Kevin Powers

Cette plantation est au centre du second roman de Kevin Powers, dans lequel il tente d'approcher la vérité de ceux qui y ont vécu. Nul n'a jamais su par exemple ce qu'il était advenu d'Emily Levallois. A-t-elle péri en 1865 dans l'incendie criminel de la plantation, dont elle est la coupable désignée, et qui a causé la mort de son esclavagiste de mari ? Ou bien a-t-elle réinventé sa vie ailleurs, comme le suppose la rumeur. L'Histoire ne le dit pas, laissant au romancier le soin d'en décider. L'Histoire ne dit pas plus ce que sont devenus Rawls et Nurse, ce couple d'esclaves affranchis dont le destin est intimement lié a la plantation. Des années plus tard (dans les années 1950), a Richmond, un vieil homme cherche lui aussi a retracer sa propre histoire. De ses origines il ne sait rien, sinon qu'il a été recueilli par Miss Dolores a l'âge de trois ans, après qu'elle l'ait trouvé devant sa porte, avec ce mot : « Suffolk, Virginie 1866. Je m'appelle Georges. J'ai presque trois ans. Prenez soin de moi. » À travers les destins croisés de ces personnages a la dérive, Kevin Powers replonge dans l'histoire violente et déchirée du Sud et explore cette question depuis toujours au coeur des hommes : quelle trace sur terre laissons-nous ?

Following his hugely celebrated debut novel, The Yellow Birds, Kevin Powers returns to the battlefield and its aftermath, this time in his native Virginia, just before and during the Civil War and ninety years later. The novel pinpoints with unerring emotional depth the nature of random violence, the necessity of love and compassion, and the fragility and preciousness of life. It will endure as a stunning novel about what we leave behind, what a life is worth, what is said and unsaid, and the fact that ultimately what will survive of us is love.

WINNER OF THE GUARDIAN FIRST BOOK AWARD 2012 WINNER OF THE HEMINGWAY/PEN AWARD 2012: BEST BOOKS OF 2012 A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR AN INDEPENDENT BOOK OF THE YEAR A TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR AN EVENING STANDARD BOOK OF THE YEAR A SUNDAY EXPRESS BOOK OF THE YEAR A GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR A SCOTSMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR A SUNDAY HERALD BOOK OF THE YEAR AN IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR An unforgettable depiction of the psychological impact of war, by a young Iraq veteran and poet, THE YELLOW BIRDS is already being hailed as a modern classic. Everywhere John looks, he sees Murph. He flinches when cars drive past. His fingers clasp around the rifle he hasnt held for months. Wide-eyed strangers praise him as a hero, but he can feel himself disappearing. Back home after a year in Iraq, memories swarm around him: bodies burning in the crisp morning air. Sunlight falling through branches; bullets kicking up dust; ripples on a pond wavering like plucked strings. The promise he made, to a young mans mother, that her son would be brought home safely. With THE YELLOW BIRDS, poet and veteran Kevin Powers has composed an unforgettable account of friendship and loss. It vividly captures the desperation and brutality of war, and its terrible after-effects. But it is also a story of love, of great courage, and of extraordinary human survival. Written with profound emotional insight, especially into the effects of a hidden war on families at home, THE YELLOW BIRDS is one of the most haunting, true and powerful novels of our time. THE YELLOW BIRDS is the All Quiet on the Western Front of Americas Arab Wars. (Tom Wolfe, author of The Bonfire of the Vanities ) Kevin Powers has conjured a poetic and devastating account of wars effect on the individual. (Damian Lewis, star of Homeland and Band of Brothers ) Inexplicably beautiful. (Ann Patchett, Orange Prize-winning author of Bel Canto and State of Wonder)

Bartle, 21 ans, est soldat en Irak, à Al Tafar. Depuis l'entraînement, lui et Murph, 18 ans, sont inséparables. Bartle a fait la promesse de le ramener vivant au pays. Une promesse qu'il ne p

Following his hugely celebrated debut novel, The Yellow Birds, Kevin Powers returns to the battlefield and its aftermath, this time in his native Virginia, just before and during the Civil War and ninety years later. The novel pinpoints with unerring emotional depth the nature of random violence, the necessity of love and compassion, and the fragility and preciousness of life. It will endure as a stunning novel about what we leave behind, what a life is worth, what is said and unsaid, and the fact that ultimately what will survive of us is love.

A sus veintiún años, el soldado Bartle es enviado a combatir en la guerra de Irak, junto con un compañero de dieciocho años, el soldado Murphy, de quien se hace cargo desde el comienzo. Narrada a traves de los ojos de Bartle, Los pajaros amarillos cuenta de primera mano el sinsentido de una guerra librada bajo un sol feroz, combatiendo a un enemigo ubicuo, en ciudades convertidas en fantasmas. Entre muchas otras cosas, la guerra le roba para siempre a Bartle su presente, y vivira atrapado por los recuerdos que lo atormentan, intentando comprender acciones que a la distancia ya no le parecen ni suyas ni de nadie mas.Los pajaros amarillos ha sido comparada a grandes novelas de guerra como las escritas por Hemingway, Norman Mailer y Tim OBrien. Powers combina el conocimiento adquirido en carne propia con una prosa elegante y poetica, que transportan al lector al campo de batalla, y viva la guerra de Irak como algo mas real que la cronica periodistica mas cruenta que jamas haya leido.