The Adversary (2000)

Esta obra es dificil de clasificar ya que aunque el autor explica que es una obra basada en una historia real, se lee mas como una novela que como una obra de investigacion periodistica. El relato es duro, ya que los sucesos que dieron lugar al mismo son muy tragicos. ( )

Absolument fascinant. L'histoire vraie du faux docteur Jean-Claude Romand, qui a menti sur sa vie à sa propre famille pendant dix-huit ans, se mêle à un essai sur la difficulté de l'écrivain à écrire sur ces faits.

Le style dépouillé de ces 200 pages s'accorde parfaitement à cette histoire incroyable. ( )

This is a true crime book written by a prize-winning French author. It is the story of Jean-Claude Romand who posed as a World Health Organization doctor. Despite never having graduated from medical school (he attended for a short period) he convinced his wife, friends, family and mistress that he was an important official at WHO. He frequently traveled around the world, allegedly in his capacity as a WHO official. His extravagant life-style was financed by taking the life savings of his parents, his in-laws, and others, supposedly to invest in high-yield ventures he was privy to due to his position.

After 18 years of maintaining this deception, things began to fall apart. Suspicions arose as to whether he really worked for WHO, and questions were being raised about the funds, now basically dissipated, he had appropriated to maintain his life style. Romand's response was to kill his parents (his father-in-law had previously died under suspicious circumstances when he began to request information about the funds he had placed with Romand), his wife and children. He then set fire to his house, almost killing himself as well. He survived. He was convicted of these crimes and is serving a life sentence.

The author became intrigued on reading Romand's story, and contacted him. He was granted access by Romand, and this is the book that resulted. Unfortunately, instead of being riveting and compelling, this is a mundane and prosaic account of the events described above. Carrere seems to have done little investigative research beyond talking to Romand (and there having been a criminal trial I'm sure there is a lot out there), and there is very little analysis or fleshing out of what Romand told him.

Carrere also injects his own persona into the narrative, and that technique doesn't really mesh here. There is no reason for Carrere to be placed in the story as there was in a book I read recently, The Other Wes Moore, which was also derived from the author's conversations with an incarcerated criminal.

Very disappointing. ( )

http://www.editionsliber.org/?p=6&idx=3&nbAff=&idxVue=221
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20070408/CPARTS02/70408037/1050/CPARTS02
http://lezardesalon.wordpress.com/2007/04/10/du-golf-parcours-philosophique/ ( )

http://dhamel.typepad.com/book_blog/2004/02/the_adversary_b.html ( )