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La Disparition de Jim Sullivan
Du jour où j'ai décidé d'écrire un roman américain, il fut très vite clair que beaucoup de choses se passeraient à Detroit, Michigan, au volant d'une vieille Dodge, sur les rives des grands lacs. Il fut clair aussi que le personnage principal s'appellerait Dwayne Koster, qu'il enseignerait à l'université, qu'il aurait cinquante ans, qu'il serait divorcé et que Susan, son ex-femme, aurait pour amant un type qu'il détestait.
153 pages, Paperback
First published March 7, 2013
5 people are currently reading
111 people want to read
About the author
Tanguy Viel
30 books41 followersTanguy Viel, né le 27 décembre 1973 à Brest, est un écrivain français.
Tanguy Viel est réputé pour une mise en place d’intrigues complexes, une réflexion sur quelques thèmes récurrents (les liens familiaux, les duperies, les inégalités de classes et les difficultés à prendre l’ascenseur social), et un travail formel. Il s’inscrit dans la tradition des éditions de Minuit3, c’est-à-dire selon un modèle de distanciation. Ses romans sont fondés sur beaucoup de romanesque et font même usage du suspense. Bien qu’il ne le revendique pas lui-même1, L'Absolue Perfection du crime, Insoupçonnable, Paris-Brest et Article 353 du Code pénal sont généralement considérés comme des romans policiers en raison d’éléments récurrents : des personnages de gangsters ou d’escrocs, des crimes soigneusement préparés, l’intervention de procès ou de grosses sommes d’argent.
Les stéréotypes sont cependant retravaillés parfois mis en évidence par une forme de réflexivité4. La Disparition de Jim Sullivan en est le meilleur exemple. Le lecteur est souvent invité à participer « le narrateur n'a pas d'avance sur lui du point de vue de l'intrigue »5. L'écriture est l'objet d'une enquête : c'est au lecteur de reconstruire le puzzle en désordre du protagoniste.
Tanguy Viel emprunte également au cinéma6, mais cela est surtout notable dans son style : les effets de montage, l'usage de l'ellipse, la mise en place de scènes fortes et la variation des points de vue.
Le style de Tanguy Viel se caractérise par sa précision et son économie7. Ses phrases sont jugées longues et saccadées au service d’un style très dynamique8.
Tanguy Viel est réputé pour une mise en place d’intrigues complexes, une réflexion sur quelques thèmes récurrents (les liens familiaux, les duperies, les inégalités de classes et les difficultés à prendre l’ascenseur social), et un travail formel. Il s’inscrit dans la tradition des éditions de Minuit3, c’est-à-dire selon un modèle de distanciation. Ses romans sont fondés sur beaucoup de romanesque et font même usage du suspense. Bien qu’il ne le revendique pas lui-même1, L'Absolue Perfection du crime, Insoupçonnable, Paris-Brest et Article 353 du Code pénal sont généralement considérés comme des romans policiers en raison d’éléments récurrents : des personnages de gangsters ou d’escrocs, des crimes soigneusement préparés, l’intervention de procès ou de grosses sommes d’argent.
Les stéréotypes sont cependant retravaillés parfois mis en évidence par une forme de réflexivité4. La Disparition de Jim Sullivan en est le meilleur exemple. Le lecteur est souvent invité à participer « le narrateur n'a pas d'avance sur lui du point de vue de l'intrigue »5. L'écriture est l'objet d'une enquête : c'est au lecteur de reconstruire le puzzle en désordre du protagoniste.
Tanguy Viel emprunte également au cinéma6, mais cela est surtout notable dans son style : les effets de montage, l'usage de l'ellipse, la mise en place de scènes fortes et la variation des points de vue.
Le style de Tanguy Viel se caractérise par sa précision et son économie7. Ses phrases sont jugées longues et saccadées au service d’un style très dynamique8.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
June 7, 2021
A French author narrates his attempt at writing an "international" novel, by which he means a story which might sell well in all countries which in turn means an American novel.
