The AnchorJeannot Solemare, Coraline’s father
“I have the gift of observing and reading the future, and my wife has the gift of lighting the fuse! So I lend her my lighter!” (ch. 6 bis)
“Mektoub! It is written! We can’t master everything. We can’t control everything.” (ch. 6 bis)
“You face up to things and you move on. That’s everyday courage!” (ch. 6 bis)
“Yes, in our house, family is sacred! We love each other, we support each other, we hold each other up!” (ch. 6 bis)
“Honour, my foot! Honour is all very well, ACTING is better! I may be a grumpy old man, but at least I’m loyal! I grumble, but I deliver!” (ch. 6 bis)
“I’m a realist, just ahead of time! as Jean Yanne used to say! Politicians are like nappies: they need changing often, and for the same reasons!” (ch. 6 bis)
“We understand each other. For 60 years, that’s always how we’ve worked. We’re alarms for each other.” (ch. 6)
“Anger is the safest alarm system in the world. The girls don’t understand. But we patented it on the quiet, without telling them.” (ch. 6)
“In every church, there’s always something that doesn’t ring true! Me, I couldn’t care less, I’m a Protestant!” (ch. 6 bis)
“I’d really like to understand how that little cat managed to poo on the wall?” (ch. 42)
“In our day, marriage was sacred. Now it’s the leading cause of divorce!” (ch. 6 bis)
“And vice versa! Your mother’s a pain in the neck, but I’d never have married anyone else. She’s perfect! She’s got a valiant heart, and that’s rare these days!” (ch. 6 bis)
Who is he?
The why
Uprooted, he lost his country, and his father: “Dad knew everything was written, when his father died far too young, but that fate can’t read a date.” (ch. 6)
So he protects the people he loves, for fear of losing them.
Faced with the great overflowing heart that no one can control, he doesn’t get carried away. He supports her through the storm and, above all, he adores winding her up.
Both pieds-noirs, French people born in Algeria, Renata and Jeannot lived through the same story: they understand each other.
What people say about him
“Dad is the anchor in the storm. Capricorn through and through: pragmatic, realistic, steady. He moves forward with precision, no smoke and mirrors, just the facts.” (ch. 6)
“His dry humour lands just right, at exactly the right moment. He’s straight down the line, he observes, he smiles, he says what he thinks, even if people don’t like it. He doesn’t care. He owns it.” (ch. 6)
“My dad is a radar system on high alert. His early-warning system spots danger before it arrives. In an extreme emergency, he turns up on the spot.” (ch. 3)
“Self-mockery and good old down-to-earth common sense: that’s the wisdom we inherited!” (ch. 6 bis)
What makes him memorable
MI-Fam The special unit he set up, and into which he recruited his wife.
The alarm system Patented on the quiet with Renata, without telling their daughters.
The Man from Atlantis For his daughters, he’ll do anything: he dives in and comes out with his face covered in blood. “No, I was doing the Man from Atlantis for my daughters.” (ch. 42)
Bonus
Jeannot and politics
Dad — The secret of boring everyone? You should tell the politicians!
Mum — I agree! When you see what you see, and you hear what you hear, you’re quite right to think what you think! as Coluche used to say!
My sister — We all think it… but not for the same reasons.
Dad — The truth is fragile, but stubborn: politicians are all idiots!
The journalist — You’re a pessimist!
Dad — I’m a realist, just ahead of time! as Jean Yanne used to say! Politicians are like nappies: they need changing often, and for the same reasons!
Mum — Jean is clear-sighted, he’s rarely wrong! His logic is precise and icy! It sends shivers down your spine.
The journalist — Careful, you’ll make enemies!
Dad — You have enemies? Good! It means you fought for something one day! And anyway, what? We’re not allowed to say what we think any more? The man who’ll shut me up hasn’t been born yet, as Montaigne said: on the highest throne in the world, we are still sitting on our own arse. And politicians take the biscuit!
Mum — It’s like that other one… the big lanky donkey: I have understood you… Oh, sure! I don’t trust people who’ve understood everything… They always hide a knife in their pocket to defend their own interests.
Dad — Exactly! War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men. They torture innocent people and then blame the people for their crimes!
Mum — They can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but not all the people all the time.
Dad — All of them hiding behind their grand speeches: Vote for us! And afterwards, it’s always the people who take the hit!
My sister — Universe, what else is possible? How does it get even better than this?
Mum — Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt, like them!
Dad — Me, I’ve got common sense, I don’t change sides. I watch politics, and it’s all hot air! Whatever side they’re on.
Mum — So better to stop the idle speculation and cultivate your garden in peace, as Montaigne said.
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