People Like Them

I was very impressed with People Like Them as a novel, especially the foreboding atmosphere that Samira Sedira created within the small village of Carmac. It reminded me of Pascal Garnier's crime fiction except, in this case, the events at the heart of the novel really did take place. I loved the idea of being led through the story by the murderer's spouse who, talking in retrospect, is still struggling to come to terms with how they could have been so completely ignorant of what their partner was about to do - and even that they were capable of such violence at all. It's an interesting perspective which, I think, isn't usually given much prominence in the crime fiction genre.

Sedira's evocation of small-town attitudes is well-observed and, of course, is by no means a French phenomenon. I see similar ignorance and casual racism expressed in my own country, particularly it seems by people in predominantly white communities whose preconceived ideas are rarely challenged. I was intrigued by how Sedira's characters reacted when their notions were upset and how little it actually took to fire up such rage in one particular person. The question is whether the Langlois family would have been punished so viciously if they were all white? Sedira deftly shows how deeply ingrained ideas of social status can be and I thought her spare prose style, expertly translated by Lara Vergnaud, suited the novel perfectly. People Like Them is a fairly short read, but one that packs a punch. Several days after reading the book I find myself still mulling over the issues it raised.