The Penalty Area

July 11, 2016
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 Gérard Depardieu.

July 1, 2016
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 consomme than bisque and might leave some readers unsatisfied.

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September 1, 2016
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 prodigyboth due to, and in spite of, what Vincent learns is Asperger's syndrome. The relationship of man and boy unfolds in a thoughtful, heartwarming 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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)