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L'Etoile de Mer
In this sequel to Traitor Comet, we follow Antonin Artaud as his successful Theatre Alfred Jarry provokes the outrage and protests of the Surrealists, led by Andre Breton. The usually cheerful Robert Desnos descends into drugs and depression due to Breton's insistence he join the French Community Party, which Artaud rejects outright. We meet Kiki of Montparnasse, Pablo Picasso, Man Ray and Lee Miller. Geoff, watching with alarm the growing influence of the National Socialist German Worker's Party, realizes he is being stalked - probably by Helmut Heumer, his former Austrian neighbor. Despite Geoff's best efforts, his mysterious past and Austria's precarious future violently collide to endanger everyone he loves.
454 pages, Paperback
Published November 15, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 26, 2025
* Thanks to the author and LibraryThing for an ARC.*
The key moment, to me, in this rich follow-up to Traitor Comet comes on p. 267 when the focal character turns Socrates around, joking to his friend Robert Desnos, "The unlived life is not worth examining." So much of this book eavesdrops on characters picking others' lives apart like theatre critics after a lame show, or discussing the meaning of Life like stoned undergrads, or just avoiding discussing stuff deemed too personal, that we may be slow to notice all the choices left unmade in each of their existences, the lives unlived. The first-person narrator, Geoff Weidmann, continues adrift in a doldrums of having lost himself since the Great War and by that very dilemma provides the foil to the gem-like sparklies of the Surrealists; they frequently mistake running about in sound and fury for living a life, but Geoff's seeming inability to do either brings it home. All of this requires some patience of the reader, but the flow of the whole gradually makes itself apparent until we are at a rush of character growth as this book pauses to await Book Three. Antonin Artaud's film career is taking off, Desnos' efforts and work are beginning to stand on their own merit, Surrealism and Communism compete for space as the enormous social changes of the 1930s approach like a storm, and Geoff's role in all of these has been all but laid out for him. I truly look forward to the continuation, and perhaps conclusion, of these tales.
L'Étoile de mer suffers from its very nature as a Middle Book, however; not only is everything within contingent upon the first book, Traitor Comet, but the first third of L'EdM is such a direct continuation of the kaffeeklatsches and volatile relationships of the first book that even a short gap in time passed following reading the first leads to some disorientation. The saturation of broken conversations and spilled beverages is nearly too much to wade through at points, but ultimately things set in motion actually do propel the characters into action, and the reader can feel more involved. And still, closure eludes us.
A final note, and a pleasant one. The author has noted the decades spent working to tell this tale but there has been a side-benefit to the time passed, a lagniappe if you would. Had these books been presented 30 years ago, we wouldn't have had the plethora of resources at such easy reach. I have found myself delighting at on-line searches to find photos of those who really lived in 1920s Paris (Kiki of Montparnasse, ftw), and I would not have so easily been able to find and watch the titular film. The added flavor and context allowed me a deeper enjoyment of these novels, and also make me wonder how this would work as a Surrealist, silent film! Merci, l'auteur!
The key moment, to me, in this rich follow-up to Traitor Comet comes on p. 267 when the focal character turns Socrates around, joking to his friend Robert Desnos, "The unlived life is not worth examining." So much of this book eavesdrops on characters picking others' lives apart like theatre critics after a lame show, or discussing the meaning of Life like stoned undergrads, or just avoiding discussing stuff deemed too personal, that we may be slow to notice all the choices left unmade in each of their existences, the lives unlived. The first-person narrator, Geoff Weidmann, continues adrift in a doldrums of having lost himself since the Great War and by that very dilemma provides the foil to the gem-like sparklies of the Surrealists; they frequently mistake running about in sound and fury for living a life, but Geoff's seeming inability to do either brings it home. All of this requires some patience of the reader, but the flow of the whole gradually makes itself apparent until we are at a rush of character growth as this book pauses to await Book Three. Antonin Artaud's film career is taking off, Desnos' efforts and work are beginning to stand on their own merit, Surrealism and Communism compete for space as the enormous social changes of the 1930s approach like a storm, and Geoff's role in all of these has been all but laid out for him. I truly look forward to the continuation, and perhaps conclusion, of these tales.
L'Étoile de mer suffers from its very nature as a Middle Book, however; not only is everything within contingent upon the first book, Traitor Comet, but the first third of L'EdM is such a direct continuation of the kaffeeklatsches and volatile relationships of the first book that even a short gap in time passed following reading the first leads to some disorientation. The saturation of broken conversations and spilled beverages is nearly too much to wade through at points, but ultimately things set in motion actually do propel the characters into action, and the reader can feel more involved. And still, closure eludes us.
