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Guys Like Me
"Fabre speaks to us of luck and misfortune, of the accidents that make a man or defeat him. He talks about our ordinary disappointments and our small moments of calm. Fabre is the discreet megaphone of the man in the crowd."—Elle
Dominique Fabre, born in Paris and a lifelong resident of the city, exposes the shadowy, anonymous lives of many who inhabit the French capital. In this quiet, subdued tale, a middle-aged office worker, divorced and alienated from his only son, meets up with two childhood friends who are similarly adrift, without passions or prospects. He's looking for a second act to his mournful life, seeking the harbor of love and a true connection with his son. Set in palpably real Paris streets that feel miles away from the City of Light, Guys Like Me is a stirring novel of regret and absence, yet not without a glimmer of hope.
Dominique Fabre, born in 1960, writes about people living on society's margins. He is a lifelong resident of Paris, France. His previous novel, The Waitress Was New, was also translated into English.
Dominique Fabre, born in Paris and a lifelong resident of the city, exposes the shadowy, anonymous lives of many who inhabit the French capital. In this quiet, subdued tale, a middle-aged office worker, divorced and alienated from his only son, meets up with two childhood friends who are similarly adrift, without passions or prospects. He's looking for a second act to his mournful life, seeking the harbor of love and a true connection with his son. Set in palpably real Paris streets that feel miles away from the City of Light, Guys Like Me is a stirring novel of regret and absence, yet not without a glimmer of hope.
Dominique Fabre, born in 1960, writes about people living on society's margins. He is a lifelong resident of Paris, France. His previous novel, The Waitress Was New, was also translated into English.
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
October 31, 2023
[Edited, spoilers hidden 10/31/23]
This is a good book although there is really no plot. We follow two unmarried middle-aged guys who are listless and kind of purposeless, and a third who is a bit better off but still wondering what it is all about. These particular guys are in France but we suspect there are ‘guys like them’ all over the modern world.
All three were childhood friends and grew up in the same neighborhood. They no longer live there, although they all live nearby. Much has changed in the old ‘hood' with demolition of old buildings and modernization. Now they are all around age 55.
The main character we follow has been divorced for many years but he has a son. The blurbs say he is ‘estranged from his son,’ but that’s not true. They meet more or less monthly, he visits at his son’s and daughter-in-law’s home, and they talk on the phone more or less weekly. The issue is that ‘guys like them’ can’t really get past banalities.
The main character uses the phrase “Time started up again” when he has a normal life of work, a lady friend, having lunch with his two old buddies, speaking with and visiting his son. It doesn’t sound like much to ask for but he struggles to keep all those things going. He’s lonely without wanting to admit it. He worries at times, is this all there is? He uses the expression “There are no second acts” several times in the story.
With his two buddies they reminisce about times gone by. Old girlfriends they all knew, places they hung out, many of which have been demolished or re-purposed. We get quite a bit of local color of the back streets of Paris, not the tourist Paris.
One friend is the worst off of the three. He has difficulty keeping jobs because he has no interest in them. He’s listless and unenergetic. Basically he does nothing. The main character visits him in his apartment and sees the chair "Where he spent hundreds of hours waiting, without finding.”
The lonely man tells his friends that he suffers from melancholia, and, in a way, that’s the topic of this whole book.
The second friend is married, with a son, and has done well financially, so much so, that this wife tells him “quit your job and do what you want to do.” But the problem there is that he has no idea what he would want to do. He has issues too.
The main character’s job is obviously unfulfilling because he seldom talks about his job or the people he works with. He has no contact with his ex- although he keeps up with her happenings through his son who visits his mother regularly.
What makes him snap out of it is a new woman, not a one-night stand, but someone he might get serious with. This relationship becomes a major part of the story so I won’t give any details.
I liked the book although I found it a bit confusing in the first chapter trying to figure out which guy was which, and who was the son and who were the friends, but I was glad I stuck with it. I liked the author’s writing because he constantly drops little nuggets for us to think about:
“…there are hundreds of pointless evenings in a life…”
“We’re always more alone than we suppose…”
“They’re an old man’s thoughts, [his son says]. I’ve never told him that they’ve been lurking inside me ever since I was a child.”
“This Saturday was one of those when I hadn’t really lived.”
