February 9, 2016 (US English)
32-414: Eastbound (originally released in 2012 as Tangente vers l'est ) is a book by French author Maylis de Kerangal , published in translation in 2023 by Archipelago Books . The novel tells the story of Aliocha, a 20 year old Russian conscript who is attempting desertion from the army as he travels on a trans-Siberian train heading east. On board the train he meets Helene, a passenger in first class. Helene
64-881: A Bridge was shortlisted for the Prix Goncourt . It was awarded both the Prix Médicis in 2010 and the Premio Gregor von Rezzori in 2014, and has been translated into several languages worldwide. Mend the Living ( Réparer les vivants , 2014), translated by Jessica Moore and published in the UK, won the Prix Orange du Livre and the Grand prix RTL-Lire in France, and the 2017 Wellcome Book Prize (UK). Mend
96-455: A database of patients awaiting organ donations, matches donors with suitable recipients, and protects their identities. Finally, de Kerangal observed an organ transplant operation led by Dr. Pascal Leprince, the head of cardiothoracic surgery at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital. Upon its initial release in France in 2014, The Heart was widely lauded. French journalist and author Pierre Assouline referred to The Heart as "a novel of great beauty,
128-551: A five-star rating and commended the continuous flow and musicality of de Kerangal's prose. In the United States, The Heart received similar praise. In her review for The New York Times , Priya Parmar recounted the novel as a "...story [that] unfolds in an intricate lacework of precise detail" and described the characters as "less like fictional creations and more like ordinary people, briefly illuminated in rich language, beautifully translated by Sam Taylor, that veers from
160-445: A memorial in dedication to his life, and ruining it would diminish his memory and legacy. Although Marianne and Sean eventually give their consent for Simon to be an organ donor, they refuse to donate his eyes, thus showcasing the symbolic differences between each organ. In 2007, after watching a television report on heart transplantation, Maylis de Kerangal wrote a short piece titled Swimmer's Heart for Compatible Woman's Body for Who
192-477: A novel" that deftly formed a strong connection between readers and characters who appear only briefly in the novel, and that compelled him to "feel the depth of grief," which he identified as a fulfilling and insightful personal experience. In a mixed review, Kirkus Reviews criticized The Heart for becoming "anticlimactic" in its second half after its crucial turning point and described it as "a sophisticated medical drama whose pulse-pounding strength diminishes
224-399: A state of brain death , in which he can only maintain involuntary cardiac and respiratory functions with the assistance of a ventilator and other machines, and he does not display any cerebral activity. Immediately after this declaration, Dr. Révol deems Simon an ideal organ donor due to his young age and excellent health prior to his passing and subsequently notifies Thomas Rémige, the head of
256-500: A touch too quickly." Since its first publication in 2014, The Heart has received several accolades, including: In France, The Heart has been adapted by French actor Emmanuel Noblet into a one-man stage play named after the original French title of the novel, Réparer les vivants. It debuted at the 2015 Festival d'Avignon , an annual performing arts festival in Avignon . Since then, Réparer les vivants has been performed at
288-472: A writing, a language dazzling" and as "fine and intelligent without ever pushing the collar." In his review, French journalist and television personality Bernard Pivot described The Heart as a "story driven with [the] surgical precision of a heart transplant" and called it "an extraordinary novel that now classifies Maylis de Kerangal among the major writers of the early twenty-first century." French cultural and television magazine Télérama gave The Heart
320-682: Is Alive? , a compilation book commemorating the 10th anniversary of the French publisher Éditions Verticales. Over the next five years, de Kerangal experienced personal grief and revitalized her interest in heart transplantation, which inspired her to write about the heart not just as an essential organ in the human body like she did in Swimmer's Heart for Compatible Woman's Body , but as a source of love, emotion, and humanism. She subsequently began writing The Heart in July 2012. While developing and writing
352-481: Is a 35 year old French woman who is leaving her Russian lover. Helene does not speak Russian and the two communicate with hand gestures and other non-verbal cues. Helene assists Aliocha in evading capture from his Sergeant as he attempts to flee. The novel was named one of the best books of 2023 by The New York Times and The New Yorker . Writing in the New York Times , author Ken Kalfus believed that
