Teoria pandy

by Pascal Garnier, Gabriela Hałat (Translator)

Dzięki swojemu talentowi kulinarnemu i niewymuszonemu luzowi, Gabriel, pojawiwszy się nie wiadomo skąd, buduje silne więzi z mieszkańcami małego miasteczka w Bretanii: recepcjonistką hotelową, z dwoma ćpunami bez grosza, a przede wszystkim z José, właścicielem baru Faro. Niczym pluszowa panda wylegująca się na kontuarze Faro, Gabriel poświęca swój czas tym, którzy, do niego przychodzą, wiedzeni ciekawością, bardziej zauroczeni niż nieufni. A jednak, gdyby tylko wiedzieli ... Kolejny raz Pascal Garnier roztacza przed nami swój wyjątkowy czar.

Genres: Fiction, France, Crime, Noir, Mystery, French Literature, Novella

190 pages, Paperback

First published January 3, 2008

About the author

Pascal Garnier, who died in March 2010, was a talented novelist, short story writer, children’s author and painter. From his home in the mountains of the Ardèche, he wrote fiction in a noir palette with a cast of characters drawn from ordinary provincial life. Though his writing is often very dark in tone, it sparkles with quirkily beautiful imagery and dry witted humour. Garnier’s work has been likened to the great thriller writer, Georges Simenon. Gallic books has now published many of his titles, including - The Panda Theory, How’s the Pain?, The Islanders, Moon in a Dead Eye, and The Front Seat Passenger.

Reviews

[Glenn Russell]

Is it possible for a bleak existential novel to grip a reader so tight one eagerly reads on, held in suspense until the very last sentence? Turning the pages of Pascal Garnier's The Panda Theory, I can assure you, the answer is an emphatic YES!

The Panda Theory most certainly is an existential novel probing the depths of despair, alienation, anguish, torment every bit as deeply as two prime classics of existentialism: The Plague by Albert Camus and Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre.

And Pascal Garnier adds an element mostly absent from those Camus and Sartre novels: black humor. For example, during his first days walking the streets in an unnamed, nondescript town in Brittany, main character Gabriel recalls a pair of past episodes:

Friend Roland groans and wails over his wife leaving with the kids since she hated chickens (Roland set up a family farm with ten thousand chickens). Roland points out the window and tells Gabriel, "They delivered the frame for the swing this morning. If you only knew how many times I've dreamt of the kids playing on the swing. Their laughter . . . Why didn't she tell me sooner that she didn't like chickens?" Two days later Gabriel hears Roland hanged himself from the swing frame.

You gotta hand it to the manufacturer - they made a sturdy swing frame! Apologies for my own black humor but clicking into Pascal Garnier's storytelling vibe, I can't help myself.

Friend Mathieu was always infatuated with his wife right up to the day of her death. His grief drove him to madness. His wife accidentally locked herself in a Louis-Philippe wardrobe and suffocated. In his grief, Mathieu blamed the wardrobe and vowed to eat the diabolical piece of furniture bit by bit until it was all gone. It took him two years to finish one door. "You know what, Gabriel, it's the fittings that are the problem. The wood itself is fine. It's the fittings that slow me down. That's what's annoying about a Louis-Philippe."

If anyone can top that for black humor, please let me know.

Pascal Garnier told an interviewer: “A good author is one who cannot be seen. It’s his characters that matter.”

The author's statement is spot-on for The Panda Theory. We follow Gabriel in his sojourn through town, meeting and interacting with various women, men and children, including the receptionist at the hotel where he's staying. "The receptionist was called Madeleine, or so the pendant round her neck informed him. She wasn't beautiful, but not ugly either. Somewhere between the two. And very dark-haired; there was a hint of a moustache on her upper lip."

In true existential spirit, a few telling Pascal Garnier scorching, blistering strokes and we witness the novel's characters ride Fortuna's wheel, rising to rare ecstatic highs, plunging to frequent agonizing lows. "José smashed his fist against the steering wheel. The car swerved. A red lorry coming the other way veered out of their path in a cacophony of beeping. José pulled over and collapsed over the steering wheel, his back shaking with sobs."

Why is Gabriel staying in this Brittany town in the first place? We're given only indirect glimmers. What does he want from those around him? Again, a smattering of clues are provided but it is mostly left to the reader to fill in the gaps. And why is Gabriel consistently polite and accommodating?

Above all, who is Gabriel? Pascal Garnier proves himself master of the craft, interspersing Gabriel's backstory in spaces between ongoing events and conversations. One telling instance: Gabriel crosses the bridge, walks to the outskirts of town, comes upon a funfair complete with merry-go-round, food stalls and a shooting gallery.

Gabriel shoulders a rife at the shooting gallery. Pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, Bullseye five times over. The gal at the stall shouts, "Well done. You're a fine shot, sir!" Ha! I bet he is. It wouldn't surprise me if Gabriel served a stint as a special forces marksman in Iraq or Afghanistan. Gabriel reluctantly carries away his prize: a giant stuffed Panda Bear.

We come to the final third of the novel and The Panda Theory makes a radical shift to crime thriller. Who dies and who lives? We're held on the edge right up til the final paragraph.

So, what's the theory of Panda Theory? I have my own interpretation. I urge you to pick up this short, intense novel and take a stab yourself. As a teaser, I'll conclude with a panda quote:

"For the panda everything was for the best in the best of all possible worlds. It was as happy to see the two men return as it had been to see them leave. It's only trick was to keep its arms open. It held nothing and retained nothing. Take it or leave it, it was all the same to him."



Relaxing in her apartment, recounting hours spent in the water, Madeleine tells Gabriel, "I'll swim anywhere, in lakes, rivers or the sea. Ever since I was little I've loved the sea. I was never scared of it. To be honest I feel more at home in the sea than on dry land."


French novelist Pascal Garnier, 1949-2010

[JimZ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give this book 4 stars. This is the second book I have read by Pascal Garnier…I read “Moon in a Dead Eye” and gave that 4 stars too. He certainly reminds me of Georges Simenon.

The setting is a small Breton town in France. Gabriel wanders there…he doesn’t tell people he meets there where he has been or what his history is. That is for us to slowly find out throughout the book until pretty much near the end we know what his history is, and it’s…, well…I almost let out a spoiler. 😊

Here’s a word that was in the book I had no clue what it meant: onomatopoeic. The context was that people in a tavern were playing cards and “Depending on how the game was going, they let out onomatopoeic grunts and groans.” Hmm. Oh you want to know what it means? But of course…. Onomatopoeic: It comes from Onomatopoeia…the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such words are themselves also called onomatopoeias. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as "oink", "meow", "roar" and "chirp".

I know I am not saying much about Gabriel. He meets Jose, a bar owner who Is not happy because his wife was operated on and is now in a coma and she may not ever wake up. He stays in a small hotel, and the hotel manager is Madeleine and she is neither happy nor unhappy. Then there is Rita, whose boyfriend is a true low-life (I mean he commits patricide in the novel fer chrissake), and she is not happy. Is Gabriel happy? Ah, that’s the question. We learn the answer is that once he was very happy. And he observes his new friends because he is concerned about their happiness or lack thereof. And so he does something about it.

There! 😊

I’ll say this: after reading it and then re-reading certain sections of it, I think I pretty much understand it and it makes me look forward to reading the next novel of his. This guy is good. I do know that when I start reading his next book I will have a sense of foreboding that will probably build and build given the structure of both this book and “Moon in a Dead Eye”.

Observation: this book had a short section after the story was concluded on “Pascal Garnier in His Own Words”. It came from an article for his French publisher, Zulma, and he describes his life and what led him to become a writer. It is interesting and he quotes Fernando Pessoa (see the following website regarding this very interesting writer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernand...) at the very end with this quote: “Literature is proof that life is not enough.” I like that!

Reviews:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...

The following is one helluva blogsite…this is why it was created which excites me because I love NYRB books: The Mookse and the Gripes is a website dedicated to literature and film, from any part of the world and from any era. It was created in July 2008. In October of 2012, The Mookse and the Gripes podcast, a podcast primarily dedicated to the books published by NYRB Classics, was born. Specifically for this book: https://mookseandgripes.com/reviews/2...

