Stephanie Jane reviewed Gravediggers' Bread by Frédéric Dard
Noir crime mystery
4 stars
I read The Gravediggers' Bread in its newly republished Pushkin Press translation. The story is a cleverly and believably plotted noir crime mystery which reminded me of similar genre novels by Pascal Garnier. I think Garnier fans, such as myself, would enjoy Frederic Dard books and vice versa. It's a very French novel and I loved its sense of style. The Gravediggers' Bread was originally written in the 1950s however and certain attitudes are very different today to those popularly held sixty years ago. A husband regularly beating his wife is no longer 'understandable' and we no longer believe a man just has to rape a woman to make her realise that she desired him all along. I was able to chalk these aspects up to outdated beliefs and read past them in this case. Had a modern-day novel so brazenly espoused such ideas though, I would be spitting feathers! …
I read The Gravediggers' Bread in its newly republished Pushkin Press translation. The story is a cleverly and believably plotted noir crime mystery which reminded me of similar genre novels by Pascal Garnier. I think Garnier fans, such as myself, would enjoy Frederic Dard books and vice versa. It's a very French novel and I loved its sense of style. The Gravediggers' Bread was originally written in the 1950s however and certain attitudes are very different today to those popularly held sixty years ago. A husband regularly beating his wife is no longer 'understandable' and we no longer believe a man just has to rape a woman to make her realise that she desired him all along. I was able to chalk these aspects up to outdated beliefs and read past them in this case. Had a modern-day novel so brazenly espoused such ideas though, I would be spitting feathers!
I loved Dard's evocation of place especially the claustrophobic funeral house with its nauseating decor. Our 'hero', Blaise isn't particularly likeable as a person, but I did like the portrayal of his character and could understand his actions even as I was willing the arrogant bastard to fail! His unfortunate love interest (more lust interest actually, given the speed of his declaration) is beautifully underplayed. For most of the novel I was frustrated at her 1950s housewife passivity, but I am now wondering how much of Germaine's role was what I expected to see. The narrative had me sympathising with each of the lead characters in turn which I didn't initially expect as a possibility. The minimal police involvement makes The Gravediggers' Bread more of a dark menage a trois than a police procedural or sleuth novel so it felt unusual for the crime genre. I think it could make a brilliantly tense stage play too.
