left shoulder and a high brow," and had to exert all his strength and concentration to control it. In my memory, my father would always lose his temper with him or make more demanding demands on him.
In memory, Shamo's disappearance was in the forest by the lake. That summer, they searched the forest and pasted pictures of her all over town—"colored heads, curly hair, colored shirts, dark wheels of light that surrounded her beautiful face." ”
The students of the police academy set out en masse and launched a search, from our house to the forest where she had disappeared. "They gathered in the park in front of my house, dressed in blue uniforms, like they were attending a masquerade, and everything looked so unreal."
In the past, Summer would always bring her friends to the house to play, and her parents would always entertain friends, and they were often the protagonists of the banquet. The summer in my memory was lively, but after Summer disappeared, that summer suddenly became silent. Without any news from Summer, she felt as if the world had evaporated. After that, people gradually forgot about Summer and stopped talking about her, but she remained in Benjamin's memory and never left.
Not missing, it's fleeing
Wandering in dreams that were always about his sister, in repeated conversations with Dr. Todd, Benjamin seemed to know something, but he repeatedly evaded. But as more and more things are known, the final truth gradually emerges in Benjamin's memory.
As he continued to investigate the matter, benjamin was told that Shamo was not his father's biological daughter, and later, he learned from the detective that the police had actually found Shamo two years after she had disappeared and informed her parents, but the parents never told Benjamin.
Just as all logic suddenly became smooth and everything became slightly explainable, Benjamin was finally convinced of the suppressed memory in his mind: Summer had been sexually assaulted by Benjamin's father at the age of nine.
In Benjamin's dream, there are repeated scenes of Summer wearing a blue pajama, his eyes wide open, and his mouth open but unable to speak. It was because that morning Benjamin saw his father's hand reach his sister's inner thigh... In Summer's pupils, Benjamin saw his own reflection, the little figure, about four or five years old.
Because this scene caused a huge impact in his heart, he could not recognize such things, so he chose to forget. He prefers to believe he has the happiest family in the world to avoid the emotions and conflicts that come with it, and for him, suppressing this memory is the best protective tool. Therefore, he seemed to think that the disappearance of his sister Summer was bound to happen, but he did not know why.
But because of the depression, Benjamin also paid the price of mental health, he lost sleep for many years, and became an eccentric person in the eyes of others.
And his mother? He remembered that day, his mother had been in the room. From the age of nine until Summer disappeared, did Summer send a distress signal? But did Benjamin and his mother ignore it consciously or unconsciously? The police officer once said to Benjamin: It feels like your family doesn't want to find her.
When Benjamin knew the truth and questioned his mother, the mother said, "She wants everyone, she is everywhere, she steals everyone." Your father, all the boys, and time..." to expose his jealousy.
Benjamin remembers that when Summer was young, her mother liked her, but when Summer entered puberty and began dating boys, her mother would start taunting her. He remembered that at the party, the eyes of the crowd would begin to fall more on the young, beautiful, energetic Summer, and did all this make it difficult for the mother who was accustomed to being noticed to accept it?
The seemingly perfect family is actually deformed and morbid. Summer's disappearance is more like a torture of human nature and an inquiry into the social system. Summer was undoubtedly lucky to finally succeed in escaping the family. Although Benjamin is not good at expressing, he has been searching for the sister in his memory in his heart, and when the mysteries are gradually solved, he has finally untied his heart knot for more than twenty years.
At the end of the story, Benjamin took the small note handed by the detective and ran in the direction of Summer without hesitation. When they reunite at the station, that unfinished summer has finally come to an end. Summer continues, may their hearts begin to allow the sun to shine in.
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Interactive Q&A
Have you ever regretted something because of your silence?