‘Miss Bertignac, I don’t see your name on the list of presentations.’
Christmas is a time for love, forgiveness and giving. It is a time for putting aside any selfishness and a time for thinking of others as well as thinking of those less fortunate than ourselves. Delphine de Vigan’s novel No and Me is a perfect book to mirror the sentiment of the season as it focuses on the developing relationship between a teenage girl and a young homeless woman.
When a school project brings 13 year-old Lou and No, a teenage girl living on the Parisian streets, together they come to realise that they can get more from each other than just information. As their unlikely friendship grows, their lives become intertwined and the feeling of longing starts to turn into belonging.
A subtle and tender tale, No and Me explores how circumstance determines who we are and how we behave. Through Lou, a highly intelligent but naïve girl, we see No as a person rather than a faceless statistic of the streets. In Lou de Vigan expertly depicts the indestructible confidence that young teens have. Lou has the beautiful confidence that she can change No’s world, that kindness truly is the cure and that happiness, once lost, can eventually be found.
For a translated text (No and Me was originally published in French), it reads incredibly well. The narrative voice is perfectly pitched and there aren’t any of the awkward phrasings that usually occur in translated texts. It’s a straightforward voice and whilst it could easily have been more graphic or more emotive in places, it doesn’t need or try to be and that space allows the audience to connect and cheer for the characters wholeheartedly.
Quiet and understated, No and Me may not a fast-paced drama but is still a powerful and an affective read. There are no simple solutions or tied-up loose ends and de Vigan embraces that in her finale. It’s raw and imperfect and wonderfully fitting to the story of these two characters.
Advertisements Share this:The amazing UK charity Crisis is a charity my family like to support, particularly around Christmas time. They campaign to end homelessness in the UK and over the Christmas period they host Christmas dinner for those in need. If can spare the money and you would like to help someone over the Christmas period, please do donate to Crisis – it really does make a difference.
