The Scapegoat (1985)

You will never ever forget your first contact with the Malaussene family. Never. From le Petit (the youngest boy of this rag tag family of misfits) to the latest baby named Verdun because she doesn't just yell she howls like the bombs at the battle of Verdun, to Clara, sweet Clara to Benjamin who heads the family because he isn't really given the choice and makes due and because it's in his nature to be the scapegoat for everyone, his family included.

This first novel featuring the Malaussene family establishes Benjamin's status as the perfect scapegoat. He ends up the prime suspect for bombings he has nothing to do with unless being there is reason enough. In Benjamin's case, it is. Au bonheur des ogres is this sideways holiday fairy tale where being different is something to be celebrated not hidden.

One of my all time favourite series of novels starts with this quirky opening bow where amidst all the drama Benjamin finds love without looking for it. ( )

[The Scapegoat] by Daniel Pennac is the first in a series of five books about Benjamin Malaussene, the big brother who is bringing up all his half-siblings while their mother is away making more siblings for them with her latest beau. He also gets mixed up in murder mysteries and I am finding Pennac's books irresistible. ( )

Tre stelle emmezza.

L'asticella del bellometro pende più verso il positivo ma il feeling tra me e questo romanzo non è scattato appieno e non so perché u_u

Forse perché l'ho letto troppo di fretta e non mi sono concentrato abbastanza >_>
Oppure è il libro che non si fa piacere u_u

Mea culpa o sua culpa? ( )

Benjamin Malaussène a un drôle de métier : bouc émissaire au service réclamations d'un grand magasin parisien où il est chargé d'apitoyer les clients grincheux. Une bombe, puis deux, explosent dans le magasin. Benjamin est le suspect numéro un de cette vague d'attentats aveugles. Attentats ? Aveugles ? Et s'il n'y avait que ça ! Quand on est l'aîné, il faut aussi survivre aux tribulations de sa tumultueuse famille : la douce Clara qui photographie comme elle respire, Thérèse l'extralucide, Louna l'amoureuse, Jérémy le curieux, le Petit rêveur, la maman et ses amants... Le tout sous les yeux de Julius, le chien épileptique, et de Tante Julia, journaliste volcanique. Quel cirque ! Avec ce premier tome des aventures de Malaussène, on plonge avec bonheur dans un univers baroque. Pennac multiplie les personnages secondaires, les digressions. Ça grouille comme dans une fourmilière. Le rire n'est jamais loin des larmes, le sordide côtoie le sublime. --Bruno Ménard

Benjamin Malaussène