The story ends up containing several classic tropes such as marital infidelity, trade in illegal goods and, eventually, violence.
Tanguy Viel ends up creating simultaneously this international story and a commentary on this type of narrative.
The story ends up containing several classic tropes such as marital infidelity, trade in illegal goods and, eventually, violence.
Tanguy Viel ends up creating simultaneously this international story and a commentary on this type of narrative.
February 22, 2017
This French-language "American novel," in some ways also a very funny satire of an American novel, is a fast, pleasant, relatively short read, one that even this mediocre reader of French was able to get through very quickly. The main character, a divorced professor (yes, like in so many American novels) who has fallen on very bad times (yes, a younger woman who was his student , etc.), spends a lot of time in his car listening to a country western singer and trying to figure out what he should do next. Well, as you might expect, he eventually gets in far, far over his head. There is a lot of satirical fun here, but Tanguy's novel also has its dark side, and it this peculiar combination of moods that makes it such an interesting read.
May 21, 2017
Tanguy Viel réussit magnifiquement son coup à nous faire croire que cet ouvrage n'est qu'un préambule à son vrai grand roman américain tandis que tout est la avec un exercice d'écriture et de lecture critique superbe.
Je n'ai pu que plonger dans ce roman hybride, entre essai et fiction qui en 130 pages m'a amené sur cette Amérique des grands romans américains!
Allez voir ma chronique plus longue sur mon blog : www.akathegirlwhoreads.wordpress.com
Je n'ai pu que plonger dans ce roman hybride, entre essai et fiction qui en 130 pages m'a amené sur cette Amérique des grands romans américains!
Allez voir ma chronique plus longue sur mon blog : www.akathegirlwhoreads.wordpress.com
December 24, 2023
Récit d'un narrateur français qui décide d'écrire un roman américain en respectant les conventions (ou les clichés) en vigueur dans la littérature américaine. Original.
April 9, 2018
Je ne suis pas bien sûre d'avoir compris le propos de ce livre. Sa caractéristique principale réside dans sa narration (je n'en dirai pas plus pour ne pas spoiler), et très vite dans le livre je me suis demandée si quoi que ce soit justifiait cette narration. Au final, j'ai un peu l'impression que non. On pourrait penser que c'est dans la logique initiale de décortiquer ce qui fait un roman américain - mais c'est bien faible comme justification et ça ne tient pas sur la longueur.
Dommage, la narration marche presque, mais c'est juste un peu too much pour ne pas m'agacer. Dommage (bis), j'ai bien accroché à l'histoire, mais cette narration particulière laisse penser que l'histoire n'est pas si importante dans le livre. C'est un peu déstabilisant.
Dommage, la narration marche presque, mais c'est juste un peu too much pour ne pas m'agacer. Dommage (bis), j'ai bien accroché à l'histoire, mais cette narration particulière laisse penser que l'histoire n'est pas si importante dans le livre. C'est un peu déstabilisant.
August 10, 2016
Un roman qui raconte un roman écrit comme un roman américain. A lire directement après "La vérité sur l'affaire Harry Québert", pour se remettre. Efficace.
June 12, 2019
"La disparition de Jim Sullivan" de Tanguy Viel (140p)
Ed; Minuit double.
Bonjour les lecteurs...
Après le fameux "Article 353 du Code Pénal" (une pépite pour moi), je me suis plongée dans ce récit de Tanguy Viel, avec un peu de réticence au départ je l'avoue.
Et … Bim …. quelle surprise !!!
Décidément, cet auteur m'enchante!!!
L'auteur de roman " made in France" qu'est Tanguy Viel, se prend d'envie d'écrire un roman américain.
Et nous voici plongé séance tenante dans une parodie ou il nous fait part de ses réflexion, exemples à l'appui, pour sortir " The best seller amerloque.
Avec humour, il nous expose les clichés qui, selon lui, sont la base de la réussite du roman outre-Atlantique.
Il nous donne son avis et développe, avec humour, le pourquoi seule l'Amérique est capable de produire des romans internationaux.
