Ton Frère, Minh Tran Huy’s second memoir, is a letter to her youngest son, Serge. Her eldest son, Paul, who suffers from severe autism, was the main character in her previous book, Un garçon sans histoire. It showcases the struggle waged by Minh Tran Huy and her husband to raise Paul, a struggle that proves not only endless, but doomed to failure because France is decades behind in autism care, and doesn’t seem concerned at all about it.

“Paul n’entre pas dans les cases que le monde de la France universaliste —la France de la liberté, la France de l’Egalité et de la fraternité— ambitionne de bâtir, mon Serge. () Ce n’est pas qu’on ait pas le savoir ou les ressources nécessaires. On sait ce qu’il faudrait faire, mais on ne le fait pas. On sait qu’il faudrait former du personnel mais on ne le forme pas. On sait qu’il faudrait construire des établissements spécialisés, mais on ne les construit pas. On sait qu’il faudrait soulager des familles au bord de l’implosion, mais on ne les soulage pas.”

[“Paul doesn’t fit into the world that universalist France  —the France of liberty, the France of equality and fraternity— aspires to build, my Serge. () It’s not that we don’t have the knowledge or the resources. We know what needs to be done, but we’re not doing it. We know we need to train people, but we’re don’t train them. We know that specialized facilities should be built, but we don’t build them. We know that we need to relieve families on the verge of implosion, but we don’t relieve them”]

Un garçon sans histoire ends with the birth of Serge, the couple’s second child, this birth is the starting point of Ton frère. But as Claro points out in his brilliant essay, L’Echec, Comment échouer mieux, it’s not uncommon for a book in the process of being written to escape its initial project and take its author elsewhere.

Thus, while Un garçon sans histoire is the story of a struggle, it is also the story of an apprenticeship, and traces the path taken by the author and her husband as they learn how to become a family. This is the very same story that Ton Frère pursues. Minh Tran Huy records the various revelations brought about by her ordeal. How Paul’s birth shattered her belief in meritocracy, revealing to her the immensity of a love not conditional on performance or success. How Paul changed her view of her childhood, her upbringing and, de facto, her understanding of her relationship with her own parents.

The birth of Serge-who doesn’t suffer from autistic disorders-doesn’t erase past traumas, but brings its share of joy and lessons: “Your brother taught me indulgence, sorrow and gentleness: you, gratitude”, proving that a family is, first and foremost, a narrative of permanent transformations, a changing account of the relationship to oneself and to others, an intimate and collective adventure.

Ton Frère, by Minh Tran Huy, Robert Laffont

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Miriam Bridenne

After almost two decades of working in publishing, and a few round trips between Paris and New York, Miriam has decided to settle down at Albertine to do what she enjoys most: recommending books she loves. Somehow this also includes taking bizarre pictures for Albertine's social media outlets.

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