“I’m fed up with remembering, starting to talk to myself without being able to do anything about it.”
“Since I’ve been living alone, I’ve often been ashamed of who I am, as if I’ve been spending too much time with myself.”
“It had taken me so many years to forget that I think, in the end, I wasn’t sure anymore what it was I wanted to forget.”
“I did a lot of things, the kind of things you're always putting off until later and never doing. Most of the time it's as if these things are only there to make us think about them without ever going anywhere near them.”
“I'm one of those guys for whom work has become a kind of blessing, it stops you from having to think, basically.”
One other thing that comes across strongly in this book in the need of ‘guys like these’ for a woman in their life. Not for sex – there are bars – and not in the sense of my father’s generation who needed a woman after their wife died to cook, clean and do laundry because they knew nothing about those things. The author puts it this way: “They have nobody to get them into the flow of life, guys like me.”
Top photo of a bar in Paris from theculturetrip.com
The author from Wikimedia commons
This is a good book although there is really no plot. We follow two unmarried middle-aged guys who are listless and kind of purposeless, and a third who is a bit better off but still wondering what it is all about. These particular guys are in France but we suspect there are ‘guys like them’ all over the modern world.
All three were childhood friends and grew up in the same neighborhood. They no longer live there, although they all live nearby. Much has changed in the old ‘hood' with demolition of old buildings and modernization. Now they are all around age 55.
The main character we follow has been divorced for many years but he has a son. The blurbs say he is ‘estranged from his son,’ but that’s not true. They meet more or less monthly, he visits at his son’s and daughter-in-law’s home, and they talk on the phone more or less weekly. The issue is that ‘guys like them’ can’t really get past banalities.
The main character uses the phrase “Time started up again” when he has a normal life of work, a lady friend, having lunch with his two old buddies, speaking with and visiting his son. It doesn’t sound like much to ask for but he struggles to keep all those things going. He’s lonely without wanting to admit it. He worries at times, is this all there is? He uses the expression “There are no second acts” several times in the story.
With his two buddies they reminisce about times gone by. Old girlfriends they all knew, places they hung out, many of which have been demolished or re-purposed. We get quite a bit of local color of the back streets of Paris, not the tourist Paris.
One friend is the worst off of the three. He has difficulty keeping jobs because he has no interest in them. He’s listless and unenergetic. Basically he does nothing. The main character visits him in his apartment and sees the chair "Where he spent hundreds of hours waiting, without finding.”
The lonely man tells his friends that he suffers from melancholia, and, in a way, that’s the topic of this whole book.
The second friend is married, with a son, and has done well financially, so much so, that this wife tells him “quit your job and do what you want to do.” But the problem there is that he has no idea what he would want to do. He has issues too.
The main character’s job is obviously unfulfilling because he seldom talks about his job or the people he works with. He has no contact with his ex- although he keeps up with her happenings through his son who visits his mother regularly.
What makes him snap out of it is a new woman, not a one-night stand, but someone he might get serious with. This relationship becomes a major part of the story so I won’t give any details.
I liked the book although I found it a bit confusing in the first chapter trying to figure out which guy was which, and who was the son and who were the friends, but I was glad I stuck with it. I liked the author’s writing because he constantly drops little nuggets for us to think about:
“…there are hundreds of pointless evenings in a life…”
“We’re always more alone than we suppose…”
“They’re an old man’s thoughts, [his son says]. I’ve never told him that they’ve been lurking inside me ever since I was a child.”
“This Saturday was one of those when I hadn’t really lived.”
“I’m fed up with remembering, starting to talk to myself without being able to do anything about it.”
“Since I’ve been living alone, I’ve often been ashamed of who I am, as if I’ve been spending too much time with myself.”
“It had taken me so many years to forget that I think, in the end, I wasn’t sure anymore what it was I wanted to forget.”
“I did a lot of things, the kind of things you're always putting off until later and never doing. Most of the time it's as if these things are only there to make us think about them without ever going anywhere near them.”
“I'm one of those guys for whom work has become a kind of blessing, it stops you from having to think, basically.”
One other thing that comes across strongly in this book in the need of ‘guys like these’ for a woman in their life. Not for sex – there are bars – and not in the sense of my father’s generation who needed a woman after their wife died to cook, clean and do laundry because they knew nothing about those things. The author puts it this way: “They have nobody to get them into the flow of life, guys like me.”
