{"product_id":"book-of-my-mother-isbn-9781935744337","title":"Book of My Mother","description":"Shortly after Albert Cohen left France for London to escape the Nazis, he received news of his mother’s death in Marseille. Unable to mourn her, he expressed his grief in a series of moving pieces for \u003ci\u003eLa France libre\u003c\/i\u003e, which later grew into \u003ci\u003eBook of My Mother\u003c\/i\u003e. Achingly honest, intimate, and moving, this love song is a tribute to all mothers. Cohen himself expressed, \"I shall not have written in vain if one of you, after reading my hymn of death, is one evening gentler with his mother because of me and my mother.\"Book of My Mother is a sturdy in guilt, an act of contrition, for in mourning his mother he grieves for his own lost childhood… It is an achingly honest, autumnal book, generous in its humanity, composed with art but without guile, the sincerest tribute of a neglectful son. \u003cb\u003e—David Coward \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou must read this extraordinary testimony. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Le Figaro \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book made me cry and taught me one of the truths of writing: the most successful book is the one that cuts to the heart of the fragility of the writer, and of Man. \u003cb\u003e—Alain Mabanckou \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBrilliant . . . A miracle of patience and suppleness. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—London Review of Books \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI do not think anyone has ever written anything more beautiful, more deeply and soberly moving, about a mother and the feelings of tenderness, regret, and even remorse that she can inspire. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Le Voix du Nord \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA masterpiece. A unique book that will endure. A most beautiful love story. \u003cb\u003e—Marcel Pagnol \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat anything so sad can also be witty and sublimely comic makes Mrs. Cohen [the mother] into a triumph of literature.\u003cb\u003e —Nick DiMartino, \u003ci\u003eShelf Awareness \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA gold-plated, cherry-on-top classic in France... Characters [are] rendered with eye-popping, Rabelaisian detail and touching vulgarity... Its unspooling comedy of manners; its first-ideal-then-smothering love affair all lead the reader to still-huger questions: how can we love humans, obsessed as they are with power? How can we reconcile reason and faith? \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—The Kenyon Review \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou must read this book.\u003cb\u003e —Jacques Brenner, \u003ci\u003eParis-Normandie\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne of the most beautiful love stories ever written. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Paris-Match \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA most moving and delicate love song..\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Le Figaro \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI read Livre de ma mere twice. This heartrending book haunts you. I just had to go back to it.\u003cb\u003e —Emile Henriot, \u003ci\u003eAcademie Francaise, Le Monde \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou must read this extraordinary testimony of a son. Never before has a writer spoken of his mother like Albert Cohen. \u003cb\u003e—Andre Billy, \u003ci\u003eAcademie Goncourt, Le Figaro\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eAbert Cohen was born on the island of Corfu in 1895. He emigrated to France at the age of five on a passport issued by the Ottoman Empire and was raised in Marseilles. Although he chose to become a Swiss citizen after completing law school in Geneva, he claims that his true homeland was the French language. Cohen's tragicomic novels \u003ci\u003eSolal, Mangeclous, Belle de Seigneur,\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eLes Valeureux \u003c\/i\u003eattempt to reconnect man to his lost humanity. Belle du Signeur was awarded the French Academy's Grand Prix du Roman.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBella Cohen was born in London on 1919. During WWII, she worked at the Free French Headquarters and with the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees. She met Albert Cohen in 1943 and shared a life with him from 1947 until his death in 1981. Her translation of \u003ci\u003eBook of My Mother\u003c\/i\u003e was a labor of love.Every man is alone and no one cares a rap for anyone and our sorrows are a desert island. Yet why should I not seek comfort tonight as the sounds of the street fade away, seek comfort tonight in words? Oh, poor lost creature who sits at his table seeking com- fort in words, at his table with the phone off the hook for he fears the outside, and at night with the phone off the hook he feels like a king, safe from the spiteful outside, so soon spiteful, gratuitously spiteful.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat a strange little joy, sad and limping yet sweet as a sin or a drink on the sly. What a joy even so to be writing just now, alone in my kingdom and far from the swine. Who are the swine? Do not expect me to tell you. I want no trouble with those from outside.","brand":"Archipelago","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302540333285,"sku":"NP9781935744337","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781935744337.jpg?v=1767722938","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/book-of-my-mother-isbn-9781935744337","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}