A good review but you might want to wait until you read the book to read this review, as it gives a lot away (I think): https://swiftlytiltingplanet.wordpres...

In the book the name of the translator is not given. Not sure why that is: translator’s name is Svein Clouston.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Happiness is a calamity you can never recover from. As soon as you catch a glimpse of it, the door slams shut and you spend the rest of your life bitterly regretting what is no more."

One can say that Garnier is not necessarily a happy-type of writer. With his roman noir (as opposed to his children's books), the characters seem to be odd, morose, violent, yet darkly humorous and entertaining to the reader. Also, they tend to share a dark past -- generally something unknown to others that broods within them and comes to its inevitable head as the story goes on. This book, on the other hand, has its main character share that dark past, but also creates an even more darker future for himself.

Gabriel once had it all. A great life with wife and child. As he alternates his story through the present and the thoughts within his head, you start to get a feel of what he's been through and can also see that this somewhat calm and passive man could blow up at any second. His happiness was at its peak and was ended dramatically without remorse and apt punishment and you can feel his emotional downturn. He was a stable, settled person, but now he's a nomad and has been transformed by having his life taken away.

We always try to claw our way back to that peak where things were great, but that occurrence that ruined it is ingrained in our mind and body and most likely will affect our lives until we are gone.

Garnier shows us that happiness is a strong indicator of one's mental state, but can easily be transformed to hatred and indifference under certain circumstances.

[Steven Godin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quiet drifter turns up in a small french town and soon goes about making new friends, helping out in a restaurant where he strikes up an odd friendship with the owner, he seems a nice guy, wouldn't harm a fly?, think again!. I had a really bad sense of dread right from the off that something was just not quite right, there are flashbacks mixed with present events of a violent, haunted past. For the most part things flow along nicely, nothing really appears to be happening, but Garnier is playing with us, as the last third turns nasty, shocking and brutal. There is a slow build up in tension shaking your bones, awaiting something, whatever it's going to be, it ain't gonna be nice, and this just adds to the unexpected nature of events. This was a strange, surreal read, not for the faint of heart, it was worth reading for the last third alone. which I went back over three times, because I just couldn't believe my eyes. Clever, pitch black noir , sometimes oddly funny, just not funny ha ha.

Garnier should be bigger and it's a shame he died before his time, for those looking for something a bit different in the crime/noir genre, Garnier could be your man. Expect the unexpected, and never an easy ride.

[Hugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only reason I had heard of Pascal Garnier was through a discussion in the Mookse group a few years ago, but when I saw this book in the library I was intrigued enough to pick it up. It is an enjoyable and well written mixture of the mundane and the macabre.

At its heart is Gabriel, a stranger who arrives in a small Breton town and checks into the local hotel. He befriends a cast of locals, and appears to have angelic qualities, cooking fine meals, spending freely and asking very little in return. That he is haunted by his past becomes increasingly apparent from the italicised flashbacks he encounters, so the darker turn the book takes towards the end is no surprise.

A quick read, but not one that persuades me that I need to read more.

[Aleksandra Pasek · Rating 5 out of 5]

jak Garnier skroi historię, to ja mam ciarki przez cały czas trwania lektury.

pierwsza książka w życiu, którą w całości przeczytałam sama sobie na głos, bo ta proza brzmi jak muzyka.

powieść noir, w której aż gotuje się od niepokoju, chociaż niby nic. jest ponuro i zabawnie i znowu ponuro i znowu zabawnie i nagle refleksyjnie, ale zaraz dostajesz po nosie, uważaj. i lekkie opary absurdu, tak je lubię.

tłumaczka, Gabriela Hałat powinna dostać jakiś medal za te dwa tlumaczenia Garniera - bogactwo językowe, porównania i metofory tak plastyczne i niewymuszone, że oczy otwierają się ze zdumienia.

zdania, które chyba nikomu w danym momencie nie przyszłyby do głowy, ale przychodzą właśnie temu pisarzowi i okazują się perfekcyjnie trafne.

no i historia. historia jest taka, że po zamknięciu książki, wczoraj ok 23, pół godziny stałam pod prysznicem i gapiłam się w ścianę, przetwarzając co się właściwie stało.

uwielbiam klimat noir, dobrze skrojone postaci, inteligentny dowcip, bogactwo plastycznego języka. wszystko tu jest.
czuć, że typ jest malarzem. napisał studium człowieka.

czy ktoś mógłby coś jeszcze łaskawie przetłumaczyć czy będe musiała dla Garniera nauczyć się biegle francuskiego?