Top photo of a bar in Paris from theculturetrip.com
The author from Wikimedia commons
May 11, 2022
I’d previously read (in translation) another of Dominque Fabre’s books, The Waitress Was New, and had liked it, so was pleased to discover that another of his novels was now available in English.
I felt that this novel had a number of similarities with The Waitress Was New. In that novel, the narrator was a 50-something barman who lived on his own. In this one, the narrator is a 50-something divorced man who lives on his own and who spends a lot of time looking back. That’s despite the fact he doesn’t have much reason to look back, as he feels he has wasted his life. The one thing that makes his life worthwhile is his son, who doesn’t live with the narrator but with whom he is in regular contact. He looks forward to these conversations like a drug addict looks forward to his next hit. Throughout the book the narrator refers to the novels of F.Scott Fitzgerald and to the phrase “There are no second acts”.
The “guys like me” are mainly two old friends. The first, Jean, seems to have suffered from prolonged depression, which cost him his relationship with the only love of his life. He is also too listless and demotivated to hold down a job. The other, Marc-André, is in some ways the most successful. He is in a stable relationship, appears to have a successful career, and is at least moderately well-off. At the same time his life isn’t entirely free of problems either.
Despite his feeling that “there are no second acts”, the narrator does get a second chance at happiness with a woman he meets on an Internet dating site.
Although there is dialogue in the novel, much of it is written in the stream of consciousness style. That doesn’t always work for me but I found it OK on this occasion.
I described The Waitress Was New as “a slice of ordinary life” and I feel the same way about this book. It’s about the lives, loves and problems of ordinary people. This kind of thing seems to be the author’s niche.
I felt that this novel had a number of similarities with The Waitress Was New. In that novel, the narrator was a 50-something barman who lived on his own. In this one, the narrator is a 50-something divorced man who lives on his own and who spends a lot of time looking back. That’s despite the fact he doesn’t have much reason to look back, as he feels he has wasted his life. The one thing that makes his life worthwhile is his son, who doesn’t live with the narrator but with whom he is in regular contact. He looks forward to these conversations like a drug addict looks forward to his next hit. Throughout the book the narrator refers to the novels of F.Scott Fitzgerald and to the phrase “There are no second acts”.
The “guys like me” are mainly two old friends. The first, Jean, seems to have suffered from prolonged depression, which cost him his relationship with the only love of his life. He is also too listless and demotivated to hold down a job. The other, Marc-André, is in some ways the most successful. He is in a stable relationship, appears to have a successful career, and is at least moderately well-off. At the same time his life isn’t entirely free of problems either.
Despite his feeling that “there are no second acts”, the narrator does get a second chance at happiness with a woman he meets on an Internet dating site.
Although there is dialogue in the novel, much of it is written in the stream of consciousness style. That doesn’t always work for me but I found it OK on this occasion.
I described The Waitress Was New as “a slice of ordinary life” and I feel the same way about this book. It’s about the lives, loves and problems of ordinary people. This kind of thing seems to be the author’s niche.
March 27, 2022
Fabre writes books about ordinary Parisians in their later years as they struggle through every day existence. They are men and women whose hopes and dreams have been reduced to a desire for things to be slightly improved or at least to be less painful. As a backdrop, Fabre constantly refers to both Scott Fitzgerald’s “no second acts” and his “Do you mind if I pull down the curtain?” I would never recommend Fabre’s work to anyone, especially those who look for intrepid heroes, untold rewards, or the righting of wrongs. I have myself , however, found much in his work that resonates with me. It seems as if ‘Guys Like Me’ seems to have been written specially for guys like me.
February 12, 2015
Nobody’s life can be exciting all the time, right? I mean, for the most part in my day-to-day grind nothing all that thrilling ever happens, but inside my head, man does A LOT go on. Take right now for example. I’m trying to figure out the best way to write this review while I’m wondering why my son has been playing Check Yes Juliet over and over and OVER again on Rock Band 3 for the past hour when he’s got 200 other songs he could choose from while I’m deciding if I want to eat something for breakfast or if I should wait until later. I’ll wait under later. Speaking of which, do I like shrimp? Did I ever like shrimp? Look at all that fucking snow. I think I need to go shovel the driveway.
