Home » Belgium » Amélie Nothomb » TL’Adolescence du perroquet [The Adolescence of the Parrot]
Amélie Nothomb: L’Adolescence du perroquet [The Adolescence of the Parrot]
Our hero is Alban. Among other things, he is a devotee of the Louvre. His mother had taken him as a child and he was particularly entranced by the old items and his enthusiasm impressed his mother. However, when they went to the Pompidou Centre he was less impressed and said so, so his mother never took him to a museum again again. As a young adult he visited.Louvre regularly as he could get in on a cheap rate. He was proud to have more marble friends than flesh and blood friends.
When he went in later years he found a huge queue and then found he had to pre-book a ticket on the Internet. He thought this was terrible and even though he had a timed ticket and arrived promptly by the time he got to the front of the queue it was too late. He has a radio programme and complained about this which led to him getting a free membership pass.
His parents had both been killed in a fire at their at their sports club when he was seventeen. Fortunately, they left a lot of money and a flat for him and he has managed to survive well. He went to university and then looked for a job. As he kept all his parents’ stuff, including their clothes, when a radio programme we were looking for someone to discuss the issue of hoarding a girlfriend suggested it to him and he applied for the job and has been doing it ever since.
One day, someone had put up an announcement on the bulletin board in his building saying they had a parrot if anyone wanted one so he went to the appropriate flat and an elderly man gave him a tiny little parrot whose body was barely bigger than its beak, told him how to look after the parrot and asked him to say nothing about the parrot’s origin as the mother was obtained illegally, He took ihim down to his flat putting him in a basket with some rags and essentially becomes a father, treating the parrot the way a doting father might treat his child.
When he goes to work in the morning, the parrot, an an African Grey, looks at him plaintively and he feels very guilty about leaving. When he returns after work, the parrot is invariably asleep. However he treats him like a doting father (Have you missed me?). He even shows the parrot round the flat , explaining what everything is.
We now follow the story ofAlban and his. parrot living together. As any human parent of a human child can tell you things do not always go smoothly but at the same time he adores his parrot and dotes on him.
Jo seems to like the music Alban plays but clearly prefers Aretha Franklin to Mozart and even seems to dance to her music. Jo is graduating from chirping to whistling and whistles after having heard Aretha Franklin but not the same tune.
Jo can be violent and attacks various things in the flat, including Alban and his precious computer.Alban eventually buys a cage to put him in and not surprisingly Jo is not too enthusiastic about it but gradually comes to accept it as his domain. The computer is moved to the bedroom with the door shut to protect it.
Parrots famously imitate a variety of sounds and Jo is no exception. He imitates the sound of the toilet flushing which appears to be his way of showing that he is not entirely happy with the situation.
Gradually it seems to Alban that Jo has a large vocabulary and seemingly uses words which Alban has never used. Where did he learn them?
We are now in covid lockdown and Alban is table to spend more time with Jo as he can work from home.
Jo does not take to visitors, such as the plumber. However when Alban invites a female friend Jo really expresses his opposition.
The author and Alban seem to assume at Jo is male but is Jo is male? Alban has his doubts for scientific reasons .An African grey can only be determined to be female after fifteen years when she lays eggs. Just another fourteen to go. Perhaps the fact that she is female explains her jealousy at his female visitor.
The title of the book clearly indicates that we are following Jo’s adolescence. We know that human adolescents can be difficult – at times loving and caring but at other times monsters, including shouting and screaming, violent behaviour and, of course, sulking.Jo shows all of these traits and more. He is seemingly getting worse, for example early in the morning screaming loudly and shouting I am hungry. But, at the same time Jo seems to be becoming more intelligent. For example when Alban ask him if he wants to have children, he turns the question back onto Alban. Jo ts is so difficult that Alban escapes and, of course, goes to theLouvre, particularly to see his favourite painting , a fairly rare painting featuring a parrot.
Joestill has many years to go before he reaches adulthood, at least in human terms. Can. Alban enjoy it and if not, what else can he do?
It is certainly an interesting idea to transpose human characteristics and behaviour onto a parrot.Jo shows many of the behavioural traits that you might find in an unruly adolescent human, particularly an intelligent one, which Jo definitely is. I know nothing about it and had never heard of the African Grey. The Wikipedia article on the grey parrot statesittle is known about the behaviour and activities of these birds in the wild So I have no idea whether this is a valid approach but whether it is or not it certainly makes for fun reading.
Publishing history
First published in 2026 by Albin Michel
No English translation