Marc's Reviews > Souvenirs dormants

As an entry-level book into Modiano's oeuvre, this seems ideal to me, perfectly in line with his 20 previous books: it's the story about a mysterious older person looking back on episodes of more than 50 years ago, when he walked through nocturnal Paris, visiting dark, grubby cafés, had short encounters with equally mysterious women who were all involved in something vague, sometimes crime-related, and whom he usually meeted briefly years later, without anything more. All Modiano's themes are in it: the faulty and deceptive memory of men, the past that always returns, the elusiveness of a human life, the impossibility of real human communication and finally the misleadingly precise topography of Paris. But in this ultra-short novel (you can read it in about one hour) Modiano has reduced his scope on life to the essence, and his style is even more sober and dreamy-like than before. As always it intrigues and appeals, but - in general - I prefer a little more meat on the bone.