Yes, the inside of my head is a chaotic place to say the least.
READ MORE:
http://www.typographicalera.com/guys-...
Yes, the inside of my head is a chaotic place to say the least.
READ MORE:
http://www.typographicalera.com/guys-...
January 24, 2015
I loved this little novel. I'd read Fabre's first book translated into English, The Waitress Was New, a few years ago and have been holding my breath hoping somebody would publish another of his books. If you're looking for cheesy Paris you won't find it here, but this is the real thing - a love story for those who know that life is sometimes a prickly pear. But this isn't a sad book. It's actually pretty hopeful, well written, quiet but sticks with you. It'll make you want to go to Paris and see how real Parisians live.
January 25, 2015
Fabre has a quiet way of writing that's unbelievably beautiful. He lets you into the narrator's innermost thoughts about the difficulty of building and retaining enduring human connections. I found this to be a very special book that also contains an evocative sense of place.
July 2, 2015
I am so glad that I purchased this book. I heard about the author and read a review of this book. It was enough for me to take a chance on not only a new author, but also a translated book. Reading a translated book, I believe you must trust that the translator was able to capture the spirit of the book in its original language.
This book was quick and enjoyable read. The only thing I will about the plot is that is the story of a middle aged man, living in Paris, France and how he tries to find new meaning in his life.
This book was quick and enjoyable read. The only thing I will about the plot is that is the story of a middle aged man, living in Paris, France and how he tries to find new meaning in his life.
March 24, 2016
Read this in English because it was by New Vessel. The translation is BEAUTIFUL!
March 28, 2016
A touching novel about a middle aged depressed man who is unexpectedly given another chance at life and love
August 18, 2022
This is only the 2nd of Fabre's 15 or so books that has been translated into English (a 3rd will be published in early 2023). I read "The Waitress Was New", and immediately upon finishing it I bought this as an ebook.
Set in the suburbs of Paris, one does not really have to know about the neighborhoods and suburbs which are constantly named in order to appreciate or understand the book.
Simple and quiet.
The lives of every day people.
50'ish, still friends with the friends from his youth, divorced (a nasty one), once unemployed for a long time, opens up to a new relationship for the first time in 20 years, his son. And running into an old friend from school/the neighborhood, who was always an oddball and rather on the fringe of the group of old friends.
Farbre's sentences are short like Hemingway, but the book has the empathy and insight of Fitzgerald. Who the first person narrator often refers to, and realizes how much his short story about the man who always wanted the shades drawn has to do with his own aging, lonely life.
Just an enjoyable read about real day-to-day lives. Where people get things done, without a lot of thought about why they are doing them.
Looking forward to his next book.
Listed as like 143 pp, it is 125, with the rest being filled with ads for other books by the publisher (bought one, had read another already, a couple added to my Want List).
4 out of 5.
The cover is off - the people here are professionals, not the working class/blue collared looking guy shown on the cover.
Set in the suburbs of Paris, one does not really have to know about the neighborhoods and suburbs which are constantly named in order to appreciate or understand the book.
Simple and quiet.
The lives of every day people.
50'ish, still friends with the friends from his youth, divorced (a nasty one), once unemployed for a long time, opens up to a new relationship for the first time in 20 years, his son. And running into an old friend from school/the neighborhood, who was always an oddball and rather on the fringe of the group of old friends.
Farbre's sentences are short like Hemingway, but the book has the empathy and insight of Fitzgerald. Who the first person narrator often refers to, and realizes how much his short story about the man who always wanted the shades drawn has to do with his own aging, lonely life.
Just an enjoyable read about real day-to-day lives. Where people get things done, without a lot of thought about why they are doing them.
Looking forward to his next book.
Listed as like 143 pp, it is 125, with the rest being filled with ads for other books by the publisher (bought one, had read another already, a couple added to my Want List).
4 out of 5.
The cover is off - the people here are professionals, not the working class/blue collared looking guy shown on the cover.
May 26, 2017
Have you ever wished you could spend a day inside another person's mind just to know how other people think about things? This book does that for you and so well. Nothings amazing happens except ordinary life winding it's way, up and down. Admittedly its set in the boulevards of Paris so that lends some glamour without even trying, but it's the ordinariness of the situations and relationship that is so touching. I'd never laugh at him on his scooter. Wonderful book.
