Un barrage contre le Pacifique

Based on Duras's childhood in French Indochina, this novel centres on a widowed mother who has sunk her savings into a rice plantation in a stretch of land constantly flooded by the Pacific. Her children Suzanne and Joseph live with her in poverty and with corrupt colonial officials who sell her worthless land. A wealthy suitor wants to marry Suzanne for her youth and gives gifts the family badly needs.

Suited to readers of French literature and colonial history who like a spare, emotional style. It shows how poverty, dependence and the colonial order break a family, without turning the mother into either a saint or a villain.

Thought-provoking; a moderate read.

Best for readers like The Deep Diver. Which reader are you?