Cheval (Horse) by Richard Morgieve: book review

Cheval (Horse) by Richard Morgieve (2009, French edition) is a set in the 1960s, centered around a fairground and a run-down family home in Paris, France.

Father and son work together managing a fairground ride – a merry-go-round – following their family tradition since 1897. Called The Flying Saucers, the horses on the merry-go-round spin children round and round, while their parents look on.

From Algeria, without a wife, without a mother, they have each other – and the temporary children turning on the merry-go-round: ‘they turn children on the remnants of a war.’ They are despised by society, and seen as ‘the dregs of life’ as they live on the verge of poverty.

They live in a small house in Paris, looking after each other, after the death of their wife/mother when the son was eight years old. He is the narrator, writing about his life from the age of 12-18 years. Women rarely feature in this story, and when they do, they are not depicted well, for neither father nor son felt love or affection from anyone except each other.

Father and son share the same name. They share the same job, the same home, the same lifestyle. They argue, they fight, they get on, they don’t, but they are always together. Working together, living together, living on the fringe of society. Their moods mirror each others. When one is sad, they are both sad. When one is frustrated, they are both frustrated.

The novel explores the close father and son relationship. Their relationship is not always civil or polite; in fact, it is mostly coarse and vulgar. They are together more than twins; they are so inseparable that they are like one single person. As they bear the same name, they try to get their bearings in life – trying to determine who they really are as single entities.

MARTINA NICOLLS

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Martina Nicolls is an Australian author and international human rights-based consultant in education, healing and wellbeing, peace and stabilisation, and foreign aid audits and evaluations.

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