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

You may want to forget Pascal Garnier's The Panda Theory after you read it, but you won't and you can't. Garnier masterfully creates seemingly normal middle-aged guys, who appear in all ways average, who slowly reveal themselves to be gonzo revenge freaks. The objects of the revenge may bear no relationship to the initial motivation for the revenge, as in The Panda Theory, but that just adds to the mayhem. Minimal blood, minimal sex, PG noir, except you may never trust strangers again. No extra words, terrific clear writing, a propulsive plot where you know something's going to happen and it won't be good. Garnier's a great noir novelist who deserves much, much more attention.
4.5 noir stars

[Mark Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enigmatic drifter named Gabriel arrives in a small Breton town. His random acts of kindness and exquisite cooking earns his acceptance from the locals.

His amiable manner is reflected in the stuffed panda he wins at a funfair, but the Panda doesn't share his sinister past.

Pitch black dark from the French noir master.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will admit it. I have not read many stories “noir” but recently I read a review about this book from Glenn that got me interested. He pointed out the bleak, despair and alientation in the form of existentialism with a good mix of black humour. Glenn is correct. It has both, a rather odd combination.

The good news is my library had this book, en français, and just notified me that I could come pick it up. So here is one of my first foray’s into the “roman noir.”

A simple story (and a very short book too): Gabriel arrives into a small village in Brittany, on the French coast. Quickly he makes friends with a Portuguese man, José who runs a bar and Gabriel was looking for a meal. Sadly José’s wife was in a coma and his cooking skills are not up to par. Gabriel attracts the receptionist, Madeline, at his hotel. A love interest. Mais oui, le roman. Then Rita and Marco, some junkies. All are swept away by Gabriel’s kindness.

And his cooking. This is what attracted me to the story. Gabriel was a foodie and everything from veal liver, escargot, sweetbread, and steak and frits were on topic. There was even a comment on the humble but oh so French croissant (in this case, a bad version). This was all a very delicious part.

Oddly his new friends never asked him much about his past. Pascal Garnier interjects his “past” but he gives us just glimpses and so we must infer something dark. Who is this man, where did he come from, what motive does he have for this seemingly innocuous kindness?

The humour comes at very odd points. Gabriel visits a church and has a chat with a woman about the loss of her dog. Désolé! The dog was named George after her husband. He was beheaded working in the cherry trees. “He didn’t suffer.” she adds. But the dog suffered eating rat poison! C’est terrible... that is the noir for sure.

So we get to the ending. Yes, very existential. It happens because it happens might be the best answer. Creepy? Yes. Noir? Very much so.

And the panda theory? We all like the “cuteness” of a stuffed bear, especially a panda bear. But it just sits there, at the bar. It watches and says nothing.

[Irena BookDustMagic · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be perfectly honest with you, the only reason I gave this book 4 stars is it's writing style. It is full of philosophical thoughts and sentences that it just won me over it's not so original story. It was a very predictable novella, but I didn't mind.

Although it is a very short read I wouldn't put it into a fast reads box.

Who would I recommend this piece to?
Maybe to those who like to read and think philosophical at times.
However, I would like to warn vegetarians and vegans about descriptions of raw meet and animal cruelty.

[Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stranger comes into town, makes friends with everyone, and then strange things start to happen. This may be an old premise for a story, but it is a good one and told deftly in this novel. The French scenery, towns and atmosphere comes across really well, and though there isn't much character development there is enough to drive the story along.

