Amélie Nothomb's First Blood is a historical account of the childhood of an aristocratic young man named Patrick Nothomb, who is Amélie's own father. This is basically an autobiography of her own father, from his childhood to his life as a diplomat. It's a rather short book, and I feel like the ending was a bit rushed. I adore Nothomb's writing, so I wished it was a bit longer. But apparently from another Goodreads review, Nothomb is infamous for not writing longer stories, so I am a bit sad because I really do like her writing style.

Many thanks to Europa Editions and Netgalley for the e-ARC!

In this book, Nothomb creates a sort of parallel fiction and non-fiction, recounting the real story of her father's work as a negotiator with some of the world's most challenging circumstances, but reaching back into the past to try to tell the story of her father as a child.

Although I enjoyed the two halves (his young life and his negotiations) separately, somehow together they did not hold together well, and I found myself a little confused at why it wasn't more focused on one part.

However, it has not put me off Nothomb- her writing is sharp and focused, and her insights are often fascinating.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars

My second Amélie Nothomb, and she and I just rub along badly together. I can't stand that she appears on all her book covers (in French and Spanish). Yes, this is a stupid reason to dislike an author, but to me it represents the kind of cultism that she seems to operate in: we are to find her interesting because she finds herself interesting. And who is she? Another overprivileged aristocratic diplomats' child. And quirky.

First Blood actually had some good things going on: a tense framing device, the story of Nothomb's father when he was a hostage and nearly sent to the firing squad in the Congo. It's a pity the book wasn't actually focused on that (though I appreciate the title, as a duel of words ensues between Nothomb Sr. and his captors).

Then we circle back for a fairly uneventful story of his life leading up to this event. It's quirky. There are a few great characters (the poet grandfather, who lets his children starve). It is occasionally entertaining but also unfocused and episodic, a seeming collection of family anecdotes with only tangential relevance to the Congo story.

I've read that Nothomb writes three books a year but only publishes one. She would be better served by writing one a year, and publishing one every three.

A short fictionalised autobiography by the author’s father Patrick Nothomb, a Belgian diplomat, focussing primarily on his childhood and adolescence, but opening and closing with him facing a firing squad having been taken hostage by a militia group in Stanleyville in the Congo. Very much a tribute to her much-loved father, Nothomb has written a vivid and engaging account, which I very much enjoyed (only takes about an hour or so) but ultimately I didn’t feel it amounted to very much. Excellent writing, as always with Nothomb, but a fairly slight work.

A semi-biographical account of the childhood and early adulthood of Nothomb’s father Patrick, First Blood is a brief but charming character study (perhaps approaching hagiography). It opens with him a hostage in the Congo, facing a firing squad, then quickly takes us back to his childhood and spends most of the rest of the novel there. Which was relatively interesting but maybe less so to a reader than the author, who clearly deeply loved and revered her clever, charming father. The final quarter picks up again his time as a hostage and this was by far the most interesting part, I wish there was more!

First Blood is a beautiful and harrowing story of real-life terror and the makings of a person, and how the seemingly minor life experiences that an individual goes through can make a huge impact on who a person is.

Wonderfully well translated from the French, this is an important novel and despite being a short read, packs a powerful punch. Whilst I was unfamiliar with the subject matter, I found this very educational and worth reading. on various levels. This must have been a difficult and troubling novel to write and I greatly admire the honesty and distress clearly evident in the writing.

Altogether this was a lovely read ad I would recommend to anybody interested in translated writing.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was short, witty and very entertaining. I admired Patrick’s optimism throughout all of his experiences and would happily read more about the author’s father and his wonderfully chaotic life.
Thank you to NetGalley and Europa Editions for the advanced reading copy.

Amélie Nothomb's latest offering in translation to English is the story of her father's life: Patrick Nothomb was a Belgian diplomat who worked in Japan, China and the Congo across various points in his career. The books focuses mainly on his childhood years and time spent with the Nothomb side of the family, with the final section touching on his experience being taken hostage in Congo in 1964.

I found this to be an easy - if somewhat slight - read. For those interesting in trying out Nothomb's fiction I'd probably advise starting elsewhere.

First Blood is in Amelie Nothomb's usual mischievous and sweeping style. A more heartfelt story than I have become accustomed to, Nothomb tells the story of her hemophobic father, partially raised by his late fathers family. As always, I found this entertaining and will continue to pick up anything and everything Amelia Nothomb writes.

An abbreviated tribute to her father, this is a short, essay-like piece voiced through a fictional reconstruction of Patrick Nothomb. Most of it follows his childhood and adolescence at school, with the last quarter or so showing him as a diplomat especially in Stanleyville where he is part of a group of Belgians kidnapped by an anticolonial militia.

It's hard to find much to say - Nothomb's prose is clean but this sits uneasily somewhere between memoir and wish-fulfillment fiction - how much is true is impossible to know. But it's not a deep engagement with the character of Nothomb's father and is easily read in an hour or so. It's the sort of piece that would sit easily in the TLS or LRB.

