Oh, February. A time for love. A time for romance. A time for…fear? I guess the fear could come into play in terms of the dating realm, but for Dua Lipa’s Service95 Book Club, the fear comes from their February selection. This month, the club has chosen The Son of Man by Jean-Baptiste Del Amo.
Jean-Baptiste Del Amo lives in the French countryside, where he writes full-time and cares for his rescued pet pig, Frida. His work, such as Pornographia and Le Sel, has earned him a strong reputation in France, as he is seen as one of France’s most exciting contemporary writers. He won the Goncourt First Novel Prize for his 2008 novel, Une éducation libertine, and his 2016 novel, Animalia, was a TLS Book of the Year and the winner of the 2020 Republic of Consciousness Prize. Animalia was translated in 2019 by Frank Wynne, who also translated The Son of Man.
Elaborating on The Son of Man, Dua Lipa shares,
“After an unexplained absence of several years, a man walks back into the life of a woman and their young son. Right away, something about him feels off. He’s unpredictable, almost feral, and when he insists they all go together to Les Roches, an abandoned house in the mountains, a sense of dread creeps in and never leaves us, the readers.
“Later, we find out that this is the same house where the man lived his brutal teenage years with his own violent and deranged father. At this point, I was getting ‘The Shining’ vibes, and the ending of this tense novel is no less climactic. I should probably warn you: this is a dark book, even by my standards. And yet, there’s also real beauty here. The language is cinematic and poetic, which translator Frank Wynne captures perfectly in English.
“Jean-Baptiste Del Amo, one of France’s most exciting contemporary writers, so cleverly illustrates how violence can be passed down from one generation to the next—especially from fathers to sons. I was on the edge of my seat from beginning to end, and I’m still thinking about this fragile family and the legacy of inherited trauma. The hope at the end of this novel rests on breaking this cycle.”
In Dua Lipa’s author interview with Jean-Baptiste Del Amo, the two talk about the sense of menace found in the book, explore whether violence is learned or inherited, and stress the importance of breaking out of such traumatic cycles. Throughout the month, readers will also be able to check out extra content from the author. On February 10, a podcast episode featuring Jean-Baptiste reading an excerpt from the book will be available. A week later, on February 17, another episode will feature a Q&A between him and Dua Lipa.
As always, extra content is available for readers to check out in addition to the author interview. On the Service95 website, fans will find Jean-Baptiste Del Amo’s reading list, which features five books that inspired him to write The Son of Man; they will find his playlist for the book; and they will also find five books to read next if they enjoyed The Son of Man.
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