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WORK TITLE: The Penalty Area
WORK NOTES: trans by Howard Curtis
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://www.europaeditions.com/author/197/alain-gillot * http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0319380/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1952 in France.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Journalist, screenwriter, comic book creator. Has also worked as a lumberjack and truck driver.
AWARDS:Scriptum Sport Award, 2015, for The Penalty Area.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Alain Gillot was born in France in 1952, and while he has worked as a lumberjack and truck driver, he is best known as a screenwriter, sports journalist, and comic book creator. His first novel, The Penalty Area, received the Scriptum Sport Award in 2015, and it was translated into English by Howard Curtis the following year.
The Penalty Area follows a little-league football coach in Sedan, France. The protagonist, Vincent, prefers a solitary life, despite the social demands of his vocation. His quiet home life is forever changed when his sister, Madeleine, leaves her thirteen-year-old son, Leonard, in Vincent’s care. Madeleine disappears without letting anyone know when, or if, she plans to return. At first, both Vincent and Leonard keep their distance from each other; Leonard would rather be left alone too. Yet Vincent eventually decides to make his gangly, chess-nerd nephew try out for the position of goalkeeper. Leonard turns out to be a natural talent, and his knowledge of chess plays helps him anticipate players’ behavior on the field. Still, Leonard never seems to adjust socially, and Vincent eventually learns that his nephew has Asperger’s. He turns to a child psychologist for help, and both Leonard and Vincent manage to find joy in their unlikely family.
While most critics praised the novel, a Kirkus Reviews Online correspondent felt that Gillot “delivers a better overall book than the first half promised,” thus offering “a slim, understated novel of nicely drawn vignettes” that is “more consommé than bisque and might leave some readers unsatisfied.” An online Tony’s Reading List correspondent explained: “More than a book about football, then, The Penalty Area is a novel which examines how Vincent copes with the news of his nephew’s informal diagnosis, but also how it forces him to reflect on his own life. . . . The Penalty Area is a book that will probably appeal to fans of YA fiction about family relationships (and less to people who only want to read about football!). It’s a little like Nick Hornby’s About a Boy set at a football club in the French suburbs; whether that appeals will depend on your tastes.” According to a Publishers Weekly contributor, “This is a short novel, but Vincent’s redemption as a brother and surrogate father feels fully earned and free of false sentiment.” Keir Graff, writing in Booklist, was also positive, calling the novel “a genuinely enjoyable portrait of a man learning to open himself up and make a new family.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, September 1, 2016, Keir Graff, review of The Penalty Area, p. 40.
Publishers Weekly, July 11, 2016, review of The Penalty Area, p. 40.
ONLINE
Kirkus Reviews Online, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/ (June 15, 2016), review of The Penalty Area.
Tony’s Reading List, https://tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/ (April 5, 2017), review of The Penalty Area.
LC control no.: n 85019532
Descriptive conventions:
rda
LC classification: PQ2707.I355
Personal name heading:
Gillot, Alain
Profession or occupation:
Authors Journalists Screen writers
Found in: His Paris-Dakar, ou, La grande eÌvasion, c1984: t.p.
(Alain Gillot)
Europa Editions website, Oct. 12, 2016 (Alain Gillot is an
admired journalist, a screenwriter, and a comic book
author. The Penalty Area is his debut novel.)
Amazon website, Oct. 12, 2016 (Alain Gillot 63 years. He is
writer. The penalty area is his first novel.)
Ediciones Siruela S.A. website, Oct. 12, 2016 (Alain Gillot
was born in 1952 in France. He has played all kinds of
trades, lumberjack to truck driver, until he discovered
his great vocation in sports journalism. In addition, he
has also gained recognition as a screenwriter. La
loÌgica cotidiana de la felicidad, his first novel,
honors with Scriptum Sport Award 2015, is being adapted
for the big screen.)
OCLC, Oct. 12, 2016 (La loÌgica cotidiana de la felicidad
= La surface de reÌparation)
BnF in ViAF, Oct. 12, 2016 (Gillot, Alain (1951-....) ;
1951-10-17 ; screenwriter/novelist ; French)
BNE in Viaf, Oct. 12, 2016 (Gillot, Alain (1952-) ; source:
La loÌgica cotidiana de la felicidad ; flap (Alain
Gillot, n 1952, France,. Screenwriter, this is his first
novel))
Associated language:
fre
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AUTHORITIES
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Questions? Contact: ils@loc.gov
Alain Gillot is an admired journalist, a screenwriter, and a comic book author. The Penalty Area is his debut novel.