The version I read was a translation from the original French, but even so the style and tome of the writing was very lyrical. A good read.

[Marcin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Urzekająca. Gdybym musiał jednym słowem scharakteryzować powieść Garniera, to wybrałbym ten przymiotnik. "Teoria pandy" urzeka kameralnością. Kameralnością scenerii (małe miasteczko w Bretanii, w którym nic wielkiego się nie dzieje) oraz kameralnością kompozycji. Każda scena przypomina niekiedy monodram, niekiedy dramat kilku postaci na scenie, na którą Garnier - reżyser rzuca snop światła i pozwala nam obserwować. Francuzowi udało się napisać bezpretensjonalną powieść o Smutku, Bólu i Lęku. "Teoria pandy" to w istocie powieść przesiąknięta filozofią pesymizmu. To, co podoba mi się w niej najbardziej, to fakt, że autor serwuje nam tę filozofię chyłkiem. Jest w tym tak delikatny i nienachalny, że obcowanie z takim prozatorskim cacuszkiem jest prawdziwą czytelniczą rozkoszą. Garnier szanuje czytelnika, ufa mu i wierzy w jego intelekt. Pozostawia spory margines do własnej interpretacji, jak właściwie rozumieć tytułową teorię. I - choć nie czyni tego wprost - to jednak pisarsko umożliwia przyjęcie, że tych teorii jest co najmniej kilka. "Teoria pandy" to jednocześnie powieść niepozbawiona kodów kulturowych, które oczytana osoba błyskawicznie rozszyfruje, a które są chyba istotną wskazówką interpretacyjną w ciągu całej lektury. Francuz odwołuje się do Pisma Świętego (imię głównego bohatera takie jak Archanioła Gabriela, który zwiastował narodzenie Jezusa nie wydaje się dziełem przypadku), do Nietzschego, do "Kandyda" - słowem czerpie pełnymi garściami z naszego dorobku cywilizacyjnego, a osiągniętemu efektowi daleko od pretensjonalności postmodernizmu. Nie odczuwam specjalnej potrzeby etykietkowania, lecz uważam, że dobrze się stało, że literaturoznawcy ukuli dla twórczości Garniera termin roman gris, bo "Teoria pandy" średnio pasuje do klasycznego noir. Jedyne, czego można żałować, to tylko tego, że dorobek pisarski Francuza trafia pod polską strzechę ponad 8 lat po śmierci autora. Jest co nadrabiać.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

niesamowicie niepokojacy klimat i wspaniały język, nic mi więcej nie potrzeba

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book altered my perception of author and brought me to a full stop. Do I still love his writing after this book? Hmmmm. Haunting, meandering, strange on so many levels....this is a book I had to put down midway and relieve my spirits with one of the Sherlock stories in a collection I am enjoying.

It takes some effort to understand where the author is taking us as we follow Gabriel who seems to land in a town without intention or purpose. As he wanders in and out of innocuous locations he collects people. Memories of his past life are presented periodically.

Is this drug hallucination or is this real? There is no getting off the train until you get to the end with a sense of dread as to what will be around the corner.

Sadly we don't have the benefit of his viewpoint, but he wrote with original voice for certain.

[Paul Fulcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Happiness is a calamity you can never recover from. As soon as you catch a glimpse of it, the door slams shut and you spend the rest of your life bitterly regretting what is no more. There is no worse purgatory and no one knew that better than Gabriel."

Pascal Garnier's novel, translated as The Panda Theory by Svein Clouston, tells the story of Gabriel, a traveller who arrives in a "completely nondescript" town in the interior of Brittany.

The prose itself contains some beautiful descriptions of the town:

"It had been raining since early morning, a light rain that was perfectly in keeping with the town and gave it a certain elegance, a veneer of respectability...like a kind of salutary grief, an unobtrusive companion, an intimate presence"
...
"The shops showed off their best wares with the clumsy vanity of a girl getting ready for her first dance"
...
"Two men in ill-fitting suits who talked business with the seriousness of a pair of children playing grown-ups."

What exactly Gabriel is doing there and indeed who he is and where he comes from is not something he wants to discuss, but he gradually inserts himself into the lives of various locals, largely with somewhat over-the-top gestures of friendship - showing up in a bar with a raw shoulder of lamb and offering to cook a stew for the sad-looking bar owner, buying a saxaphone, of which he has no need, at a overgenerous price from some strangers down on their luck.

His mission seems to be to try and make people happy e.g. in a shoe store he passes: "He had tried on a pair of shoes just because the shop assistant seemed bored all alone in her pristine shop. But he had not bought them. He apologised saying he was going to think about it. Not a sale, but a glimmer of hope at least. It didn't take much to make people happy."

The hotel receptionist, Madeleine, who perhaps most understanding him, asks:

"Do you travel around because of your work"

"It's not exactly work - it's a service I provide."

He seems to be extremely friendly, almost angelic (the name Gabriel chosen by the author is likely no coincidence) if somewhat odd (even to his face, others call him "unusual", "quite something", "weird, Really weird" and "maybe you're just mad"), but the narration itself hints at something much darker going on (the literary equivalent of spooky background music in a film).

As early as the 2nd page, In the middle of an, otherwise unremarkable, detailed description of his hotel bedroom we get the disturbing, and entirely out of context, remark: "He had once disposed of a litter of kitten by shutting them in a shoebox lined with cotton wool soaked in ether. The miaowing and scratching had not lasted long."

And Gabriel seems rather obsessed with meat (both physically, but also visually - someone's hand appears to him to be the same size as a steak), the stickiness of his hands and morbid tales.

As we get flashbacks of his past, we realise something traumatic has happened to his family and that he feels he can never be happy again. Madeleine asks:

"'Have you ever been happy. Gabriel?'
'Yes, once. It frightened me.'
'Why?'
'Because it was the last time.'"

He contrast himself to a large toy panda that he wins in a funfair and gives to the bar owner, which has an ideal state of mind (hence the novel's title):

"For the panda everything was for the best in the best of all possible worlds. It was as happy to see the two men return as it had been to see them leave. It's only trick was it keep its arms open. It held nothing and retained nothing. Take it or leave it, it was all the same to him."

When everyone is gathered for another of Gabriel's delicious dinner and seems most happy, he thinks:

"Everything should stop here, now, when everything was perfect. It should be like this for ever. Gabriel wanted to be able to persuade them to stay as they were, not to move a muscle, not to say another word. Because he knew. He knew. He had been here once before ... The first one to move would break the charm. Their bubble would burst."

But of course, the moment doesn't last - and finally the novel takes the darker twist that the novel has led us to expect from page 2, and we discover what service Gabriel provides. There is a nice coda to the novel, where Madeleine takes the initiative, proving to be in less need of Gabriel's direct services than the others.

The Panda Theory is a quick and highly atmospheric read. However, to me it was rather marred by the unsubtly of the noirish hints - as mentioned above it's like watching a movie where the background music colours your interpretation of the otherwise benign events directly unfolding on the screen.

And the twists/revelations when they come while not necessarily obvious, are also not that shocking given the signalling.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Everyone’s got baggage. Mine is so full I can’t even close it."

Firstly, a confession. This is my second attempt at reading this novella. The first time around I just couldn’t settle into it and sadly put it to one side. THIS time, however, I could appreciate its full flavours of oddity and dark humour, seasoned with pinch suspense.

Its stream of narration locks onto the absurdities and tragedies of life that we all come into contact with, but never contemplate long enough to pass such carefully observed commentary on. This is a particular talent held by a drifting and intellectual loner, who possesses a flair for offering helping of reserved company while cooking up a storm with his fine cuisine.

Gabriel touches many strangers’ lives by effortlessly befriending them through chance encounters before leaving his mark on their future. He appears quietly content to exist and let fate affect his actions while his darker thoughts lurk privately in the background. Yet we get to know the other characters intimately with each new development of their emotionally chaotic existence.

His personality comes across as that of a human ‘Elastoplast’, as people whose lives need varying degrees of healing stick to his undemanding and patient nature. But sometimes even good intentions result in very, very bad consequences: as one of Gabriel’s past acquaintances announced, “life’s a killer”.