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#1732772392612384-481: Is in dire need of a heart transplant . That night, the heart transplantation is performed successfully by Dr. Emmanuel Harfang, the head cardiac surgeon at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris . Exactly twenty-four hours after Simon first stepped out for his very last surfing session, Claire finally has a new heart, and Simon's restored body is returned to his family the following morning. A central theme of The Heart
416-611: Is the acceptance of reality and death. Throughout the novel, Marianne and Sean struggle with the passing of their son Simon, a strong, healthy young man who lived his life fearlessly and immensely. Sean experiences a greater degree of difficulty coping with Simon's death, as demonstrated by his fury at the hospital for their insufficient efforts to save his son and by his initial and staunch refusal to authorize Simon's organs to be donated. Meanwhile, Marianne blames herself for not doing enough to protect Simon from his reckless lifestyle, but she eventually realizes that allowing him to lead his life
448-497: Is the most resistant to donating Simon's organs, expresses his desire to preserve his son's body and is repulsed by the idea of it being cut up and destroyed during the operation. To the Limbres, Simon's body is not merely a large mass of skin, tissue, muscle, and bone; it is a tangible symbol for his life, for his existence on Earth, and for the impacts he made on the lives of those who loved him most. In essence, Simon's body serves as
480-595: The Prix Médicis , the Premio Gregor von Rezzori , the Grand prix RTL-Lire , and the Wellcome Book Prize ), and her novels have been published in several languages. Two have been adapted as films. Raised in Le Havre , Maylis de Kerangal studied history and philosophy in Rouen and Paris . She worked at Paris-based Éditions Gallimard in the children and youth department from 1991 to 1996, then travelled in
512-894: The Théâtre du Rond-Point in Paris and the Théâtre du Nord in Lille , where it has been well received. Réparer les vivants was shown at the Théâtre du Petit Saint-Martin in Paris from December 12 to December 31, 2017, and at the Théâtre de Sartrouville in Sartrouville from February to March 2018. The Heart has also been adapted into a film, Heal the Living , directed by Katell Quillévéré and starring Emmanuelle Seigner as Marianne Limbres, Tahar Rahim as Thomas Rémige, Anne Dorval as Claire Méjan, and Gabin Verdet as Simon Limbres. It
544-664: The Biomedical Agency, where an evaluation of the organs is performed and recipients are matched to them. Almost immediately, Simon's liver is assigned to a six-year-old girl in Strasbourg , his lungs to a seventeen-year-old girl in Lyon , and his kidneys to a nine-year-old boy in Rouen . His heart takes slightly longer to find a match, but soon one is found: Claire Méjan, a 51-year-old woman suffering from myocarditis who, after three years of her condition gradually worsening,
576-605: The Coordinating Committee for Organ and Tissue Removal. Meanwhile, Marianne Limbres, Simon's mother, is the first person to be notified of his admission into the ICU. She contacts and locates Simon's father, Sean, from whom she is separated, and they go to the hospital together to see their son. Upon their arrival, Marianne and Sean are notified by Dr. Révol that Simon's injuries are irreversible and that he has ultimately passed away. Sean indignantly accuses Dr. Révol and
608-491: The Living , also in 2016, by MacLehose Press . The Heart received critical acclaim from both Francophone and Anglophone reviewers for its lyrical prose, emotional development, and humanism. It has been performed as a theater play in France since 2015. A film adaptation, Heal the Living , was released in 2016. Early one Sunday morning near Le Havre, France , 19-year old Simon Limbres and his two friends, Christophe Alba and Johan Rocher, go surfing. While driving back home,
640-506: The Living was adapted for the stage and produced at the theatre festival in Avignon . It received positive reviews for its intimate look at the realities and philosophical questioning around organ donation. It was adapted as the film Heal the Living (2016). A second English-language translation of the novel by Sam Taylor, entitled The Heart , was published in the US in 2016. Eastbound (originally released in 2012 as Tangente vers l’est )
672-529: The United States. After her return, she did graduate work at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences . De Kerangal wrote her first novel in 2000, and then became a full-time writer. Her celebrated novel, Birth of a Bridge ( Naissance d'un pont , 2010) presents a literary saga of a handful of men and women who are charged with building a bridge somewhere in a mythical California. Birth of