Thank you NetGalley and Europa Editions for the ARC!!

Exploring topics of poverty, parental relationships and coming to terms with one’s past, Nothomb narrates in a semi-autobiographical way her father's youth and adulthood until he, at the age of 28, is about to be executed by a firing squad in the Congo.

First of all, I would like to say that I have mixed feelings about this book.

On the one hand, I really liked Patrick as a protagonist. His reflective and contemplative narrative fits perfectly with the themes of the novel, as it allows him to question his external environment. He has his own struggles, such as not being "masculine enough" in a society with clear gender roles and his natural distance from other people despite longing to fit in with them.

On the other hand, I personally didn't think that the characters were developed and three-dimensional. They all lacked that development and intrigue, giving the feeling that the sole purpose of their existence was to present Patrick's unfortunate situation.

Additionally, the straightforward and direct writing doesn't strike me as a nice choice in a book like this, which is supposed to be poignant and moving. First Blood also falls victim to the prevalence of the "tell-don't-show" writing style, which does not stimulate the reader's imagination and forces one to regard this story as an exposition rather than a description of actions and subtlety in the dialogues.

Finally, I would have liked the author to have focused more on the relationships between the characters. Especially Patrick's relationships with his parents and grandparents are incredibly important, considering they are the foundation of the story, but we are only told about them instead of being able to form our own theories or draw our own conclusions.

Overall, I think Patrick was a breath of fresh air as a main character, however, this book also falls down in many parts in terms of writing (style and story-wise). I’m unsure about my rating. Perhaps a 2.75!

A Belgian diplomat faces a firing squad in newly independent Congo, having been taken hostage by a rebel group, and suddenly we’re transported back to his childhood. His youth is spent coveting parental love: his father is deceased and his mother is absent, thus it’s his maternal grandparents who raise him. With them, he leads a comfortable and sheltered life - perhaps too sheltered, as he finds out when he is introduced to his paternal family. Though aristocratic, they live in poverty but this doesn’t bother Patrick, who enjoys the companionship of his extended family, despite not really fitting in with them.

Patrick was a breath of fresh air as a protagonist - despite a life struggling to conform, his penchant for words communication never wavered.

A short, sweet and enjoyable read! 3.75 stars rounded up.

An excellent little read. A tiny translated novel with plenty to say. Mostly focusing on a young boy’s suffering yet optimistic childhood. There isn’t a story out there like this.

A tribute to the author’s father which is full of life, poetry and tension. Worth a read.

Oh Amélie Nothomb!! This is her tribute to his father who died during the pandemic. The first-person narrator of this book is his father and he chronicles his childhood and adulthood. It is absolutely brilliant, like most of Amélie Nothomb's books.

A sympathetic little novel/memoir in which Amélie Nothomb recounts in straightforward style the life of her father, Patrick Nothomb, born 1937 in Brussels, from his youth until the moment he expects to be executed by the Congolese Simba militias that captured him in his capacity of consul of Stanleyville in 1964. The focus is mostly on his childhood in which Patrick visited his aristocratic but starving family in the South during the war.

An enjoyable reading experience of around two hours. 3,5 rounded up.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Europa Editions for the ARC.

First Blood is a wonderfully expansive history told in surprisingly few pages. This fictionalized memoir of the author's father begins at an end, then reels back at breakneck speed, racing through the young Patrick Nothomb's childhood spent between the city and a chateau in the Ardennes. Nothomb's life is hardly free of obstacles, but he seems to leap through them with the ease of a man destined to succeed. Humour carries us unharmed through wartime hunger in the dilapidated chateau, the ever-growing detachment of a cool, beautiful mother, the trials and tribulations of romance, and the prospect of death at the hands of Congolese rebels. Nothomb's sole weakness give the book its title.
I really enjoyed this short, deftly translated little novel, and look forward to reading more of Nothomb's work.

This small novel has a power and impact . It is a biographical account following the story of Patrick Nothomb and charts his life up to the point where he was about to face execution by firing squad in the Congo at the age of 28. The story is written by his daughter. Fatherless at a very early age and raise predominantly by his maternal grandparents he leads a closeted existence until he meets the family of his father in particular his grandfather - a poet - living in a state of poverty within an Ardennes chateau but still with the belief of inherited authority. As Patrick moves through his early years in to his teens his life shows him as a young man who doesn't quite fit but has a power of communication. This ability leads him to be a Belgian Consul in the Congo and during the Kisangani
(Stanleyville) uprisings in the sixties where he is a chief negotiator possibly saving thousands of lives. Subtle, moving and memorable

The author pays a beautiful tribute to her father with this short novel.

The bittersweet, reflective narrative of his childhood years reminded me very much of Dickens: the great adventures of hungry children with troubled family relations. Some of them are hungry for food, others for love.

A short book full of life.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Europa Editions for an Advance Review Copy.