Lecture qui m'a étonnée, enchantée, amusée.
L'auteur aurait-il réussi son pari en nous livrant un roman américain écrit par un français ?
Tous les ingrédients sont réunis pour en tout cas.
N'hésitez pas a vous y plonger.. régalez-vous !
Bravo !
Ed; Minuit double.
Bonjour les lecteurs...
Après le fameux "Article 353 du Code Pénal" (une pépite pour moi), je me suis plongée dans ce récit de Tanguy Viel, avec un peu de réticence au départ je l'avoue.
Et … Bim …. quelle surprise !!!
Décidément, cet auteur m'enchante!!!
L'auteur de roman " made in France" qu'est Tanguy Viel, se prend d'envie d'écrire un roman américain.
Et nous voici plongé séance tenante dans une parodie ou il nous fait part de ses réflexion, exemples à l'appui, pour sortir " The best seller amerloque.
Avec humour, il nous expose les clichés qui, selon lui, sont la base de la réussite du roman outre-Atlantique.
Il nous donne son avis et développe, avec humour, le pourquoi seule l'Amérique est capable de produire des romans internationaux.
Lecture qui m'a étonnée, enchantée, amusée.
L'auteur aurait-il réussi son pari en nous livrant un roman américain écrit par un français ?
Tous les ingrédients sont réunis pour en tout cas.
N'hésitez pas a vous y plonger.. régalez-vous !
Bravo !
September 13, 2022
Amusing, simple and fast read. I give it a solid three stars because it has some amusing moments and decent satire. A novel about how an author would write an American novel if he wrote an American novel, without actually writing an American novel. It's an easy read in French even if you're not a native speaker.
June 23, 2024
Quella di questo libro è una "metascrittura", una sorta di laboratorio narrativo, backstage di un ipotetico romanzo americano che l'autore, francesissimo, ci concede di leggere. Come appunti di scrittura, sulla costruzione dei personaggi, dei flashback, dell'intreccio. Davvero bello.
April 9, 2025
J'aime énormément les bouquins concepts comme celui-ci, la fabrication du roman qui se passe sous nos yeux c'est vraiment cool. Et puis encore une fois personnage détestable et insauvable ça me déplaît pas, c'est assez catartique
August 29, 2017
Not to be read although a fine idea how a French novel could be written like an American one.
May 21, 2025
Absolument pas accroché. Cela ne correspond pas du tout à mes attentes de lecture.
December 20, 2021
Récit écrit étrangement, comme si la narrateur faisait le résumé du vrai livre. C'est un peu déconcertant mais ça tient la route sur 130 pages. Plus long ça aurait sûrement été épuisant à lire. Là, ça passe bien et le côté satirique ressort bien. Une histoire classique, typiquement américaine bien sûr, qui se lit bien.
March 23, 2022
Finally: An international novel that takes place in Detroit! Sort of. The Disappearance of Jim Sullivan is a novel by a French author about a French author who is tired of writing French novels and instead wants to write the kind of novel he sees everywhere, in airports and bookstores around the world: an “international novel,” written by the same set of authors, all of whom are American.
Thus, the international novel is necessarily an American novel. More so, the narrator thinks, an American novel must be set in a mid-western town, which in this case is Detroit, Michigan. Furthermore, since the narrator is following what he sees as a successful formula, he decides that his protagonist, Dwayne Koster, should be middle aged, recently divorced, and possessed of a drinking problem. The novel’s “Detroit” is also reductionist, sounding like factoids about the city and its suburbs cobbled together from the first 20 results of a cursory Google search—which is to say that, while the individual facts deployed may be true, in the aggregate they form a portrait no Michigander, let alone Detroiter, would recognize, or at least would see as anything other than a shallow caricature. This is part of the novel’s charm: it’s clunky deployment of authenticity signally.
For instance, when the narrator is introducing the backstory to a character named Susan Fraser, the Dwayne Koster’s future, then ex-, wife, he writes: “She was the kind of girl that you could imagine in a Renaissance Center office, managing the sales department of an automobile firm, as easily as you could picture her at a punk concert at the Masonic Temple, especially a punk concert at the Masonic Temple.”
