a journal of the conquest, war, [not exactly] famine, and death year

Read [in French] Lesson of the Evil (悪の教典) by Yusuke Kishi, caught by the book strip including a France Inter praise…! The book and the subsequent manga and film appear to be very popular but it failed to impress me.  The trope of the assassin professor happens to be a fairly easy scenarist concept. This may be partly due to a very laborious translation into French, but the dialogues are not very credible, it is difficult to engage and develop empathy for the teenage victims (and even less for the assassin), especially after the nth murder. Hasumi’s impunity throughout his career assassin is completely unrealistic, his inner dialogue ridiculous, and the final evening of the story drawn out beyond boredom in every way. Also read the novella Winter’s Gifts by Ben Aaronovitch, an attempt at transplanting the spirit of Rivers of London to Lakes of Wisconsin. While the central character of Kimberley Reynolds is a success, with depth and wits, the story itself does not click, from the grandguignolesque monsters to the red herrings and the unconvincing resolution of the greatest menace by Kimberley. When an ice tornado strolls through your town, you don’t continue attending your pub or visiting the local library…

Cooked a lot of stir-fries both away and at home, returning to Fall veggies like cabbages and gourds, along local mushrooms. (Except in Martinique where we took advantage of ignames (yam), christophines (chayote), cooking bananas, gombos, sweet potatoes, dachines (taro), veggie chilis, and other local vegetables).

Watched Bodies, a British science-fiction series involving four detectives at different eras from 1890 till 2053 around the same incomprehensible murder, with a nice cast of diverse characters (and enjoyable London accents), but unable to stand time travel paradoxes till the very end. And obvious budget limitations that make past and future scenes somewhat limited. But, again, the actors are fantastic.

nous, laminaire

A chance occurrence of a superb exhibit during our trip to Martinique last month,

namely a photograph exhibit at the Foundation Clément (funded by the Clément rum factory!) around some poems of Aimé Césaire, the most famous Martinique writer from his book Moi, laminaire, which I had not seen before, but found fabulous, by the intricate and unusual constructions around rare words, while (re)creating a landscape of sorts,

including the laminaria, a brown seaweed growing to large lengths, appearing in the last line of the final poem in this post (if not the book),which made the selected photographs from three artists highly pertinent, with three highly different artists, Juliette Agnel, Nicolas Derné, Xuebing Du, whose Martinique nature landscape renderings suited very well Césaire’s universe,
with the additional perk of a two-hour presentation by the exhibit commissioner, Colette Césaire, a charismatic speaker and (not so incidentally) the grand-daughter of the national poet (and influential politician).

a journal of the twice Caribean year

Read the second volume of Aliette de Bodard’s series, The House of Binding Thorns, during the Martinique trip, which proved kind of a chore, disappointingly… Visited a nice bookstore in Fort-de-France, Kazabul, which was originally twinned with La Cas’A Bulles in Cayenne that I also visited when our daughter was residing there. But did not buy any new book or local vegetables to carry home since we were bringing back some of her gear for her imminent move to Marseille for a year or so. I also read Winter’s Gift, a Rivers of London novella by Ben Aaronovitch set in… Wisconsin, with a great central character but a poor supernatural challenge and ice-thin scenario. Had a daily run around Fort-de-France without really training since the topography is just too steep for that. And a few swimming bouts in a Caribbean sea way too hot at 32⁰ to be enjoyable. Plus a catamaran excursion to the north of the island, where after missing a substantial marlin the skipper fished a yellowfin tuna that we turned into sashimi on the spot. Apart from this unique moment, and a sample of poulet boucanné from a road stall, I mostly ate local fruits, primarily bananas of various kinds. And did not sample any of the local rums despite a few visits to distilleries…

 

Glimpses of Montagne Pelée

Since we had missed the opportunity to climb Montagne Pelée on our previous trip to Martinique, I was most eager to get there this trip, despite all the schedule constraints. It was however the rain season, with two storm alerts issued during our stay, and the weather window was hard to assess. Which is why we made an attempt only the day before we left, despite warnings of heavy rains (sometimes, somewhere, on the island). Arriving at the bottom of the shortest trail rather early, with a cloud-free top.

However, mist, then clouds, quickly built up and changed the vista in a matter of minutes, sometime allowing glances to the Atlantic or Caribbean coasts, sometimes closing in entirely. To the point that we never saw the top of the volcano, the 1929 cone, or even the bottom of the caldeira from the rim!

The path itself was well-marked and easily manageable even in wet weather, if steep at times. We got particularly lucky to hit the refuge hut near the rim at the very start of an heavy shower, and to return to our starting point before the next one, while benefitting from the drop in temperature to more tolerable values. A few hikers that we met on the trail did not get so lucky!

Anse à voile [jatp]