Luna: A Novel

Alba & Gorodish #3

by Daniel Odier

Serge Gorodish, a classical musician turned confidence man, must rescue Alba, his thirteen-year-old partner, who has been kidnapped by an insane pychiatrist for the benefit of his even crazier patient

Genres: Fiction, Crime, Mystery

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Has also published using the pseudonym Delacorta.

Reviews

[Kaethe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Back in the day I thought this series was so cool: sexy, and French, and awesome. I suppose it's telling that I've never felt a desire to re-read them. Nowadays the whole set up seems skeevy.

Personal copy.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before Delacorta (Daniel Odier) wrote "Diva" he wrote this adventure with Alba and Gorodish where Alba gets kidnapped off the Champs-Elysess and restrained in a large web in a nymph outfit while some psycho wears a human fly outfit trying to make insect love to her.
Gorodish has to turn in 10 Rolls Royces as part of the ransom to free her. The Alba and Gorodish series are all surreal French crime stories that are wild and fun to read.

[Ellie McCabe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Once again asking make authors to just make the girl 20.

Picked up a library book sale. The cover seemed fun and I read this from the description “is kidnapped by a … demented patient who wished to act out his life time ambition to be an entomologist… dressed up a dragonfly.” I thought I had to pick it up. And this book could have been just camp fun, but the girl had to be 13.

[thaliasexymf · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was good enough. I thought it was pretty interesting and a good length. The story was a little odd at some points but it kept me captivated. I picked this book up at the thrift store because it looked interesting so I would say overall it was a successful read.

[J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disturbing yet excellent, wonderfully vivid diversion and parable.

[Melanie Spiegel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good and a little graphic/disturbing at points but the perfect length for a book

[Dale Pobega · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this slim, kinky comedy is a gem. What a pity it hasn't been turned into a film. I can see someone like Pedro Almodovar having fun with this story. Alba is kidnapped by a pervert who has her removed to a remote chateau for "insect sex". The scene with her twisting around on wires dressed up as an enormous female dragonfly beneath a skylight and silhouetted against the moon with a fat lascivious man trying to mount her is bizarre ...can't you just see it on the big screen? The escape scene is great and the added complication of being caught by French "hillbillies" somewhere in the back blocks of the Auvergne is hilarious. The action unwinds pretty predictably with Gorodish finding a way to rescue his charge and blasting the baddies in the process. The funniest element in the book for me is the send up of French psychoanalyst, Jacque Lacan, ("Dr. Alcan") who turns out to be a total nutcase in his own right and is tricked into believing Freud is trying to communicate with him from beyond the grave.

Better than "Diva". My favourite in the Gorodish and Alba series so far.

[Jacqueline Mok · Rating 3 out of 5]

This tiny novel is a fun and engaging read because of its swift pacing and the really smart Gorodish. If you are itching for a movie (non-psychological) action thriller and have no idea which one to catch, this book will probably be a very good alternative; it reads like a movie: very graphic, complete with slick settings, beautiful people, guns (and some gore too).

However, I’ve taken a star off an otherwise 4-star thriller for its stunted writing. (I don’t know who the culprit is: the writer or the translator?) But since Anais Nïn once wrote that Delacorta’s “an outstanding writer and a dazzling poet”, I take it that the somewhat awkward writing style probably is a result of retaining the French voice, which did not translate well into English (?)

Nevertheless, this is a thoroughly decadent read for a lazy Sunday afternoon. It would go well with a bucketful of popcorn, though you’d probably have finished the book before you’ve even reached the bottom of the bucket.

[Davidg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Warning: The Alba series of books centre on the relationship between a 13 year old girl who is frequently described in sexual terms and a man in his late 30s. Although it is made clear that no sexual intercourse occurs, their sharing of beds and nudity is unsettling to the modern reader. However, the fact that Alba is more mature than most 18 year olds makes it possible to enjoy the stories despite the qualms as it hard to believe that the character described is really only 13. I suspect that Delacorta only gives her the age of 13 just to shock, he could easily have made her 15 ( the age of consent in much of Europe) without changing anything else.

In this third book of the series, Alba gets herself into trouble by being kidnapped. The plot gets very strange and unbelievable. In particular, the psychiatrist who believes he is talking with the long dead Freud goes beyond believability. . It's still a fun read though.

[The Wee Hen · Rating 5 out of 5]

***I have scored this so high because, for a time, it was one of my favourite books. Keep in mind I read it in junior high school so... it's hard to take the loves of a 14 year old me seriously. The 80's weren't exactly one's finest hour. I'm positive that if I read these books again I would have nothing to say but that these were puerile fantasies unworthy of my time.***

[Karmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alba is kidnapped and becomes the playmate of a rich man who is deeply disturbed. He has her dressed up as a bug.