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Ladivine
Ladivine: A novel | Marie Ndiaye
19 posts | 8 read | 1 reading | 39 to read
From the hugely acclaimed author of Three Strong Womena masterpiece of narrative ingenuity and emotional extremes (The New York Times)here is a harrowing and subtly crafted novel of a woman captive to a secret shame. On the first Tuesday of every month, Clarisse Rivire leaves her husband and young daughter and secretly takes the train to Bordeaux to visit her mother, Ladivine. Just as Clarisses husband and daughter know nothing of Ladivine, Clarisse herself has hidden nearly every aspect of her adult life from this woman, whom she dreads and despises but also pities. Long ago abandoned by Clarisses father, Ladivine works as a housecleaner and has no one but her daughter, whom she knows as Malinka. After more than twenty-five years of this deception, the idyllic middle-class existence Clarisse has built from scratch can no longer survive inside the walls shes put up to protect it. Her untold anguish leaves her cold and guarded, her loved ones forever trapped outside, looking in. When her husband, Richard, finally leaves her, Clarisse finds comfort in the embrace of a volatile local man, Freddy Moliger. With Freddy, she finally feels reconciled to, or at least at ease with, her true self. But this peace comes at a terrible price. Clarisse will be brutally murdered, and it will be left to her now-grown daughter, who also bears the name Ladivine without knowing why, to work out who her mother was and what happened to her. A mesmerizing and heart-stopping psychological tale of a trauma that ensnares three generations of women, Ladivine proves Marie NDiaye to be one of Europes great storytellers. Translated from the French by Jordan Stump From the Hardcover edition.
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review
andrew61
Ladivine: A novel | Marie Ndiaye
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Pickpick

A story of 3 generations of French women & a unique piece of writing abt race and shame, mothers + dtrs, male violence, & colonialism. I felt my head spinning with magical elements as the daughter ladivine appears to break down in an unamed African country. The fates of her mother and grandmother made for a book I am still thinking about. May not be for everyone looking at GR reviews but I really liked it and will be reading her other works.

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batsy
Ladivine: A novel | Marie Ndiaye
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#bookmail day! Teeny tiny #bookhaul 😁

catebutler Lovely book haul! I‘ll be reading Crewe Train this month for the #VMCBookClub. 6y
Ms_T Teeny-tiny and lovely! 😊 6y
batsy @catebutler Thank you! That's wonderful; I look forward to your thoughts. Do they host their bookclub on Instagram? 6y
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batsy @Ms_T Thanks; nothing like forgetting you'd ordered the books and there they are 😆💜 6y
catebutler @batsy They host it on Instagram and also on their website. They usually announce the month‘s book around the 1st of each month and then do a little discussion on IG. I‘ve really enjoyed the ones they‘ve picked so far. If you‘re not on IG much you can sign up for their monthly newsletter via their website and it will let you know the book too. 6y
Cathythoughts 🎉🎉🌸 6y
batsy @catebutler Thank you! I will definitely check it out :) 6y
batsy @Cathythoughts ☺️📚 6y
readordierachel Yay! 🎉📚🎈 6y
erzascarletbookgasm Yay! 📚 6y
Suet624 Love the Crewe Train cover. 6y
batsy @Suet624 I love it too 💙 6y
86 likes13 comments
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RealLifeReading
Ladivine: A novel | Marie Ndiaye
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#bookanddinner - poke takeout tonight. Yum

saresmoore Ooh, that looks tasty! 7y
Chachic I love poke! 💖 7y
writerlibrarian Good author. Read her in French. 7y
139 likes3 comments
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RealLifeReading
Ladivine: A novel | Marie Ndiaye
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#booksforbreakfast this morning is a homemade crispy waffle with strawberries, Nespresso and a book translated from French. If the author's name sounds familiar, it's because she wrote Three Strong Women which won the Prix Goncourt in 2009