I was born too late to be a part of the punk movement but one of the first things I thought to myself was that it would be good for a character to have been a punk while growing up in Detroit, maybe even to have fallen in love at an Iggy Pop concert. Then a little later, having matured over the years, the character would honeymoon at Niagara Falls. That’s exactly what happened to Susan Fraser. The first time she kissed Dwane Koster was the day of the legendary Iggy Pop concert at the Masonic Temple on March 23, 1977, without knowing that she was going to become his wife, let alone the mother of his children, or that they’d spend their honeymoon in the mist of the Falls, or that twenty years later she’d regret it.
At any rate, the narrator describes to us the contents of his “American” novel, as well as the reasons for his various editorial decisions in having his characters behave as they do. I won’t repeat the plot here, which indeed does have a so-called action novel structure to it with illegal international shenanigans, but in Tanguy Viel’s hands, the plot is secondary to Dwayne’s foibles, which, true to tragedy’s history, lead inevitably to his final act.
Rather than a parody of genre writing—which it is, in part—Viel’s The Disappearance of Jim Sullivan demonstrates by inverse example that the conventions of genre—its plotlines and character types—are not the elements that make a story bad or good but that how a story is told determines whether it is liked or disliked, found comic or tragic, etc. Who’s Jim Sullivan? That you can Google, and maybe stream his songs. What does that have to do with the novel? That would be telling.
For more of my reviews, please see https://www.thebookbeat.com/backroom/...
Thus, the international novel is necessarily an American novel. More so, the narrator thinks, an American novel must be set in a mid-western town, which in this case is Detroit, Michigan. Furthermore, since the narrator is following what he sees as a successful formula, he decides that his protagonist, Dwayne Koster, should be middle aged, recently divorced, and possessed of a drinking problem. The novel’s “Detroit” is also reductionist, sounding like factoids about the city and its suburbs cobbled together from the first 20 results of a cursory Google search—which is to say that, while the individual facts deployed may be true, in the aggregate they form a portrait no Michigander, let alone Detroiter, would recognize, or at least would see as anything other than a shallow caricature. This is part of the novel’s charm: it’s clunky deployment of authenticity signally.
For instance, when the narrator is introducing the backstory to a character named Susan Fraser, the Dwayne Koster’s future, then ex-, wife, he writes: “She was the kind of girl that you could imagine in a Renaissance Center office, managing the sales department of an automobile firm, as easily as you could picture her at a punk concert at the Masonic Temple, especially a punk concert at the Masonic Temple.”
I was born too late to be a part of the punk movement but one of the first things I thought to myself was that it would be good for a character to have been a punk while growing up in Detroit, maybe even to have fallen in love at an Iggy Pop concert. Then a little later, having matured over the years, the character would honeymoon at Niagara Falls. That’s exactly what happened to Susan Fraser. The first time she kissed Dwane Koster was the day of the legendary Iggy Pop concert at the Masonic Temple on March 23, 1977, without knowing that she was going to become his wife, let alone the mother of his children, or that they’d spend their honeymoon in the mist of the Falls, or that twenty years later she’d regret it.
At any rate, the narrator describes to us the contents of his “American” novel, as well as the reasons for his various editorial decisions in having his characters behave as they do. I won’t repeat the plot here, which indeed does have a so-called action novel structure to it with illegal international shenanigans, but in Tanguy Viel’s hands, the plot is secondary to Dwayne’s foibles, which, true to tragedy’s history, lead inevitably to his final act.
Rather than a parody of genre writing—which it is, in part—Viel’s The Disappearance of Jim Sullivan demonstrates by inverse example that the conventions of genre—its plotlines and character types—are not the elements that make a story bad or good but that how a story is told determines whether it is liked or disliked, found comic or tragic, etc. Who’s Jim Sullivan? That you can Google, and maybe stream his songs. What does that have to do with the novel? That would be telling.