June 10, 2021
There are inconsistencies which destroyed the book's credibility for me. And Fabre choosing to write about childhood memories, demolished buildings, and the changing neighborhoods of Paris, just ends up sounding like a bad imitation of Patrick Modiano.
There is one scene I really like, though; the suicidal, unemployed Jean sitting on a bench waiting for his bus is truly moving.
There is one scene I really like, though; the suicidal, unemployed Jean sitting on a bench waiting for his bus is truly moving.
December 18, 2018
Sad and relatable; which doesn't make it less sad in a way.
January 25, 2020
A slow, musing, sweet read. I have come to the conclusion that all novels set in Paris require that the reader keep a street map of the city at hand, as the geography is always detailed: streets, avenues, train stations, parks, squares... Fabre gives us other neighborhoods many Parisian novels do not: the 17th arrondissement, not the 1st or the 7th, peopled by ordinary working folks - office workers, nurses, students, middle-aged divorced people living - and trying to make sense of - ordinary lives. There is little Drama with a capital D here: an aging single man, trying to figure out whether the curtain is coming down on his life, while wondering if F. Scott Fitzgerald was right about there being no second acts. Online dating, a young adult son about to fly the coop, and a couple of friends with whom he shares some history of a deteriorating neighborhood, downsizing, divorce, depression. That's about it. But it turns out to be enough, after all. One friend - the one they worried about - makes it out in one piece. The other is stable and content. He and his son talk. A date grows into friendship and more. And yes, they still live in Paris where you can find a bar for a coffee or a drink within a few steps almost anywhere. Another little gem from New Vessel Press.
April 8, 2015
Are there any "second acts" for men over 50, living day-to-day ordinary lives in a city? The question comes from a F. Scott Fitgzgerald novel which suggests there are no second acts for anyone, only "drawing down the curtain". If this short novel has any answers to this question, they're problematic and full of uncertainties.
The story is narrated in the first person and concentrates on his life as well as that of two friends who grew up together in the same neighborhood in Paris, and if nothing else, have a common stock of memories, a reference point for all of them. One of them is unemployed, the other two have jobs, but very little is said about these jobs - they provide a living, that's all.
The narrator is the survivor of a bitter divorce and is trying to stay involved in the life of his son who is about to move to Switzerland. He has another interest, too, a woman he met online and has been dating. He's wary of new relationships, but this one seems to be working out. It's complicated, though, when she is diagnosed with breast cancer.
The second guy, Benjamin, seems to be in the worst shape of the three. He has lost his job and has little prospects of finding another at his age. He's been living in cheap apartments and is depressed, obsessing over an old girl friend who left him. He has his old mother, too, to think about, living by herself in Marseilles.
The third man seems to have a good job and has a nice wife. He worries about his son who has had a drug problem and has just gotten out of prison He's finding it hard to make his way in the world, despite his father's help.
There's a sense of time rushing by in this novel, time that leaves these three stuck where they are and tending to retrace the steps by which they got to where they are now. All of this is a bit melancholy, as if there really is no second act, just an aimless wait for the final curtain to come down.
Surprise, though, and it works - the novel ends on a hopeful note. The narrator decides to get a scooter, something he's never done before. He learns to ride it, and it is a new beginning for him. Inconsequential? Perhaps, but consequences take form in our heads. . "I have a lot of things to do. Sometimes life rides along all by itself, there are several million like this. I'm riding, I could ride for hours. I'm waiting for tomorrow. Well, there it is." Last words of the novel.
The story is narrated in the first person and concentrates on his life as well as that of two friends who grew up together in the same neighborhood in Paris, and if nothing else, have a common stock of memories, a reference point for all of them. One of them is unemployed, the other two have jobs, but very little is said about these jobs - they provide a living, that's all.
The narrator is the survivor of a bitter divorce and is trying to stay involved in the life of his son who is about to move to Switzerland. He has another interest, too, a woman he met online and has been dating. He's wary of new relationships, but this one seems to be working out. It's complicated, though, when she is diagnosed with breast cancer.
