Summary of Brodeck’s Report
A mysterious stranger is murdered, and almost all the villagers seem complicit. Brodeck, the protagonist of this novel, is tasked with writing a report to explain and justify the murder. He reluctantly accepts but secretly weaves the story of the stranger into a second report about his own life – how he arrived in the village as a child, was deported to a concentration camp, survived and returned, but always remained an outsider.
Reasons to read Brodeck’s Report
“Brodeck’s Report” is a dark and timeless fable about being an outsider in a closed community, but also about distrust, truth and guilt. The novel is set in a nameless rural village, with its typical figures of the mayor, the teacher, and the stranger, serving as a mirror of the wider world. Philippe Claudel is a prominent contemporary French writer. “Brodeck’s Report” won the Prix Goncourt des lycéens in 2007 and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2010. Other acclaimed books by Claudel include “Grey Souls” (“Les âmes grises”), winner of the 2003 Prix Renaudot; “Monsieur Linh and His Child” (“La petite fille de Monsieur Linh”); and “Les petites mécaniques”, which won the Prix Goncourt de la nouvelle – for short stories – in 2003. Philippe Claudel also directed the 2008 BAFTA-winning film “Il y a longtemps que je t’aime” (“I’ve Loved You So Long”).
Setting: France
While no specific location is mentioned in the novel, it is most likely inspired by the Lorraine region in France. Several elements of the story hint at this French area near the German border. Philippe Claudel was born and still lives in this region, in the village of Dombasle-sur-Meurthe.
Original title: Le rapport de Brodeck
Year of publication: 2007
Nr of pages: 336
