…et mon tout est un homme

by Boileau-Narcejac

Le célèbre professeur Marek a réussi la mise au point de la greffe intégrale. Une série de transplantations va permettre à sept accidentés de retrouver leur activité dans un corps nouveau, porteur chacun d'un organe du corps démantelé d'un condamné à mort, René Myrtil.
Mais, une fois les opérations réussies, commence une singulière aventure : chaque greffé vit dans son nouveau corps des événements très étranges, jusqu'à ce que six d'entre eux trouvent la mort d'une manière bien suspecte.

Genres: Horror, France, School, Thriller, Science Fiction, Fiction, High School

208 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Pierre Boileau and Pierre Ayraud (aka Thomas Narcejac) were French authors who specialized in police stories. They collaborated as "Boileau-Narcejac," with plots from Boileau. Narcejac provided most of the atmosphere and characterisations in each novel.

Each of them were highly successful alone before beginning their work together. The Prix du Roman d'Aventures, one of the most important literary awards in France, is given each year to the author of the best example of detective fiction in the world. Boileau won it in 1938 for Le Repos de Bacchus . Narcejac received it for La Mort est du Voyage in 1948. They met at the 1948 awards dinner.

While most of their works stand alone, they also wrote the "Sans Atout" series for young readers.

Two of their novels, Celle qui n'était plus and D'entre les morts , were adapted into films (respectively, Les Diaboliques and Vertigo)

Reviews

[Jim Dooley · Rating 4 out of 5]

CHOICE CUTS (or AND MY ENTIRETY IS A MAN) is a book that I first read in Junior High School, and the story has stayed with me ever since. It was written by the writing team of Pierre Boileau and "Thomas Narcejac" who were responsible for SHE WHO WAS NO MORE (more popularly known as DIABOLIQUE) and THE LIVING AND THE DEAD (which Alfred Hitchcock brought to the screen as "Vertigo"). Although their work was considered to be crime thrillers, there was always a psychological element (and frequently a horrific one) in all three. I definitely recommend them.

I absolutely love the opening disclaimer:

"This is a true story. The narrator has therefore felt it wise to change all of the names. If anyone believes that he can recognize himself in a particular character, he must, at the same time, accept part responsibility for the extraordinary events that took place."

The plot is "fantastic" in every sense of that word. A notorious criminal is sentenced to be executed by the guillotine. He has given permission for his entire body to be used to provide life-saving grafts for accident victims. Professor Marek (partially reminiscent of Boris Karloff in the movie "Frankenstein 1970") will be performing the procedures on seven patients. The narrator, Garric, is assigned as a police observer, providing detailed reports about the procedures and the recuperation of the patients.

The grafting in all cases is successful ... or is it? First, behavioral changes are noticed, and then a highly suspicious mortality rate. Most worrisome of all is that the patients all feel "interconnected" by more than only a shared experience. Is there more going on here than a medical procedure?

CHOICE CUTS, despite its lurid title, is never graphic. It reminds me of some of those European horror films from the 1950's and 1960's that (other than nudity) "suggested" the less savory aspects rather than showing them. The really fun part for me was that even though I knew exactly what was behind it all during my second reading, it was morbidly fun to watch it all unfold in my mind's eye.

There is only one aspect that detracted from the work for me. So as not to unnecessarily enter into Spoiler Territory, I'll refrain from being specific. Suffice it to say that it involves one of the grafts and a medical detail that would be suspicious even to casual Readers in 1965. It is explained satisfactorily by the end, yet I could not convince myself that none of the characters would question in beforehand.

CHOICE CUTS is a "delightful" horror-crime thriller that is perfect to enjoy with a glass of fine wine or sherry before retiring for the night. It is a good substitute if "Frankenstein 1970" isn't streaming from your viewing provider.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imagine an H.G. Wells tale mixed in with a bit of bizarro and you get Choice Cuts, a best seller in the 60s that eventually became a movie as well. I mentioned H.G. Wells as the science involved here seemed to spring from the 19th century and without the 'modern' references, this could have been penned in the 19th century.

Our somewhat unreliable narrator presents the novel as a letter to the President of French Republic. The author starts the tale working as something of a special investigator for the police when his boss tells him of his next task. It seems some Doctor, an exile from Eastern Europe, has been perfecting 'grafts', e.g., transplanting legs/paws/etc. from animals. The novelty resides in how the Doctor managed to keep the host from rejecting the graft. Now, the ministry (always kept rather vague, but denoting power from the top) would like to see if the grafting can be done to humans. The Doctor, one Marek, oozes confidence, but where will the volunteers come from?