The second guy, Benjamin, seems to be in the worst shape of the three. He has lost his job and has little prospects of finding another at his age. He's been living in cheap apartments and is depressed, obsessing over an old girl friend who left him. He has his old mother, too, to think about, living by herself in Marseilles.
The third man seems to have a good job and has a nice wife. He worries about his son who has had a drug problem and has just gotten out of prison He's finding it hard to make his way in the world, despite his father's help.
There's a sense of time rushing by in this novel, time that leaves these three stuck where they are and tending to retrace the steps by which they got to where they are now. All of this is a bit melancholy, as if there really is no second act, just an aimless wait for the final curtain to come down.
Surprise, though, and it works - the novel ends on a hopeful note. The narrator decides to get a scooter, something he's never done before. He learns to ride it, and it is a new beginning for him. Inconsequential? Perhaps, but consequences take form in our heads. . "I have a lot of things to do. Sometimes life rides along all by itself, there are several million like this. I'm riding, I could ride for hours. I'm waiting for tomorrow. Well, there it is." Last words of the novel.
September 11, 2015
[I got this book for free from a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.]
I just barely finished this book a moment ago and...I do not honestly remember any of it. This book left no impact on me whatsoever and, to be honest, I'm not sure how I even finished it.
First person point of view books can either really help you connect with the character...or not let you connect at all, and unfortunately this was the second type of book. I have no feelings about the characters in this book at all.
I don't really know what to write about this book - I can't say that it was good or bad, really. All I can say is that I read it and it left no impact on me at all.
I just barely finished this book a moment ago and...I do not honestly remember any of it. This book left no impact on me whatsoever and, to be honest, I'm not sure how I even finished it.
First person point of view books can either really help you connect with the character...or not let you connect at all, and unfortunately this was the second type of book. I have no feelings about the characters in this book at all.
I don't really know what to write about this book - I can't say that it was good or bad, really. All I can say is that I read it and it left no impact on me at all.
January 1, 2016
I really enjoyed this book, finishing it was a great way to end 2015. The narrator is a 50-something divorced man living in the suburbs of Paris. He seems himself as a "type", referring to other "guys like me" throughout. The novel consists of the narrator's interior life as he is on the cusp of several life changes. His interior life is vivid and relatable, even though I am not necessarily a "guy like him". I highly recommend this book, it is incredibly moving, hopeful and will stay with me a while.
May 4, 2015
it may be because i do not relate to the character at all or that the genre wasn't what i was thinking, but the book is a slow read. i couldn't really get into it and i didn't even really finish it because I wasn't interested.
update: I didn't finish the book because it is a slow read. there isn't a lot going on in the first few chapters and so it gets to the point where i just don't care about the character or what happens to him.
update: I didn't finish the book because it is a slow read. there isn't a lot going on in the first few chapters and so it gets to the point where i just don't care about the character or what happens to him.
July 24, 2015
Impressive how compelling this simple book is. So subtle and heartfelt; the tone reminded me of Prufrock, with an exception -- ennui does not win. In some ways the postive (or at least hopeful) ending disappointed me because of the lack of big finish, but it would have been grotesque to have a book of simple reflection and restraint end in a bang. The writing was beautiful, so that I'd like to read it again; that's my criteria for five stars.
April 22, 2015
This book was not what I thought it would be. It was more of a stream of conscienceness than I would normally read. Nevertheless, it was worth reading. I am sure many people would really like it. This was a giveaway from Goodreads.
October 26, 2015
Musings on the middle aged life, how people come and go, talking of not Michelangelo but of small things. Paris isn't all about the food and the beauty - sometimes you just have a 9 to 5 job and it's all very 'meh'.
July 29, 2011
Ce livre m'a paru long au 3/4, mais la fin m'a plu !
January 24, 2015
Loved it!
May 2, 2016
This is a great book and a very quick read.
September 20, 2015
Eloquently written. It was a slow and weighty read, that charmed me.
March 13, 2016
If you enjoy the ending of this book, then do watch the final scene of Wong Kar-wai's "Fallen Angels." https://youtu.be/T0d5-ge8KmY
December 9, 2016
Low key and very French. I enjoyed it. Deals with men who aren't often the subject of a novel.
Read
April 2, 2017It's a downer and feels like a chore to read. Moving on.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews