The Red Notebook

Product Information

Laure Valadier is a gilder by trade, applying gold leaf to books, picture frames, glass, stone, metal, and many other surfaces. She has a cat named Belphégor, and on her bookshelves, a book by Sophie Calle, Suite Vénitienne (‘Please Follow Me’), the author's defining work, a book in which she surreptitiously follows and photographs strange men. Just as Calle explores the meanings of boundaries and surveillance, those themes will resonate in this narrative. Laure’s adventures of the lost purse are compelling, especially with the twist of Antoine Laurain’s French irony as our accompaniment. What's not to love about a book featuring more books in it. And people who love books. In the city of love. Sigh. I liked the characters in the book. Laurent is charming, intelligent and rather lonely despite his rather needy, high-maintenence girlfriend and a daughter who is 15 going on 30. I realised part way through the story that books are his real friends, loves and family (and, obviously, I'm cool with that) and by the end I was contemplating how much of our personality is expressed through our stuff. Our homes, the contents of our bags, our bookcases are all a reflection of who we really are. Laure is a little harder to know - after all she is in a coma for much of the time - but her thoughts in her notebook fascinated me and showed her to be a sensitive, quirky woman. Like Laurent, however, she seems lonely and I was left contemplating how we can keep an eye on vulnerable friends, family and neighbours. How do we try to maintain a real community in a big modern city? On his customary morning walk to procure his morning coffee, Laurent Letellier finds an expensive handbag atop a trash barrel. Being of high moral character, he takes it to the police station where he realizes the bag will succumb to massive bureaucracy and become eternally lost. He leaves it at his home before he goes to work and ponders the best course of action. Thus begins Antoine Laurain’s delightful novel: what would you do if you found an abandoned handbag? How far would you go to try and find the rightful owner? There are so many things that I liked about this book and one that I did not enjoy: I finished it. I am in awe of the story, the writing, the way it made me feel and in awe towards the creator of this great novel.

He had opened a door into the soul of the woman with the mauve bag and even though he felt what he was doing was inappropriate, he couldn’t stop himself from reading on.” Story is told on the third person, alternating impressions from Laure and Laurent’s mind. Even if the dialogue is not that present in the book, the reader feels as if being part of the character’s thoughts. I love the way the characters complement each other: her name “Laure” is part of his name “Laurent”; she has a red notebook to store her emotions, while Laurent’s bookstore is called “Le Cahier Rouge” (“The Red Notebook”). The ending is the most delicate part of the book and it clearly defined the refined talent of the writer. Laurent is the owner of bookstore. In search of his morning coffee at the local cafe, he finds an obviously abandoned handbag sitting on top of a bin, sans owner. Engrave your ideas, learning’s, doodles and notes in these smart A5 pads and make sure you’re fully equipped in your choice of writing equipment from our Stationeryrange, available on next day delivery from Staples.There is Laurent. He is the owner of a small bookstore “hopelessly old-fashioned, still believing in the chance encounter, the smile exchanged across a café terrace, or the book that led on to something else." He has found the bag and wants to return it. He will have to work at it because there is no identification inside. Just a small red notebook, a diary of Laure's secret self. Her identity apart from her name. Laurent reads it looking for clues. Now it's about more than just returning the bag. I'm jumping with joy and exhilaration having just finished a charming and very delightful novel. Exactly what I was after! A perfect Sunday afternoon companion. Well, a perfect companion, regardless of the day of the week or season. Even in its brevity the story will transport you right to Paris with its descriptions of Parisian neighborhoods, cafes, book shops, and lines such as this: "Their eyes had met for that fraction of a second during which, without saying a word, a man and a woman who don't know each other signal that the night is not yet over." The Red Notebook is a deceptive novel in that it seems quite light-hearted on the surface, but actually explores some pretty deep philosophical questions. Is it possible to glimpse what might have been? Can we influence coincidence? Where is the line between harmless curiosity and creepy stalking? It isn’t something that falls into your lap. You earn it. It takes hard work, determination and the right tools. Sure, it can be tough. But for over 50 years, our notebooks have been there, offering so much more than a home for notes. View the Range

