Mark of an Angel by Nancy Huston

This is third Nancy Huston novel I've read recently, and I'm definitely getting a feel for her style. They've changed her bio at the back of this one, so that instead of apologizing for the fact that she's originally from Calgary they now point out that she left there at age fifteen.

Perhaps this kind of identity crisis provoked the subject matter here. This novel follows the story of three people in Paris in the 60s - a French musician, his German wife and her Hungarian lover. The cultural clash is presented well, and the tensions of the time i.e. the war for Algeria's independence. It is a time period in Parisian history that is stark and bleak as opposed to romantic.

While I found myself engrossed in the love triangle, the strange, traumatized personality of our cold, German heroine prevented me from really caring all that much what happened to her. And when the novel ended I was left feeling somewhat dissatisfied by it all. Here are three people that somehow have trouble relating, all very well expressed but you can't help thinking - go deeper.

Again, as in Instruments of Darkness and Slow Emergencies, Huston specializes in writing about women being pregnant and giving birth in very violent, dramatic detail, best avoided when moody and pregnant. Good storytelling, but not gripping emotional pathos. Had to stop myself from grabbing a fourth book by her though - something addictive about her books all the same.

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