Lie with Me

I love this book because it is raw. For those who dismiss erotic writing, because they think there are only a finite number of ways to write about sex and sexuality, I recommend this book. The raw and transformative way it writes about the attraction, longing, and pain of sex is joyous and agonising to read.

I love it because I don’t actually like either of the main characters, and liking the characters can often rescue a book from otherwise poor writing. I loved this book despite disliking the main characters. 

In this book, Philippe Besson captures the experience of longing in equally sumptuous and excruciating detail.

The prose percolates with sensuality and elegance, yet there’s also a sadness beneath it all. And Besson balances these elements effortlessly.

It’s a slim novel yet an effective one, dripping with richness. When I finished reading, I craved more pages. I wanted to spend more time in this world, in the luxury of Besson’s gorgeous grasp of craft.

The ache of first love is the same around the world, and this gem from France does an exquisite job of assuring the reader that if you think you’re the only one who has been lied to in the name of love, you aren’t. It’s set in the 1980s, so it really took me back to the similarities to my own teen struggles. Ringwald’s translation is superb and pitch-perfect.