>>24498789 (OP)Aurélien by Louis Aragon. It's extremely realistic in its depiction of the impossibility of love. It's also pretty cool if you like a novel that explores the French surrealist movement that arose in the interwar period. It's also like an interwar Madame Bovary in my opinion, but it focuses on the male character. It's about the love that blooms between Aurélien and Bérénice when she comes from the countryside to stay with family in Paris for the summer. It's also an interwar novel as I said, Aurélien is a WWI veteran and is wrestling with the aimlessness he feels in life after the war, readjusting to society, trying to find his place. And there's also a beautiful motif of "l'inconnue de la Seine". Aurélien owns one of the death masks and makes the discovery that Bérénice and l'Inconnue are nearly identical twins. It's a very beautiful and moving novel. I'm thinking of giving it a reread soon to help me get over a girl who broke up with me after a few short, amazing weeks :(