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#1732772392612704-453: The backgrounds of both Aliocha and his accomplice", while further stating: "The crisp cascading sentences; the delicious mixture of fear and romance; the harmonious balance of story and language: these are characteristics of each of Ms. de Kerangal's books." Maylis de Kerangal Maylis de Kerangal (born 16 June 1967) is a French author. Her novels deeply explore people in their work lives. She has won many awards for her work (including
736-479: The book's setting, on board a speeding train in the vastness of Siberia, complemented the characters' relationship elegantly. Halfus stated: "Siberia’s immensity dwarfs human perspective. The insecurity of existence across this vastness and on board the train emphasizes the significance of human connection. In a time of war, this connection may bring liberation and salvation." Writing for The New Yorker , Lauren Oyler stated that de Kerangal vividly portrayed urgency and
768-546: The boys get into a car accident, in which Christophe and Johan are only mildly injured while Simon experiences severe bodily trauma and immediately slips into a coma. It is soon determined that Christophe and Johan were wearing seat belts, while Simon was not. At the hospital, Dr. Pierre Révol, the head physician of the intensive care unit (ICU) department , discovers that Simon is unresponsive to auditory, visual, and tactile stimulation, and that his brain has suffered irreversible damage. Eventually, Dr. Révol declares Simon to be in
800-474: The fleeting passage of time as the protagonists try to escape, stating: "It takes immense skill, patience, and clarity to paint time, to render the melee of past and present, symbolic and real. Language may not be what allows us to see it, but in the right hands we can get close." Writing for The Wall Street Journal , Sam Sacks stated: "Eastbound briskly unfolds the events of this crazy but thrilling little Mission: Impossible, allowing itself speedy diversions into
832-551: The medical to the philosophical." In her critique for the American edition of The Guardian , Lydia Kiesling emphasized on how The Heart embodied the importance of narratives to medicine and vice versa, and also commended de Kerangal as a "master of momentum" who "liberates medicine from the language that, by necessity, has constrained its practice." In an entry titled "A Poetic Novel About Grief" for his blog Gates Notes , Bill Gates described The Heart as "poetry disguised as
864-529: The novel, de Kerangal consulted with an organ transplant coordinating nurse at the Biomedicine Agency in Saint-Denis, France, who educated her on the legal aspects of organ transplantation and the process of obtaining consent from family members of the deceased. She then met with an emergency physician at the agency who introduced her to Cristal, a software that stores medical records, serves as
896-410: The process, including Simon's parents, the physicians, the nurses, the organ transplant coordinators, the recipient, and the recipient's family, over the course of twenty-four hours. The novel was first published in France as Réparer les vivants in 2014 by Éditions Verticales, and was then published in the United States in 2016 by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux as The Heart, and in the UK as Mend
928-475: The rest of the ICU staff for not doing enough to save Simon, while Marianne, along with her husband, grapples with their son's death and blames herself for failing to protect him from his precarious lifestyle. The couple is then introduced to Thomas, who attempts to convince them to authorize the donation of Simon's organs. Initially, both parents, especially Sean, are hesitant, citing the symbolic significance of Simon's body and their fear of it being destroyed during
960-521: The transplantation process. Eventually, Marianne realizes that allowing Simon to surf and live his life the way he did was the best thing she and Sean had done for him, and she decides to accept Thomas' request to donate Simon's organs. She then convinces Sean to do the same. Ultimately, Marianne and Sean permit Simon's heart, liver, lungs, and kidneys to be donated, but are unswerving in their prohibition of donating his eyes. Once he gains consent from Marianne and Sean to donate Simon's organs, Thomas contacts
992-402: The way he did was the best thing she and Sean could've done for him. Ultimately, Sean and Marianne allow Simon to be an organ donor, which is a milestone towards their gradual acceptance of his death and moving on. The Heart also focuses on the psychology behind the refusal to donate a deceased loved one's organs, even with the knowledge that someone else's life can possibly be saved. Sean, who
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1024-456: Was named a best book of 2023 by The New York Times . The Heart (novel) Farrar, Straus and Giroux (US English) The Heart is a 2014 realistic and medical fiction novel by the French author Maylis de Kerangal . It chronicles the events immediately following the death of 19-year-old Simon Limbres in a car accident. In particular, The Heart focuses on the transplantation of Simon's heart and how it affects those involved in
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