A final note, and a pleasant one. The author has noted the decades spent working to tell this tale but there has been a side-benefit to the time passed, a lagniappe if you would. Had these books been presented 30 years ago, we wouldn't have had the plethora of resources at such easy reach. I have found myself delighting at on-line searches to find photos of those who really lived in 1920s Paris (Kiki of Montparnasse, ftw), and I would not have so easily been able to find and watch the titular film. The added flavor and context allowed me a deeper enjoyment of these novels, and also make me wonder how this would work as a Surrealist, silent film! Merci, l'auteur!
September 11, 2025
I feel smarter for having read this. Not just because of the intriguing subject matter, but for the way the prose transcends my mind and feelings. If you want to immerse yourself into a world and story that is quite large, deep, and wonderfully written, you must dive into this book. The first installment – Traitor Comet was just as good. It feels like a love story to these amazing real live people from the past.
March 18, 2025
Traitor Comet introduced us to Geoff, an unwilling transplant to Paris who is forced to dispose of a man's body that is his Doppelganger. In this mind-whirling sequel, that supposedly dead-and-disposed-of body will come to accuse Geoff. Also making a startling reappearance is his old neighbor, Helmut Heumer, who has joined the fledgling Nazi Party and followed Geoff to Paris.
Meanwhile, Desnos continues his pursuit of Yvonne George, opium, and drink, while Artaud forms his own theatre and incurs the wrath of the Surrealists, led by Andre Breton.
Benjamin Peret threatens to steal the novel with his quick-witted vulgarity, when Kiki of Montparnasse and Pablo Picasso aren't making you laugh at their antics! At turns hilarious and frightening, Geoff decides he and his friends are in a novel (!) and that he must quit dawdling and take charge of the narrative - only to encounter Hitler's Brown Shirts and his own unnerving truth.
I'm looking forward to the third novel! Both novels offer a preview of the next book.
Reportedly, the third novel in this series will be called Theater of Cruelty (after Artaud's magnum opus) and this will be where the story, following real events, really gets going.
Meanwhile, Desnos continues his pursuit of Yvonne George, opium, and drink, while Artaud forms his own theatre and incurs the wrath of the Surrealists, led by Andre Breton.
Benjamin Peret threatens to steal the novel with his quick-witted vulgarity, when Kiki of Montparnasse and Pablo Picasso aren't making you laugh at their antics! At turns hilarious and frightening, Geoff decides he and his friends are in a novel (!) and that he must quit dawdling and take charge of the narrative - only to encounter Hitler's Brown Shirts and his own unnerving truth.
I'm looking forward to the third novel! Both novels offer a preview of the next book.
Reportedly, the third novel in this series will be called Theater of Cruelty (after Artaud's magnum opus) and this will be where the story, following real events, really gets going.
September 12, 2025
The Starfish is a sequel to The Traitor Comet. Wonderfully written and fascinating read!
We continue to follow Geoff, the narrator as he is now fully immersed in the lives of Antonin Artaud and Robert Desnos and others during this period. We get an even better taste of the writings and ideas of the time, including Artaud, Breton, and others. Once again, the writing is superb: "When I read Artaud, I used not my intellect but my experience: silence into words into silence again, but a new silence, flashes of insight beyond words. It was not argument; it was presence." They also discuss the atrocities of the war.
At last, the story that Geoff has been keeping to himself about the night he was at the farm is finally told in more detail. And yet even with this telling, even more mystery remains.
We continue to follow Geoff, the narrator as he is now fully immersed in the lives of Antonin Artaud and Robert Desnos and others during this period. We get an even better taste of the writings and ideas of the time, including Artaud, Breton, and others. Once again, the writing is superb: "When I read Artaud, I used not my intellect but my experience: silence into words into silence again, but a new silence, flashes of insight beyond words. It was not argument; it was presence." They also discuss the atrocities of the war.
At last, the story that Geoff has been keeping to himself about the night he was at the farm is finally told in more detail. And yet even with this telling, even more mystery remains.
September 18, 2025
Personne’s novel L’Etoile de Mer is the sequel to her earlier Traitor Comet about the Surrealists of the early twentieth century. L’Etoile de Mer carries the story of Surrealism pioneers Antonin Artaud and Robert Desnos into the mid- and late-1920s. As in the first book of this series, the movement is watched through the eyes of the fictional Geoff Weissman, a disaffected Austrian veteran of WWI who transplanted himself to Paris.
So, settle in with Geoff as he and his Surrealist friends strive to make a living and pursue love in between exploring the catacombs of Paris, creating a new theater in France, and struggling with the Nazis.
No novelist portrays the surrealists better than Personne does. This is a must-read for anybody who wants to understand the 1984ish quality that dominates so much of our public life today.
So, settle in with Geoff as he and his Surrealist friends strive to make a living and pursue love in between exploring the catacombs of Paris, creating a new theater in France, and struggling with the Nazis.
No novelist portrays the surrealists better than Personne does. This is a must-read for anybody who wants to understand the 1984ish quality that dominates so much of our public life today.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews