#BookReview ‘The Sky Above The Roof’ by Nathacha Appanah trans by Geoffrey Strachan

About the book…

It all begins with a crash.

One night, seventeen-year-old Wolf steals his mother’s car and drives six hundred kilometres in search of his sister, who left home ten years ago. Unlicensed and on edge, he veers onto the wrong side of the road and causes an accident. He is arrested, imprisoned, and leaves his mother and sister to pick up the pieces.

What follows is an unflinching account of the events that lead to this moment, told through the alternating perspectives of Wolf’s mother, sister and various other voices. In this raw and poignant novel, Nathacha Appanah reveals how trauma shapes generations and the wounds it leaves behind. The Sky Above the Roof is both a portrait of a fractured family and a poetic exploration of the ways we break apart and rebuild

*Translated from the French by Geoffrey Strachan *

Hugest of thanks to Milly Reid for sending me this gorgeous finished copy of ‘The Sky Above The Roof’ by Nathacha Appanah which is published by Quercus imprint, MacLehose Books on January 20th, 2022.

It is a novel which strikes straight to the heart of the reader, beginning with a striking image of a man under cloth, being taken to a holding cell for an as yet unspecified crime. The way he breathes, and what he sees is, pardon the pun, visually arresting.

Wolf, a 17 year old who took his mother’s car in a desperate attempt to find the sister who left him behind 10 years ago, has been charged with dangerous driving and it is this action, this desperation which takes his car crash of a life, this far, and creates a metaphorical one instead.

His mother, once known as Eliette but who re-named herself Phoenix, is another of the narrators who laments how she could have gotten to this point, with one estranged child and another in a cell.

Phoenix’ daughter, Paloma, has not been seen for years leaving behind her a promise to come back for Wolf.

As all three relate their individual and collective experiences, a picture emerges of Eliette as a child, feted for her beauty and singing talent, dressed by her dressmaker mother and pushed forward by her ambitious father. There are some absolutely brilliant passages about the child being made to wear the same dresses even as she grew older, adjusted for her growing body whilst her mind is fighting the realisation that what her parents want is not for her. She is like a caterpillar shredding her own cocoon , ripping it as she emerges to become Phoenix, a person as alien to her parents as Paloma is to her.

A shocking act, perpetuated on Eliette, leaves her broken and bereft, sent for psychiatric treatment and blamed for the downfall of her family’s fortunes. Reckless abandonment results in 2 children by 2 different men, and as she tries to parent them without any parenting influences herself, creates a cyclical pattern of detached motherhood whilst the doctor who observes her giving birth to  Wolf, sees her as the epitome of womanhood.

As the three narrate their family lives, their regrets, their hopes and transgressions, the act which begins the novel is the action where after the poetical, dark and lingering prose deals with the internal monologues of a family living through trauma, mistakes and a longing for a freedom beyond the roof of their constructed family existence. Deeply lyrical and moving, there is so much of humanity packed into a relatively short novel, it leaves a lingering impact on its conclusion.

About the author…

Nathacha Devi Pathareddy Appanah is a Mauritian-French author. She comes from a traditional Indian family.

She spent most of her teenage years in Mauritius and also worked as a journalist/columnist at Le Mauricien and Week-End Scope before emigrating to France.

Since 1998, Nathacha Appanah is well-known as an active writer. Her first book Les Rochers de Poudre d’Or (published by Éditions Gallimard) received the ” Prix du Livre RFO”. The book was based on the arrival of Indian immigrants in Mauritius.

She also wrote two other books Blue Bay Palace and La Noce d’Anna which also received some prizes for best book in some regional festivals in France.

In 2007, she released her fourth book “ Le Dernier Frère “ Ed de L’Olivier. This book won the Prix FNAC

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