A fascinating and somewhat uncomfortable journey without a definitive end, during which a stuffed panda makes a most memorable appearance.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

French noir fiction is every bit as interesting as the American variety, though there do not appear to be anywhere near as many practitioners. Pascal Garnier's The Panda Theory tells of a nice guy named Gabriel making friends with troubled people in a small Breton town.

In no time at all, he has become indispensable to Madeleine, Jose, Rita, and Marco. Both Madeleine and Rita want to sleep with him, but he gently begs off.

Do we trust Gabriel? I won't tell you, because it takes a while before one learns what he is really up to.

[kelly!! · Rating 4 out of 5]

read on grace koh's copy bought from secondhand bookstore LOL

a story very typical of the noir genre, but with incredible writing and translation. the invisible author's descriptions of the weather, of people and of food (!!) reminds me of a travel diary... snippets of this bleak rainy town with its restaurants, shops and streets are told in a surprisingly lyrical way. worth a read for the writing and the seamless translation alone.

[Charles Dee Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gabriel sits in the train station of a small Breton city. The city, which is miles from the coast, smells of manure rather than the sea. That slight stink is the first indication that the next 120 pages will hold some unpleasant developments.

Gabriel has no apparent purpose and no shortage of cash. He checks into a miserable hotel and goes about meeting the locals. Madeleine is the attractive woman of a certain age who works the front desk of Gabriel’s hotel. Jose is the Portuguese bistro proprietor whose wife has just entered the hospital for a minor surgery. Within a day she will slip into a coma. Gabriel buys a saxophone from Marco, an unsavory character who is short on cash while waiting for his father to die. Marco’s willing to pimp out Rita, his frowsy companion, but Gabriel avoids sex. He likes to cook for people.

Comparisons to Simenon’s romans durs are inevitable. Garnier’s prose is as spare as Simenon’s, but his humor is quirkier and he does not offer quite so relentless a march to the inevitable. I particularly remember that the town’s cathedral smells like a bad Greek restaurant; the orchids Jose takes to his hospitalized wife remind Gabriel of the illustrations of venereal disease in medical texts books; and, one evening the sky is the color of frogspawn.

Knowing Gabriel will entail many fatal consequences, but the good news is for readers. Panda Theory is one of seven Garnier novels released by Gallic Press.

[Andy Weston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good food and drink feature heavily in this Garnier novella.

I am a huge fan. A critic may say that his books are similar, all with characters from ordinary provincial life, telling an interesting yet predictable tale at first, and then the descent into the noir. I can understand that to some people they can seem frightening. To think that such people exist in our lives.

Unlike the A26 and How's The Pain (also released in the UK two years after his death in 2012), this is set in Breton, and not the bore famous beaches, but the ordinary rural inland area.

If you've never read one of Garnier's novellas I urge you to. If you have read one, read them all - they are special.

[Sara Zovko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Iza simpatičnog naslova knjige krije se ne tako simpatična priča o jednom strancu koji stiže u mali grad i ubrzo se sprijatelji sa nekoliko stanovnika toga grada, a onda se počinju događati čudne stvari i stranac nije osoba kakva se na prvu čini.
Možda i sama priča nije toliko originalna, ali u njoj ima puno promišljanja o smislu života, ljubavi i sličnih tema i stil pisanja je i više nego sjajan pa se ova knjiga čita brzo i ne pušta tako lako iz ruku.

[Marina Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one creeps up on you unaware, all quiet, about a sleepy town in Bretagne, and then... Very elegant, very noir.

[Shatterlings · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow that turns dark very quickly but I kind of liked it. I don't know what it says about me that people send me such strange books and then I enjoy them.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really good until a total disastrous fuck-up of an ending, the kind Stephen King might think a good idea, featuring someone behaving as nobody ever in the course of human history has behaved.

[LeastTorque · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The sky was the colour of frogspawn absorbing joy and sorrow with the same indifference.”

This is the most special best of the books I’ve read by this author. I went in cold and what a ride it was, leaving me trampled to meat by that stampeding elephant and washed in the existential blood of that giant smiling panda.

