Emile Soulier's 'Incertaines' Blends Fantasy with Real Questions on Normality

Emile Soulier's debut novel 'Incertaines' is a slow, precisely described race toward an event preceding a birth, with absolute silence on what must be discovered through reading. The only other clue is that a certain metamorphosis occurs, not of physical alteration but of the narrative itself. From comfortable normality, a young couple's life slides into strange unease. Formally borrowing from fantastic literature, the book raises real questions: What is it like to live with someone? What is it to be normal? Until the event, life unfolds as an obvious answer; afterward, that obviousness is cast into doubt. The writing is timed, with details that synthesize cinematic effects. A passage describes a woman increasingly convinced she is going the wrong way, turning back, experiencing abdominal pain, sliding to the floor, curling against a wall, feeling a bump on her belly, and fearing discovery. The review by Thérèse Moro suggests a second novel could follow by deduction from this one.