HardcoverHearts I'm interested in your thoughts on this one. 7y
Lachesis Your breakfast looks delicious! 7y
thewornbookmark Loving the cover on this book. Going to have to check it out! 7y
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RealLifeReading @HardcoverHearts Love her writing! 7y
RealLifeReading @thewornbookmark it especially comes through in photos! Love your username btw! 7y
thewornbookmark Aw thank you!! 7y
Smangela Oh gosh that waffle looks 😍😍 7y
Jinjer That book sounds intense! Stacked! And that waffle puts my poor Eggos to shame.😂 7y
135 likes2 stack adds9 comments
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RealLifeReading
Ladivine: A novel | Marie Ndiaye
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Today's swim class read. It was such a hot day I wished I could jump in the pool myself!! 🌞🌞

kalinichta Very cool cover design. 7y
Lachesis Beautiful cover! 7y
113 likes3 stack adds2 comments
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Asaja
Ladivine: A novel | Marie Ndiaye
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Mehso-so

Den här boken lämnar mig förvirrad. Älskade första halvan, andra halvan blev mest massor lösa trådar. Eller så förstod jag inte riktigt. Det var en annorlunda läsupplevelse. Den handlar mycket om föräldra-barn-relationer och det bästa med den är att jaget växlar mellan generationerna i boken liksom min egen identifikation som barn eller dom förälder. Som tur var hade jag inte läst beskrivningen för jag tycker den berättar alldeles för mycket.

Jejalena Jag gillade omslaget på en av utgåvor, nästan att man väljer att läsa boken. Sen såg jag flera olika omslag, alla jättebra men skiljer sig så väldigt från varandra. Man blir nästan förvirrad med vad man ska förvänta sig för bok. 7y
1 like1 comment
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RebeccaH
Ladivine: A novel | Marie Ndiaye
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My review of Ladivine is up at Full Stop magazine today: http://www.full-stop.net/2016/07/28/reviews/rebecca-hussey/ladavine-marie-ndiaye...

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Hanna
Ladivine: A novel | Marie Ndiaye
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My current read. It hasn't wowed me yet, but it's ... interesting.

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AdiTurbo
Ladivine: A novel | Marie Ndiaye
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Bailedbailed

I can't stand the writing style in this book - so cold and alienated. The plot is pretty unbelievable, and the characters are nothing like real people. The writer was trying too hard to look sophisticated and deep, while really having a very thin story which she found difficult to breathe life into.

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shawnmooney
Ladivine: A novel | Marie Ndiaye
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Green day at the bookstore. Modern French lit always leaves me cold. From the cover blurb, this one might just warm me up!

HardcoverHearts I'm reading this now. I'm taking it slow. 8y
26 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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EricaReads
Ladivine: A novel | Marie Ndiaye
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Pickpick

I really struggled with the first half of this book and was tempted to abandon it (which I never do), but the second half turned it around for me. 3.5 ⭐️

brendanmleonard Wow, sounds fascinating! 8y
8 likes1 stack add1 comment
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EricaReads
Ladivine: A novel | Marie Ndiaye
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Reading this and Bowie by Marc Spitz. Has anyone read Ladivine? I don't know anything about it, just thought the cover looked interesting.

pageturnersnook I have this on my tbr pile as an ARC 8y
7 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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HardcoverHearts
Ladivine: A novel | Marie Ndiaye
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Keeping with the theme of complicated women relationships and friendships, I am picking this new release up. I'm a few chapters in and it's a very dense and literate read. I am intrigued. Stay tuned!

bibliobliss Sounds interesting 8y
7 likes5 stack adds1 comment
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Jillreads
Ladivine: A novel | Marie Ndiaye
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Because Clarisse Riviere's mother was only an ordinary woman who would have been perfectly happy with the little joys of a routine existence, who could scarcely be blamed for not always knowing what gestures to make on the stage that her daughter had forced her to tread.

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Liza
Ladivine: A novel | Marie Ndiaye
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Families, shame, secrets. Looking forward to this one.

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RebeccaH
Ladivine: A novel | Marie Ndiaye
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Pickpick

This book was very strange -- dreamlike, magical -- but also a sharp depiction of families and shame. So much insight here

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Liberty
Ladivine: A novel | Marie Ndiaye
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Morning reading. It's reminding me a bit of BOY, SNOW, BIRD, and a bit of THE AGE OF REINVENTION.

RebeccaH I'm not quite sure what to make of this one yet, but it's intriguing! 8y
42 likes5 stack adds1 comment
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Matilda
Ladivine: A novel | Marie Ndiaye
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Lunch date.

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RebeccaH
Ladivine: A novel | Marie Ndiaye
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Up next on the TBR.