Spell Czech....or do they call it that in French?

[j_cheney]

From Propos Iconoclastes....not too hard to follow, but I don't know what they meant by "un huit clos"...which makes me think there's a typo...and perhaps that was meant to be haut, not huit. Regarding the story "The Dragon's Child" in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. ;o)

- The Dragon child de J Kathleen Cheney nous propose un huit clos dans la demeure d'un magicien. Celui ci se charge de l'éducation de sa fille qu'il maltraite. Mais la tante de la petite fille va tout faire pour l'arracher à ses griffes. C'est un récit prenant et sans temps morts et où l'auteur sait ménager les surprises dans un récit qui au départ semble classique. En plus les relations entre les personnages sont très réalistes.

Favorable enough, so I'm happy ;o)


...nous propose gives us

...un huit clos dans la demeure d'un magicien So, I've been told this should probably be 'huis clos' which is essentially a 'cosy'. So, I'll restructure this as:
'a cosy mystery about a fading wizard'.

Celui ci se charge de l'éducation de sa fille qu'il maltraite. He's training his daughter, whom he mistreats (abuses).

Mais la tante de la petite fille va tout faire pour l'arracher à ses griffes. But the girl's aunt will do anything to get her out of (extract her from?) his claws.

C'est un récit prenant et sans temps morts...It's an interesting story and doesn't have dead time (with good pacing).

...et où l'auteur sait ménager les surprises dans un récit qui au départ semble classique. ...and where the author managed to surprise in a story which, at the beginning, seemed classic (predictable). (I think that 'classic' here is meant to mean something more like 'predictable.')

En plus les relations entre les personnages sont très réalistes. And also, the interactions between the characters are very realistic. I have to like that part! ;o)

Comments

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

Good pacing, interesting twists, realistic character relationships...Yep, I'd call that favorable,

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Pacing! That was the word I was looking for! I did a translation under the cut, and I couldn't come up with the appropriate phrase for what he was saying there. (So I translated it fairly literally.)

I'm always pleased about the 'character interaction' thing. I like to think of that as one of my strengths, so it thrills me when someone comments on that. ;o)

Thanks ;O)

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

That was a guess on my part, actually. But you're welcome. ;)

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

All that was coming to mind is 'dead air', which is one of those things that happens when I read. But your translation is much better ;o)

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

"Snatch her from his claws?"

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the use of 'claws' adds drama... ;o)

[aliettedb.livejournal.com]

It's a pretty good review :)
A "huis clos" is, hum, something hard to translate in a single word. It's an expression that basically means your setting is very much isolated (think murder mystery in Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None), and where feelings between characters as well as suspense tend to be exasperated.
"mistreat" used for children is more like "beating", "abusing".
"classic" is totally "predictable".
Congrats!

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Aha! An idiom after all. (I'm not fluent enough in French to catch idioms half the time.) I figured it was a typo of some sort, I just couldn't figure it out. I'll rethink that part of the translation.

Huis clos....that makes so much more sense than huit clos. In mystery terminology, a mystery with a setting like that is called a 'cosy' mystery.

Thanks! ;o)

[rcloenen-ruiz.livejournal.com]

Nice. Sounds like a really good review. When a reader says the characters sound real...that's really good :)

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[countesslovlace.livejournal.com]

You've been reviewed in French! Cooooooooool! And favorably too.
Tres bien.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if this gentleman officially counts as a reviewer, but he's clearly been following Beneath Ceaseless Skies...it is nice ;o)

[alaneer.livejournal.com]

Nice review. :)

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Yes ;o)