With the darkest of black humor and devastating passages, this novel will shred your heart and blister your soul. The bit that hit me hardest cannot be quoted without spoiling but just know that I did not take a screen shot of it because I could never bear to read it again.

[Maja Szczytowska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prosta książka złożona bardziej z krótkich historii niż rozdziałów. Bardzo przyjemna i szybka lektura, chociaż prowadząca do przemyśleń jak i rozważań. Pomimo swojej prostej i przystępnej formy do końca pozostaje tajemnicza i potrafi zaskoczyć.

[Seonaid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read - still brilliant.

This very short, lyrical French novel tells the story of Gabriel, who washes up in a 'completely nondescript' town in the Breton interior. He books into a local hotel, and then quickly proceeds to integrate himself into town life, with his warm demeanour and friendly gestures. He is a good listener, a keen observer of the human condition, a compassionate stranger. People find themselves confessing their darkest thoughts to him, for he never judges anyone.

The clues, however, are there from the beginning: the pathetic fallacy of the weather, with skies the colour of frogspawn and the constant rain ''a kind of salutary grief, an unobtrusive companion, an intimate presence," and more shockingly, appearing out of the blue, "He had once disposed of a litter of kittens by shutting them in a shoe box lined with cotton wool soaked in ether. The miaowing and scratching had not lasted long."

In true angelic style, Gabriel is a purely amoral protagonist, and the message of peace that he brings with him is an...interesting one.

The Panda Theory is a darkly funny, bleak and beautiful novel, and I think I'll be going on a Pascal Garnier binge now.

[Rob Kitchin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Panda Theory is a literary crime novella. It charts a week in the life of Gabriel and the people he befriends - a small bistro owner whose wife is in a coma, a lonely hotel receptionist, and two down-and-out hotel guests. Garnier’s narrative is quite loose, rather than being driven forward by a focused story arc -- a mix of observations and droll asides, interspersed with short flashbacks. It’s a style that’s deceptively engaging, aided by some black humour. There’s always a sense that things are not quite what they seem, but there’s no real sense of foreboding. I found it a joy to read up until the last quarter. At this point, the story turns through ninety degrees and becomes something else entirely. This twist might work well for some, but to me did not ring true the plot or character and felt quite jarring. Consequently I was bumped a little out of the story. Nevertheless, The Panda Theory is an interesting and engaging read and I’d be interested to try some of Garnier’s other stories as I think he creates an interesting blend of literary style and crime fiction.

[David Hebblethwaite · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gabriel arrives in a small Breton town, finds a restaurant, and strikes up a friendship with the owner, José, whose wife is ill in hospital. Gabriel is a good cook and a friendly face, and presently attracts a small circle of friends, including Madeleine, the receptionist of his hotel; and Marco and Rita, a couple also staying there. But he’s also carrying baggage from his past…

The Panda Theory is one of three books by the late Pascal Garnier which will be published by Gallic Books (who also provide the translation). Particularly effective is the contrast between the ordinariness of the novel’s present and the darkness of the flashbacks to Gabriel’s past – the details of which only gradually emerge. All the people Gabriel meets have holes in their lives, and – as his name suggests – the protagonist is something of an angel, in that he comes into their lives and changes them. But the question of exactly how he does so is one that remains open right up to the tense finale.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

In haste . . .

A stranger, Gabriel, arrives in a small Breton town, books himself into a crummy motel, and slowly inveigles himself into the local society through acts of genuine compassion and kindliness. Yet Gabriel is repressing a terrible tragedy that happened to him years ago, and when finally he begins to act these memories out the consequences are horrific.

For a long time this short novel reads as far too civilized, too mellow, to be a work of noir fiction, and yet on reaching its violent climax -- and even more after the seemingly tranquil aftermath of that violence and looking back through all that's gone before -- it's very obvious that this is, although much more smoothly written, the spiritual kin of the US noir fiction of decades before.

I liked this book very much, although I wasn't overwhelmed by it. I'm told his novels get better and better hereafter, and those later novels are definitely on my list.