The Penalty Area
Keir Graff
113.1 (Sept. 1, 2016): p40.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
The Penalty Area. By Alain Gillot. Tr. by Howard Curtis. Sept. 2016.192p. Europa, paper, $16 (9781609453534).
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
The coach of an under-14 soccer team in Sedan, France, Vincent leads an orderly, solitary life, shying away from emotional commitment. But when his peripatetic sister, Madeleine, drops off her 13-year-old son, Leonard, for an extended stay, Vincent's arm's-length policy is put to the test. Leonard is an odd duck, a "Martian," a gangly chess genius who panics when his own need for routine is broached. On a whim, Vincent tries him out as a goalkeeper and learns that his nephew's unique ability to anticipate plays makes him a goalkeeping prodigy--both due to, and in spite of, what Vincent learns is Asperger's syndrome. The relationship of man and boy unfolds in a thoughtful, heart-warming way, alongside a halting romance with a helpful child psychologist. While in some ways Vincent's equilibrium may be a bit too easily earned, the first novel from journalist, screenwriter, and comic-book author Gillot is a genuinely enjoyable portrait of a man learning to open himself up and make a new family out of the materials at hand.--Keir Graff
Graff, Keir
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Graff, Keir. "The Penalty Area." Booklist, 1 Sept. 2016, p. 40. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA463755069&it=r&asid=9fe33d0a1d255c628798193e36c09aa5. Accessed 1 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A463755069
The Penalty Area
263.28 (July 11, 2016): p40.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
The Penalty Area
Alain Gillot, trans. from the French by Howard Curtis. Europa (PRH, dist.), $16 trade paper (192p) ISBN 978-1-60945-353-4
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Expertly translated by Curtis, Gillot's novel about soccer is about more than the bruising arena of competitive sports. It is also a delicate character study of a solitary man slowly rejoining the world. Growing up, Vincent Barteau dreamed of being a professional soccer player. But that dream was crushed by a career-ending injury. Now Vincent keeps alive his connection to the sport by coaching a youth team in Sedan, France. One day, his circumscribed existence is shattered by the arrival of his estranged sister, Madeleine, a single mother who asks him to care for her 13-year-old son, Leonard, while she attends a job-training program. Vincent has had no experience caring for a teenager. But it turns out that the boy has a real talent as a soccer goalie and makes Vincent's team suddenly viable. Leonard is later diagnosed as having Asperger's syndrome. Thanks to the boy, Vincent begins to come out of his shell. Then, Madeleine reappears and says that she wants Leonard back. Throw in Vincent and Madeleine's dying mother and Leonard's confinement to a special home, and the scene is set for a dramatic climax that pulls out all the emotional stops. This is a short novel, but Vincent's redemption as a brother and surrogate father feels fully earned and free of false sentiment. Years ago, this novel would have made a wonderful vehicle for French star Gerard Depardieu. (Sept.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Penalty Area." Publishers Weekly, 11 July 2016, p. 40. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA458915300&it=r&asid=868c429a443b807df80c30c388af9712. Accessed 1 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A458915300
THE PENALTY AREA
by Alain Gillot, translated by Howard Curtis
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KIRKUS REVIEW
A boys soccer coach in Sedan, France, temporarily takes in his sister’s son and finds he may have the “little nugget” his team needs to excel.
Vincent saw his chances for a serious soccer career vanish with a knee injury at age 29 and turned to coaching. Ten years later, the under-16 team he works with in Sedan has little chance of success until his older sister, Madeleine, shows up, needing to drop off 13-year-old Leonard for 10 days while she takes a course to get a new job. The visit forces Vincent to make room in a solitary life that may trace back to an alcoholic, abusive father—he threw his son down a flight of stairs once, breaking his arm—and a complacent mother. It also introduces Vincent to Leonard’s Asperger’s syndrome and special talents. He excels at chess analysis, and, while staying with his uncle, applies the skill to soccer, eventually converting it to practical use as goalie for the team. For about half of this first novel, Gillot—a French journalist, screenwriter, and comic-book author—tells a fairly simple story that seems to promise against-the-odds sports heroism reminiscent of Bend It Like Beckham. In fact, complications arise on all sides as almost every character has a history of early abuse or neglect or abandonment. There’s a nice detour when Madeleine chases a can’t-lose investment and an intriguing character in the child psychologist who helps Vincent with Leonard. Whether Gillot’s resolution satisfies may depend on one’s desire for Hollywood endings. There’s no question he delivers a better overall book than the first half promised.
A slim, understated novel of nicely drawn vignettes, this is more consommé than bisque and might leave some readers unsatisfied.
Pub Date: Sept. 6th, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-60945-353-4
Page count: 192pp
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 15th, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1st, 2016