Book Review: "The Knot of Vipers" by François Mauriac

I'm not going to lie, more than often it is a title that draws me to a book and this one was quite intriguing because it didn't give anything away. The only thing I could figure out is that it wasn't going to be a romantic comedy or something along those lines. The Knot of Vipers is François Mauriac's novel written in the style of a confession, about a family falling apart and the members like 'vipers'. They deceive, they are poison to each other, they are hypocritical and selfish. All I can say is that this psychologically twisted novel was not quite what I was expecting but it was amazing nevertheless.

Louis is an elderly, wealthy lawyer who has grown cold and isolated. On top of this he is consumed by hatred. He begins a confessional letter by addressing his wife, Isa, explaining that he is writing in order to expose his inner life and the truth behind the decades of resentment that have poisoned their marriage. Louis definitely draws in the reader by using this strange shrouded secrecy to begin with and slowly revealing his mental state. I like the way it's written to some degree because it's quite clever - it can be seen that this is the way someone would speak in a confessional. At first they are unsure about themselves and then, once they start speaking, they feel more confident about their words (this is definitely revealed in the tone of the latter parts of the book).

Louis recounts how, as a young man, he married Isa out of genuine affection, but the relationship quickly deteriorated. Isa’s family looked down on him as socially inferior, and he became convinced that his wife never truly loved him. Her affection for their children only deepened his sense of exclusion. As Louis’s emotional life decays, he channels all his energy into work and the accumulation of wealth. This is a common trope of the age - work and work and work so that you don't have to feel anymore. But then again, it is also ahead of its time in the sense that this is what people are encouraged to do today. There's a phrase which states that if you 'throw yourself into your work' you will forget about trauma and yet, there are numerous people who have suffered greatly, even to the point of suicide, from taking this advice. It is definitely portraying itself as a universally psychologically relevant novel to the reader.

Louis’s bitterness infects his relationship with his children. He feels they are ungrateful and materialistic, waiting for his death to claim his fortune. The truth is, their emotional distance is largely a reaction to his own cruelty and coldness. Louis's own hatred seems to blind him to the fact that his children are giving him what he is giving them. It is one of the many blind-spots our character suffers with (not to mention the whole 'work yourself to death' ideology he adopts). Once we readers start to see that his hatred only begets hatred, we start to question the accuracy of the portraits of these people he paints with his words. He becomes a shifty, unreliable narrator when it comes to impressing upon us, people from his life - especially his children.

Near the end of his life, Louis experiences moments that challenge his bitterness. A letter, a confession, and memories of his past begin to awaken regret. He discovers signs of genuine affection and faith in those he despised. As we near this point, we see him soften to people like his granddaughter, who becomes a symbol of innocence and hope. This is quite important because she is a young girl and is basically the exact opposite character to himself. Could this mean that his eventual death will signal a new era for the family? There are many questions the reader could ask about this deliberate juxtaposition of character.

The novel's ending reveals little about the coming age but it does make some amount of sense to those of us who have followed Louis' inner turmoil all this time through the inheritance stage. He begins to reflect on the knot of vipers every now and again, much to the interest of the reader who is praying that he sees himself for who he truly is and changes his ways before it is too late. I won't tell you how it ends exactly but I think it will leave you with one big question - the rest is rather ambiguous about the thoughts of our protagonist.