There's a Monster Behind the Door by Gaëlle Bélem

The International Booker Prize Reading Challenge 2025

Apr 10, 2025

Welcome to the second book review for the International Booker Prize Long List Reading Challenge 2025. This review is for There's a Monster Behind the Door by Gaëlle Bélem, translated from French by Karen Fleetwood and Laëtitia Saint-Loubert.

Cover of There’s A Monster Behind the Door, and author Gaëlle Bélem.

There’s a Monster Behind the Door was published in October of 2024. It explores the complex relationship between nature and environmental and family influence. It is a narrative of overcoming challenges, examining the fight to define oneself against the shadow of what one despises.

If you are a person that requires a content warning for texts containing the physical or psychological abuse of children, please do a little more research before you begin reading this book.

The Plot.

Right from the first sentence of There’s A Monster Behind The Door, readers are thrown into the world of 1980s La Reunion island, which our narrator describes as —

a heap of rubble on the edge of the world where the worst human superstitions, chased out by waves of European scepticism, had finally found a welcoming harbor. Here they were able to take root and grow, and now cast a terrible shadow over a headstrong and utterly gullible people. (pg. 7-8)

The only child of the Dessaintes, raised by psychologically abusive parents who are disconnected from their daughter, each other, and the world in general. They spend all day watching horror movies on television and not bothering to do much of anything else, because the risk of looking for a job is finding one. Their only explanation for why things are the way they are is, ‘That’s the way it is and that’s that!” (11) She is a character reminiscent of Dahl's Matilda, seeking escape and empowerment, and a little just to make her parents mad, through learning, swearing she will not grow up to follow the footsteps of her family.

Through her perspective, the novel unveils the family history, tracing the generational trauma that shapes her life. Ultimately, the narrative follows the Dessaintes daughter into adulthood, exploring her struggle against a seemingly predetermined fate, questioning whether one can truly escape their origins.

Highlights.

There is a rawness in this book that I think is rare to see. There is an honesty in the way the main character thinks that honestly brought tears to my eyes. Every forward step she takes through out the story is one with two motives, to enable her to rise about her family history, but also to obtain a small revenge on her parents for the way they treat her, because she is angry and knows that it is not fair and not okay.

You may have notice that I have not mentioned the name of the main character, this is not to avoid some sort of spoiler. The main character is never named and I think this is a very strong literary device. By not naming her Bélem shows how unimportant this young girl is and also that she could be anyone.

Drawbacks.

There’s a Monster Behind the Door tends to jump around a lot in regards to timeline, this is not a linear story and Bélem tends to often get lost on tangents. For example we may meet a neighbour, just in passing, and then spend the next 3 pages reading their entire family history and what their favourite thing to eat for dinner is — and why — and who eats with them— and — and — and. This may not be a drawback for everyone as many readers do enjoy this side mission type of writing (Lovers of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels must particularly enjoy this.) Personally though, I find it detracts from the story itself, this might be forgiven a few times in this story, as some of the tangents do follow the main characters family members, so we have a deepening understanding of the wide spread generational trauma, but this is often also not the case, the side story offering nothing to the text as a whole.

The Final Take.

If you’re looking for a book with a happy ending, this is not that. This is a tale of someone striving to be better, only to be brought down by their inherited generational trauma. It was good though, its strength lying in its unflinching portrayal of how deeply the past can shape the present, even in the face of determined effort.

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Notes on the Translation.

The translation of There's a Monster Behind the Door offered a significantly easier reading experience than The Book of Disappearance, a difference I attribute in part to the clear explanation of the translation approach provided. Acknowledging that "Reunionese literature remains fairly unknown to the Anglophone world" (6) and is characterized by its "strong oral, Creole component" (7), the translators made a deliberate choice to retain French and Creole expressions to immerse the reader in the setting, stating their aim to "keep and brought to the surface of the text the Creole and French expressions to immerse the English-speaking reader La Reunion" (7). This decision, supported by a helpful glossary, proved effective in maintaining the unique linguistic texture of the original, something I greatly appreciated.

The next book I’m reading for The International Booker Long List Reading Challenge is Reservior Bitches by Dalia de la Cerda, translated from Spanish by Heather Cleary and Julia Sanches.