While we can see her in the drama series The man who loved too muchNadia Kounda tells us about the books she loved too much.
Which book would you like to start this interview with?
The subtle art of not giving a damn, by Mark Manson. This simple book, which is a well-known personal development book, is very much in line with my philosophy of life, but it also helped me to see things more clearly at a time when I felt useless, because I compared my life to that of others on social media. This book helps to relativize, to focus on one’s own being, one’s own values and to no longer judge oneself according to values that can make us unhappy or embittered, such as fame or wealth. It explains the journey to refocus on true values of life, which are different from one person to another.
In his book, Mark Manson gives several examples that can resonate with every reader’s experience, sometimes funny, sometimes drawn from more difficult events. But it is above all the choice of its language that makes this book accessible and reaches us more easily. The author also shares his own experiences, and explains how he managed to feel better about himself and relearn how to live in a society that puts a lot of pressure on a sometimes harmful scale of values.
During your life, is there a book that has particularly marked you?
Yes, A few farewells, by Marie Laberge. This book is a psychological novel. It tells the story of a happily married university professor who falls in love with one of his students. For years, he will live a double life.
The form of this book is original, there is a before and after infidelity: the professor’s point of view and his wife’s point of view in the second part.
Throughout the book, I remember wondering how you could love so much and at the same time two people so different. How can a wife not realize her husband’s infidelity all these years?
I read this novel at the beginning of my relationship with my partner, and I remember that this book had disturbed me in my daily life, had made me a little paranoid!
And another that particularly moved you?
Soft song, by Leïla Slimani, which is a very realistic fiction. This is the story of Myriam, a mother who has spent a few years taking care of her children and who would like to go back to work despite her husband’s reluctance. For this, the couple must hire a nanny. Very demanding, he spends a casting pointed to several candidates before Myriam chose her rare pearl: Louise. This nanny is almost perfect, until the day she commits the irreparable: she kills her little charges.
The novel begins with the end, the tragedy. This is what makes this work of fiction very realistic, like a news item whose facts we will be told event by event and which allows the reader to draw up the psycho-logical profile of this murderous nanny.
What was your most recent crush?
Recently, I read autobiographies rather than novels. In the book Memoirs – The other side of a life, actress Demi Moore confides in her life, from her childhood to today. I chose it because I am an actress myself. But also because this great actress moved away for a long time from the world of cinema and television because of her problems with anorexia and addictions. It was first of all curiosity that pushed me to read her book, but also the hope of seeing her take control of her career. What she says is not happy, but it allowed me to know the complex life of a talented actress who shined in her career for years before sinking and making the front page of the tabloids for other reasons. than his art. I am fascinated by characters who have the ability to overcome strong traumatic shocks.
Can you now tell us about the novels that you have literally adored over the past few years?
I read very few novels, but a lot of essays, biographies or autobiographies. I can still name two:
► Autumn gusts, by Natsume Sôseki. It is about a high school literature teacher who wants to train his students in a certain morality, righteousness, honesty. So his students laugh at him and every time he resigns… This book is about how to maintain integrity in a world where it is difficult to meet integrity, and where integrity and righteousness are not recognized and appreciated. ..
► The Pioneers, by Anna Jacobs. It is the story of a young woman born into poverty who will fight to exist. He is a very fine example of resilience, of someone who emerges from poverty with strength, courage and righteousness.
What are you planning to read shortly to take your mind off things?
I would like to discover the novels of Patrice Godin, my acting partner in The man who loved too much. And as I am curious to know what will happen, I will quickly start reading the episodes of season 2 of the series The perfect momentscreated by Marc Robitaille and directed by François Begin, which we are shooting this spring.
–