For more of my reviews, please see https://www.thebookbeat.com/backroom/...
September 24, 2022
I loved Tanguy Viel’s novel Article 353, so I jumped at the chance to read The Disappearance of Jim Sullivan for a book club. In the end, I gave this one 4/5 stars because I felt it lacked suspense, and the main character, Dwayne, is sort of a putz.
In this short tale, an author recounts a book he has written (or is trying to write) in the style of a great American novel. It has all of the typical tropes of American literature and films: cheating spouses, long car drives along deserted roads, revenge, yadda yadda. It’s true that Viel captures something about Americans. For the most part, we’re fun to have a beer with. But beyond that, even the brightest of us are not that bright, and we are prone to make mistakes on top of mistakes until the only way out from under the mire is complete self-destruction.
A brief synopsis: the book the unnamed author is writing - or has written - it’s not clear if the author already wrote this book, or if he has started it but hasn’t resolved what to do with it - concerns Dwayne, a literature professor, married with kids, a very plain vanilla life. He and his family live in an affluent part of Detroit, which works as an American setting for self-destruction because on the whole Detroit has something of a dystopia about it. Dwayne doesn’t really like a new colleague, Alex, whom Susan, Dwayne’s wife, insists they invite over for a barbecue. Alex is clearly a penis on legs, an expert swordsman as we used to say. Susan is a good wife, a good mother, but married to Dwayne too long. What you expect to ensue ensues.
Dwayne is no prize either. For a college professor, he’s a bit dumb, and does the most stereotypical thing that college professors always do in novels and films, which is to sleep with their students. So human errors begin to compound. Milly, the college student is also a piece of work, piece being the operative word. When things go horribly wrong, Dwayne visits his uncle Lee, an antiques dealer with a side hustle in looting, for help. Lee offers a deal: help with the Alex problem in exchange for help with a looting job.
None of this is about Jim Sullivan, a singer who disappeared in the desert without a trace. In the novel, Dwayne listens to a lot of Jim Sullivan, but ultimately Sullivan is just a ghost. We never get to hear and of Sullivan’s lyrics and we don’t know why we should care about him. Sullivan is simply a vision of someone who one might find at the end of the road.
No one here is really a character with redeeming qualities, save for Susan, whose adulterous acts are nothing compared to Dwayne’s. She is kind when she doesn’t have to be, and is quiet when she should be otherwise on the telephone with the police. I don’t think we get deep enough into anyone’s story, and so it’s difficult to care what happens to any of them. There isn’t much to justify Dwayne’s actions, and when it’s over, most readers will say “good riddance” to the lot of them.
So: there’s no happy ending, everyone is a terrible person, and life goes on without them. In short, it is a perfect French novel about Americans by a French author. But it lacks the bang of Viel’s other novels.
In this short tale, an author recounts a book he has written (or is trying to write) in the style of a great American novel. It has all of the typical tropes of American literature and films: cheating spouses, long car drives along deserted roads, revenge, yadda yadda. It’s true that Viel captures something about Americans. For the most part, we’re fun to have a beer with. But beyond that, even the brightest of us are not that bright, and we are prone to make mistakes on top of mistakes until the only way out from under the mire is complete self-destruction.
A brief synopsis: the book the unnamed author is writing - or has written - it’s not clear if the author already wrote this book, or if he has started it but hasn’t resolved what to do with it - concerns Dwayne, a literature professor, married with kids, a very plain vanilla life. He and his family live in an affluent part of Detroit, which works as an American setting for self-destruction because on the whole Detroit has something of a dystopia about it. Dwayne doesn’t really like a new colleague, Alex, whom Susan, Dwayne’s wife, insists they invite over for a barbecue. Alex is clearly a penis on legs, an expert swordsman as we used to say. Susan is a good wife, a good mother, but married to Dwayne too long. What you expect to ensue ensues.