Well, the ministry solved the issue. A condemned man, one Myrtil, has given his body to science; shortly after he is guillotined, his body (and head!) will be transported to Marek's clinic. On the other side, a holiday weekend in Paris is sure to create crashes and such, so people with wrecked bodies as a result are also transported to the clinic to await the 'parts' from Myrtil. In the end, seven different people get grafts of Myrtil-- one a leg, one an arm, one a pelvis, etc., and one the head. All seems to be going swimmingly! Then, the 'graftees' start having issues...

I will stop here to avoid spoilers; this is a horror/mystery novel after all! The engaging prose pulled the story along and the authors, both script-writers, pace the tale nicely. My main issues concern the science, but if you can get by that, this was really fun, with lots of dark humor. 3.5 dark stars!!

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, this needs to start with a story. This novel was made into a movie called "Body Parts". I saw a TV ad for it when I was about 10, and it scared me quite a lot. But I also noticed fine print saying it was based on a book called "Choice Cuts". I think it was the first time I realized an grownup movie could be based on a book.

The movie (based on my understanding from the ad, as I have yet to watch the whole movie) is about a man who gets an arm transplant from a donor who then wants it back, and it seems to be a pretty straightforward thriller.

The novel, however, is about a man on death row who wills his body to science to allow for experimental part transplants. The parts go to seven accident victims (two arms, two legs, torso, pelvis, and head), who all experience odd feelings of liking the transplanted part more than the original and feeling bound to the other patients.

Past that would veer into spoiler territory, but it's actually a fairly cerebral and thoughtful book. It does have a twist ending, but it's got some depth that I'm sure the movie lacks.

Also amusing is that the cover notes it's due to be made into a movie, though the movie didn't come to fruition until two decades later.

[theodora · Rating 2 out of 5]

stupid

[Beckyyy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ew.

[Marie-Andrée Tessier · Rating 2 out of 5]

Je me suis forcée à le terminer pour que je puisse commencer autre chose. Une lecture ennuyante pour ma part.

[Joseph Carrabis · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Originally read lo-o-ong ago. Reread in the past few days...)
One, fantastic story, well written and with an ending that almost caught me by surprise. I had a sense of what was coming about five pages out, not enough to fully prepare myself. Nicely done. And I want to emphasize "Nicely done." Some translations (this one from French) fumble things. This one doesn't. There are some passages where language is used to demonstrate awkwardness in the characters and I wish my French was up to reading the original to learn how the translators chose the words they did.
There's also a passage that hammered me; "Talent?" he mused."I once thought I knew what talent was. Now there's just what sells and what doesn't sell. Gaubrey will sell just as long as the novelty lasts. My job is to pander to the craze. ..." Anybody making their living through public appreciation of their work has got to nod understandingly while being chilled by that passage.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay. Okay, look. The plot is, in its own way, quite clever. The book is very readable and entertaining. It is also deeply, amazingly stupid. The twist hinges on the idea that you would accept the idea that you could transplant, or "graft" someone's head onto another person's body and the mind left would be that of the body and not the head. What.But I say this as someone who nursed a mother through recovery after a heart transplant. And how have I read TWO books about head transplants within a year? How did I do that. It made me remember that video with the dogs. I do not like remembering that video with the dogs. But it was an amusing read. I'm going to eat some chocolate peanut butter ice cream now and read a book about beans.

[Jack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like Body Parts, which is loosely based on this, the book is just too implausible. It’s just too ridiculous to believe that a death row criminal would allow himself to be executed and then disassembled and grafted onto other people, all with the plan to drive each graft recipient to suicide so he can reconstruct himself piece by piece. It’s just too far fetched. Maybe if the book didn’t ground itself so firmly in reality, the mad science mumbo-jumbo could have worked. As it is, I couldn’t really get into it.

[Meli · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5 stars ⭐️⭐️✨
I had to read this for school and it has been draining my mental health for almost 3 weeks. It would have been a one star if it wasn’t for the insane plot twist at the end. I literally got chills and was left staring at my Xmas tree in shock.

[Max Brallier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird and good

[Géraldine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Publié en 1965, ce livre est complètement dépassé. Et, pourtant, l'histoire est finalement parvenue à me fasciner.

Nous sommes dans une époque d'avancées médicales, notamment, celle des greffes et transplantations (première transplantation du foie en 1963, première greffe de la main en 1964, du cœur en 1967).

Il n'en fallut sans doute pas plus pour des ecrivains à l'esprit créatif et malicieux pour pousser la réflexion et imaginer des progrès futurs borderlines.

Le professeur Marek, un génie obsessionnel, s'est spécialisé dans les greffes, qu'il pratique dans sa clinique privée. Mystérieux, travailleur acharné, ambitieux, expérimental, Marek a obtenu l'aval de la France pour expérimenter la première greffe totale. L'expérience, tenue secrète, consiste à greffer des morceaux de corps en bon état à des blessés. Par soucis pratique et éthique, les parties saines seront prélevées sur un seul corps, celui d'un condamné à mort, le célèbre gangster René Myrtil. Le fonctionnaire Garric est chargé d'y assister et de rendre compte de l'expérience.

Tout se passe comme prévu. Le résultat est juste un rien surréaliste : une jeune femme élégante reçoit une jambe musclée et poilue, un droitier une seconde main gauche, un abbé un bras tatoué du nom d'un amour passé, etc.

Chacun est heureux d'avoir été soigné, certes radicalement, mais efficacement, même s'il faut s'y faire tant au niveau des sensations corporelles que psychologiquement... Car des troubles étranges prennent parfois le dessus, donnant à penser que la partie de corps greffée à gardé un ancien réflexe. Se pourrait-il que l'essence humaine, ne soit pas, comme on l'a toujours cru, dans nos pensées intimes, mais bien dans chaque cellule du corps ?

René Myrtil est-il vivant dans les mémoires uniquement ?

Le récit est daté, au niveau scientifique, technique, social, des stéréotypes masculins et féminins. Mais la technique du savant fou expérimental fonctionne bien, et j'ai lu les dernières pages rapidement pour connaître la clé de l'énigme.

Ce livre m'a évoqué "Mygale", de Thierry Jonquet, dont Almodovar fit "La peau que J'habite" (la piel que habito).

A lire si on aime le thème du savant fou.

[Aaron Martz · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're going to write a book about a serial killer who is executed and whose arms and legs and head and organs - including his "pelvis" - are then donated to those in need, and if you're going to write a book about how said appendages begin to "influence" the recipient donors in sinister and abhorrent ways, then you had better crank it up to 11. This book should have read like Frankenhooker on amphetamines. Like Re-Animator on Adderall. But instead Boileau-Narcejac take it seriously and actually try to explore whether the soul resides in the brain or in the flesh. This is not Frankenstein. No one would ever expect this to be Frankenstein. The copy I read had a pile of arms and legs on the cover! As is, it's a decent read, but the movie version, Body Parts, while no masterpiece, is more along the lines of what this should have been.

[shu · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars
was it necessarily bad? no. it was just too empty. there were soo many characters, some of them, like the condamné's wife, so useless to the book. there wasn't any character development and this whole novel felt a lot like a bunch of reports about the patients, very bland. the plot was interesting, but not very well manipulated, because it was really pulled out of nowhere. the ending was shocking but there wasn't any strong foreshadowing, which did not make it quite interesting. it was an interesting read though!

[Dennis Lamberton]

I read this book decades ago and have never forgotten it's improbable plot; a French murderer executed by guillotine, pre-arranged for his body parts to be gifted for grafting to other people who were then in turn murdered and the body parts reassembled so that the executed Frenchman was able to be reassembled and re-born a free man. I had to search it out on Good Reads to see if it was still in circulation and surprised to see it is.

[Chris Browning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable but slightly hard to get through, partly I’m guessing because of a not great translation. Also there’s a definite sense of their being an obvious twist heading your way and it’s a very good twist but still a rather pointless one: it’s the Shyamalan effect I guess

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'aimerais tant que Goodreads ajoute les demies étoiles... C'est la définition exacte d'un 3.5*

Malgré quelques longueurs et un dénouement un peu prévisible, il s'agit d'une très bonne œuvre qui soulève des questionnements éthiques pertinents.

[Cora Lang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ce roman de Boileau-Narcejac est fascinant et imprévisible. C’est un peu la folie qui anime ces divers personnages. Un univers fantastique et troublant et une finale spectaculaire.

[EA🧚‍♀️📖 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 bon scénario mais très difficile à croire et impossible dans la vie réelle

[Selina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Le début était un peu lent, mais une fois que les événements ont commencé à s'enchaîner, la lecture est devenue fluide. Je ne m'attendais pas du tout au rebondissement final.

[Léonie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars for the ending, the rest of the book was boring.

[Rosalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate this book, it was boring and i had a exam on it. French book for school are always boring anyways. Will update on my note tho, i dead the exam

[Odélia · Rating 3 out of 5]

C’est pas le meilleur livre ever mais c’était quand même intéressant!

[mathilde · Rating 4 out of 5]

bon livre

[Brekker Stan · Rating 3 out of 5]

C'était un très bon livre! J'ai beaucoup aimé le développement des personnages selon leur greffe. Les personnages étaient complexes également. Je l'ai lu à l'école. Je le recommande.

3,5/5

[Joshua Slive · Rating 2 out of 5]

“... et mon tout est un homme” by Boileau-Narcejac is a super-weird police thriller about a whole-body transplant. Rather predictable, but also mildly amusing.

[Beans on toast · Rating 2 out of 5]

read this for school meh the story

[Katia Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

L'arroganza umana nel ricreare la vita
Letto più di quarant’anni fa questo giallo/thriller che esplora temi inquietanti e riflessivi, mescolando scienza estrema, responsabilità morale e confine tra la vita e la morte, si fa ancora ricordare con immagini nitide e sensazioni vivide. Mi piacque davvero così tanto (forse perché è stato il primo del suo genere, chissà) che mi sarebbe cosa gradita recuperarlo e rileggerlo.
L’idea di base era forte: un professore porta avanti un esperimento estremo di “innesto integrale”. Partendo da cadaveri di condannati a morte come donatori, vengono trapiantate parti del corpo umano a pazienti gravemente danneggiati da incidenti. Alcune di queste persone si ristabiliscono, a livello fisico, ma cominciano a succedere fatti pieni di mistero..
Un mix di diversi aspetti e tematiche rendono la lettura ricca di emozioni e riflessioni interiori, e in bilico tra la curiosità e lo sdegno si viene sospinti nello scorrere di un libro che solleva domande pesanti su identità personale e integrità fisica, etica della scienza, valori. Fino a che punto la società può spingersi nel nome del progresso?
Il racconto non è solo thriller, ma fa meditare su che cosa significa aver fatto un’azione anche se apparentemente necessaria.
l’innesto integrale come tema letterario non è banale e ispira. È ben sfruttato per generare inquietudine, dubbi morali, straniamenti psicologici, però ci sono dei limiti per quanto riguarda la credibilità scientifica: per chi ha una certa preparazione o sensibilità verso la medicina/psicologia, alcune soluzioni possono sembrare poco realistiche, quasi fantascientifiche. Inoltre manca un po’ di approfondimento sui personaggi che non sono pienamente sviluppati, il focus è più sull’idea, sul mistero, che sull’analisi profonda dei protagonisti.
Detto questo e tirando le somme “Pezzi d’uomo scelti” è un libro che colpisce: inquieta, fa riflettere, costringe a chiedersi dove finisce l’umano, dove inizia l’artificio. Se si è appassionati di thriller che vadano oltre il giallo puro, se piacciono le storie con un risvolto filosofico, etico, questo racconto può dare molto. Non è perfetto, ma la sua originalità lievemente disturbante lo rende memorabile.

[Sara P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Traduction française au bas

This book is one of my long-time favourites. Whenever I want to go on a reading binge, I always start with this one - I can't explain it.

It's not a particularly clever book, but it is absolutely insane. The premise is crazy, the characters are interesting and the pacing is wild. I love it.

I would say to suspend your disbelief a little bit when walking into this one. As you've seen from other reviews, it is quite a peculiar read.

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Ce livre est l'un de mes préférés depuis longtemps. Chaque fois que j'ai envie de me relancer dans la lecture, je commence toujours par celui-ci - je ne peux pas l'expliquer.

Ce n'est pas un livre particulièrement "waow" , mais il est absolument fou (voir, un peu stupide). L'histoire est folle, les personnages sont intéressants et ... son tout est tout à fait unique.

Je dirais qu'il faut suspendre un peu son incrédulité lorsqu'on entre dans ce livre. Comme vous l'avez vu dans les autres critiques, c'est une lecture qui divise.

[chaaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

4 stars or even more!

I really liked this book, given that it's for school (french class). The only problem with this book was that it was a bit slow in the beginning, but at the 50-page mark, the pace quickens.

Basically, the novel is about a scientific experiment to replace organs (arms, legs, lungs, brain) of a person sentenced to death on seven different people about to die. The experiment was successful, but soon after the patients recovered, they committed suicide one after the other.

It gave me the And Then There Were None feels, since one by one, every victim dies. AND IT WAS SO AWESOME FOR A FRENCH BOOK WOW.