L'araigne is a story about an anxious and manipulative young man and the games he plays to control the lives of the women around him in order to keep them by his side. He is disgusted by the flesh and can't understand his sisters or accept them as women with needs and desires beyond the family home. Henri Troyat is a fine writer, but I can't imagine why this book one a Goncourt...well, maybe I can when I really think about it and that's probably why I tend not to bother with Goncourt winners. The characters in this book are uninteresting middle-class bores, and Gérard, our antihero, is a most tedious and self-centred gossip. The plot is simplistic to the point of being pointless and the writing doesn't save it since it's not an example of Troyat's best prose. There are a couple of engaging events and the last chapter brings the whole narrative to a satisfactory close, but that's not enough to redeem this book. If you haven't read Henri Troyat before and you want to discover his finest work in terms of concept, characterisation, and narrative, try his novel, "La neige en deuil", or his collection ,"Les ailes du diable".