Dwayne is no prize either. For a college professor, he’s a bit dumb, and does the most stereotypical thing that college professors always do in novels and films, which is to sleep with their students. So human errors begin to compound. Milly, the college student is also a piece of work, piece being the operative word. When things go horribly wrong, Dwayne visits his uncle Lee, an antiques dealer with a side hustle in looting, for help. Lee offers a deal: help with the Alex problem in exchange for help with a looting job.
None of this is about Jim Sullivan, a singer who disappeared in the desert without a trace. In the novel, Dwayne listens to a lot of Jim Sullivan, but ultimately Sullivan is just a ghost. We never get to hear and of Sullivan’s lyrics and we don’t know why we should care about him. Sullivan is simply a vision of someone who one might find at the end of the road.
No one here is really a character with redeeming qualities, save for Susan, whose adulterous acts are nothing compared to Dwayne’s. She is kind when she doesn’t have to be, and is quiet when she should be otherwise on the telephone with the police. I don’t think we get deep enough into anyone’s story, and so it’s difficult to care what happens to any of them. There isn’t much to justify Dwayne’s actions, and when it’s over, most readers will say “good riddance” to the lot of them.
So: there’s no happy ending, everyone is a terrible person, and life goes on without them. In short, it is a perfect French novel about Americans by a French author. But it lacks the bang of Viel’s other novels.
July 7, 2022
Strip the “Great American novel” down to its essential, deconstructed core. Have the author explain how they’ll reassemble these fragments: stereotypes formed into some characters, tropes threaded together into a plot. Round things out with the overarching theme of the historic disappearance of psychedelic/folk musician Jim Sullivan into the wilds of New Mexico. And somehow, you still end up with a captivating page-turner.
The formulaic nature of popular novel art forms leads to their success. It also allows others to mix things up a bit – to reinvent or subvert. Yet, if everything is so simple as a quick and easy formula, why can’t just anyone pull it all off? The answer of course is that it’s all what the writer does with all those formulaic bits and pieces, from the language to the style to the balances between familiarity and challenging invention.
The Disappearance of Jim Sullivan has a simple meta premise that author Tanguy Viel sets out from the start (or the fictional authorial narrator written by Viel – it’s always a bit unclear in the metaverse.) A French author decides he is tired of writing French novels. He wants to write something with international attraction, broad success. This, of course means, making it set in the American midwest of the ‘everyman’. The author creates a protagonist, Dwayne Koster, and sets things in the heart of the Iron Belt, Detroit. But being French and never having been to Detroit, the author has to make the setting a very barebones, Wikipedia-factoid sort of Detroit. He stylizes Koster as middle-aged, recently divorced, a budding alcoholic, and a man fascinated with Jim Sullivan’s music and mysterious vanishing into the desert night.
Viel then builds up the layers to this Great American Novel, interworking details from Koster’s past with the path he now finds himself on, and the routes open to him. Laying all of these basic conventions of a novel out before the reader, Viel then concocts them into an engaging narrative amid the parodic, meta exercise. And he pulls it off because of his inherent talent for the writing craft.
I read through the novel while listening to Jim Sullivan’s albums, starting with his most famous UFO. It’s an accompaniment I’d recommend. By the end of the novel, Viel takes his story of Dwayne Koster and merges it with Sullivan’s style and the history of Sullivan’s disappearance, paralleling the existential nature of Koster’s journey with the unanswered questions of Sullivan’s.
A big thanks to Dalkey Archive Press and translator Clayton McGee for getting this slice of Americana by way of France to English-speaking audiences. A true international novel achieved.
The formulaic nature of popular novel art forms leads to their success. It also allows others to mix things up a bit – to reinvent or subvert. Yet, if everything is so simple as a quick and easy formula, why can’t just anyone pull it all off? The answer of course is that it’s all what the writer does with all those formulaic bits and pieces, from the language to the style to the balances between familiarity and challenging invention.
The Disappearance of Jim Sullivan has a simple meta premise that author Tanguy Viel sets out from the start (or the fictional authorial narrator written by Viel – it’s always a bit unclear in the metaverse.) A French author decides he is tired of writing French novels. He wants to write something with international attraction, broad success. This, of course means, making it set in the American midwest of the ‘everyman’. The author creates a protagonist, Dwayne Koster, and sets things in the heart of the Iron Belt, Detroit. But being French and never having been to Detroit, the author has to make the setting a very barebones, Wikipedia-factoid sort of Detroit. He stylizes Koster as middle-aged, recently divorced, a budding alcoholic, and a man fascinated with Jim Sullivan’s music and mysterious vanishing into the desert night.
Viel then builds up the layers to this Great American Novel, interworking details from Koster’s past with the path he now finds himself on, and the routes open to him. Laying all of these basic conventions of a novel out before the reader, Viel then concocts them into an engaging narrative amid the parodic, meta exercise. And he pulls it off because of his inherent talent for the writing craft.
I read through the novel while listening to Jim Sullivan’s albums, starting with his most famous UFO. It’s an accompaniment I’d recommend. By the end of the novel, Viel takes his story of Dwayne Koster and merges it with Sullivan’s style and the history of Sullivan’s disappearance, paralleling the existential nature of Koster’s journey with the unanswered questions of Sullivan’s.
A big thanks to Dalkey Archive Press and translator Clayton McGee for getting this slice of Americana by way of France to English-speaking audiences. A true international novel achieved.
April 19, 2022
Surreal. I tried not to obsess on the geographical facts. Was the writer of the novel making mistakes about geography or was he having his character of the writer make mistakes? I grew up one town over from the actual Sterling Heights, where the book is set.
It's a slightly depressing book. Maybe if the geopolitical mood was a bit more positive, I'd have liked the book better. But when life is so depressing, I'm not sure if I wanted to read such a depressing book.
It's a slightly depressing book. Maybe if the geopolitical mood was a bit more positive, I'd have liked the book better. But when life is so depressing, I'm not sure if I wanted to read such a depressing book.
June 3, 2022
not a lot to it, a deconstruction of american novels by a french novelist with jim sullivan as a framing device. i'm into these things so i liked it. a skeleton rather than a full bodied affair but so what, probably beats most of the stilted fleshed out novels it apes. only quibs are that an american carries around a baseball bat in his car not a hockey stick and that UFO was not on cd in the early 2000s. :)
September 7, 2013
Ca aurait pu en effet faire un beau roman américain. Mais là ce n'est qu'une hésitation, une ébauce. Oui l'auteur a remarqué des traits du roman américain, ce qu'il dit est vrai. Sauf que ce n'est pas compliqué à remarquer finalement. Ecrire le roman, plutôt que parler au conditionnel, ça aurait été mieux.
Dommage parce que l'histoire racontée est loin d'être mauvaise.
Dommage parce que l'histoire racontée est loin d'être mauvaise.
February 1, 2022
Truly more of an exciting book than I expected. A French novelist writes an international novel, but what he really means is an American one. He takes interesting genre staples (middle aged adultery, middle America, lonely outcast) and writes a compelling novel about a lost man who doesn't seem to know where he is going. But that doesn't bother him. He just follows America.
January 17, 2022
like a 3.5. Was interesting how the story was stylized. Telling the reader what the author does instead of the story and I had no qualms with the view of the American novel. I feel like it could have been flushed out more.
November 9, 2023
I enjoyed it, but it wasn't profound or anything. It felt like meta commentary on stereotypical American crime/noir novels, while still being one, just with 85% of the unnecessary words and description removed. Pretty fun.
February 6, 2014
Une mise en abyme sympa autour de la notion de roman américain.
August 6, 2021
An offbeat, super meta commentary on the tropes and clichés of the American novel. Enjoyed it thoroughly.
October 31, 2023
Maybe it’s the point of the book, but I feel like this book is a cliche European take on American cliche novels.
May 1, 2017
Un pastiche sur les romans américains (lieux et personnages récurrents) mais c'est décousu. Ça en dit trop ou pas assez. Première rencontre avec l'auteur et un peu déçue j'avoue !
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