THE PULL OF THE OCEAN
By Jean-Claude Mourlevat
Translated from the French by Y. Maudet
Delacorte Press, 1999
Category: Middle Grade Fiction
My friend Jane, librarian extraordinaire, handed me this book the other day and said, “This is a very odd little book. It made me think of you.”
I was offended, of course. (I am not THAT odd!)
But I took the book. I read it in a single sitting and I have to agree with Jane. This is the most oddly compelling book I have read. Ever. In my entire life. I cannot stop thinking about it. What does it all mean? Who is this book written for? Why did Yann do it? Why? Why?
Okay, let me back up.
THE PULL OF THE OCEAN is the story of Yann Doutreleau, a ten-year old midget (that is the term used in the book) and the seventh son of Marthe and Louis Doutreleau. The other Doutreleau boys are twins, three sets: Remy and Fabien (fourteen), Pierre and Paul (thirteen), Victor and Max (eleven). Yann? “Yann came last and alone. Like the period at the end of a sentence.”
The story is told through a series of first-person testimonials from the people Yann saw or who saw him as he led his brothers on their flight to the ocean. Their flight, somewhat mysterious to the reader, is clearly a matter of life and death to the Doutreleau boys. Mourlevat deals insight slowly, letting the story of Yann and his brothers unfold in small moments of shocking revelation. Several times I whispered—out loud and to myself— “Good Lord!” I was watching a tragedy unfold, I knew it was going to be horrible, but I could not look away. I can’t tell you more without spoiling the story; you will have to read it.
And I am hoping you will. Then you can tell me what it all means, who the book is written for and why (Oh, Why?!) Yann did it …