Book review : Heatwave, by Victor Jestin

I am still craving heat, sunshine, and holiday feeling so I purchased last week Heatwave by Victor Jestin. Written by a 25 years old French author, it is a first novel and been praised by many authors (like the talented Leila Slimani) and won few awards.

This short novel tells us the last days of the summer holidays spent by a 17 years old teenager. He is awkward, ill at ease, and uncomfortable with others but unlike The Outsider of Albert Camus (as many compare the two), this is mainly a coming-of-age story, with boys and girls exploring sexuality, and their place in the (and their) world: they are all awkward, they do mistakes and wish to be somewhere else, especially without their parents. In this, the writer really succeeds to transcribe teenage angst.

Yes, the story has a crime which is barely explored but again, this is not the subject of the book.

However, with such a catchy beginning ("Oscar is dead because I watched him die and I did nothing"), I felt a bit disappointed as I wish I learned more about the background story of what looks like a suicide, about the power game the girlfriend was playing,... Plus, for having worked a few summers in a similar resort in Les Landes, I found his description of the region/atmosphere of campsite etc, quite poor.

Basically, I wanted more than just middle class teenage angst.

Note: 2/5