Everyone needs notepads and notebooks. Whether you need a fresh notepad for scribbling down notes at your work desk, an exercise book for classroom and home learning, or a notepad for your shopping lists, everyone needs somewhere to put pen to paper. However, in Paris, a city where millions of people live, of course, he cannot predict how he will find the owner of this bag, which has no identity. As we glance over the contents of the bag and especially read the contents of the red notebook, one cannot help but think that the bag’s owner is a great person. This is the magic of The Red Notebook. The beautiful mystery combined with the charm of Paris and the beautiful world Laurain creates. Instead of losing interest in what seems a hopeless case, his obsession to find Laure grows and grows. It’s a format that has been done many times before and needs to be exceptionally written for it to rise above the other books of similar ilk. I am delighted to say that this is the case. As it is such a short novel, I don’t want to say any more for fear of spoilers, the narrative is brilliantly crafted, but to explain why would spoil the story. A thoroughly enjoyable read, which is very hard to put down once you start. I've received this novel via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publishers, Gallic Books, for the opportunity to read and review this charming novel. I liked the people. The two leads were nicely balanced, and they were well supported by a jealous girlfriend, an opinionated teenage daughter, a helpful colleague …. It’s a very well balanced cast.

Like catching snatches of a far-off radio frequency. The message is obscure, yet by listening carefully you can still catch snippets of the life that never was. You hear sentences that never were actually said, you hear footsteps echoing in places you've never been to, you can make out the surf on a beach whose sand you have never touched. You hear the laughter and loving words of a woman though nothing ever happened between you." However, Laurent decides he can't meet Laure (the woman) after everything he's done (like pretending to be her boyfriend). So, he leaves her handbag in her apartment with a note of apology for all of his trespasses. Except, he can't stop thinking about Laure. He dreams of meeting her, kissing her, being with her, and ultimately falling in love with her. He is enamored by this mysterious woman and her handbag filled with perfume, stones, photographs, and a red notebook filled with her musings (I'm scared of birds (especially pigeons). I like sleeping on trains. I'm scared of red ants.) And when a customer at his bookshop asks him "Do you have La Nostalgie du Possible?", Laurent winds up pondering a different question instead - "Are you nostalgic for what could have been?" He realizes that he most definitely is. The story is a little contrived, of course it is, but it works well and it does come from the characters; their actions and their emotions. It was fortunate that the manager of the hotel across the road saw her very real distress and offered her a room and a bed for the night. Everything could be sorted out in the morning. Except it wouldn’t be that simple. Now I don’t know much about actual French authors, so I felt a little lost at sea with the many French authors names and books mentioned…but that’s okay because it was actually just a tiny point to the story.

I received a copy of The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain from its publishers, Gallic Books, via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Being a good citizen, he drops it off at the local cop shop. With the police being too busy to attend to him, Laurent takes the mystery bag home. Determined to do his own detective work, with the intention of re-uniting the bag with its rightful owner, he opens the bag...For smaller students, an exercise book would be better suited. Lined with graph paper for maths or lines for literature, an exercise book is great for home learning and homework practise as well as being a staple in every school classroom. There are lovely details: literary references – that I must confess I didn’t know well enough to know how significant they were; Laure had an interesting occupation; and she had a lovely cat who had a small but significant part to play. From characters perspective, Laure seems to have fears and uncertainties. She controls them by writing and through it analyzing herself. If in the beginning we are presented mostly with lists, in the end she writes continuously and becomes certain of her actions. Laurent becomes invested in identifying the owner of the bag and with great care, as though not to violate the intimacy of the woman’s life, he handles and analyzes even the smallest details. Being dedicated to his bookshop, he learns that the bag owner has an interest in his favorite author as well. Even though she is not physically there, he brings her close to him with every journal line he reads. This is one of those stories that is perfect as a short story, any longer and the plot would fizzle; but at the same time too short to really get a good feel for the characters. However, though you don’t get as close to the characters, or delve too much into the nitty gritty of who they are, it is still easy to root for them!