Tuer Le Pere (edition 2013)

Joe Whip, a 14 year-old boy interested in magic gets kicked out of the house by his mother and her boyfriend. His life changes when a couple, magician Norman Terrence and his girlfriend Christina take him in to live with them. Weird dynamics develop between the members of this newly founded family. The adoptive parents will experience what it is like to have a teenager at home and somewhere along the way, the story takes what will be a "sick" turn for some and an excepted one for others when Joe falls in love with Christina .... ( )

This is the 15th book of Amelie Nothomb's that I have read. Nothomb to me is like ginger on a sushi plate, considered a palate cleanser. I like to read her when I've just read a tome or a book I really enjoyed, as her work will not steal the thunder of the previous book and allows me to taxi while I decide on my next book. Her books are a relaxing pleasure to read as her writing is very smooth; she knows what she's doing.

This particular book reminded me of flipping the channels and deciding to watch a tv show. This book required only an hour of my time to read and while reading it I was immersed. It's about an aspiring magician named Joe who is thrown out of his house by his mother, who has chosen her boyfriend over her son. He is then introduced to the greatest magician in Nevada, Norman, who takes him in to mentor him. As Norman and his girlfriend Christina house him, Norman begins to feel like a father to Joe. However, Joe seems keen to manipulate Norman's feelings, to more or less "kill the father".

As always, Nothomb is fabulous and bringing us along an interesting story with some interesting observations of what it means to be chosen versus just being accepted. It did not contain the wit and humor that Nothomb usually puts in her books as she decided to focus on the relationships between the characters instead.

So, entertaining, but like the tv show, once it's over, it's just time to find another book. ( )