Overall, I have had a good experience with Virginie Despentes in the past and when she focuses on poverty and gives voice to the marginalised and oppressed, she is very good indeed. Sadly, this book is more about privileged media people in Paris, arty-farty and pretentious, to the point that it is hard to care about any of them.
Vernon is a middle-aged loser, former record shop owner now sofa-surfing from one dubious acquaintance to the next. Besides, haven’t we had enough of French male midlife crisis, portrayed in so many French novels and films? I wouldn’t have expected a woman to write about it – although she supposedly makes fun of it. But for a figure of fun, we simply get too many details about Vernon and the people he mingles with.
Everyone is neurotic, narcissistic, racist, drugged to the eyeballs or all of the above. You switch quite rapidly from one point of view to the next, which does allow for comic effect (what people believe about themselves and how they are perceived by others vs. how people are actually perceived by others), but rarely digs beneath the surface of a character.

Netgalley provided me once again with the opportunity to get to know a new author, this time a french one. What is amazing is how I never came across her name, considering that France is just around the corner, and she is quite well known there. But I am glad I finally got to read one of her books.

And this book was a downward spiral that kept me hooked from start to finish. The cultural references, maybe from being European, were so close to home. Being a music lover myself, I loved the way the story was interconnected with the musical background and history.
But the way Virginie writes keeps you on your toes, makes you give your undivided attention to the book, otherwise you might miss who is telling the story at any given moment, or what twist are we approaching.

Vernon is simultaneously so different and so similar to all of us. One wrong turn, a little bit more passiveness in the way we approach our everyday life, and the constant turn of the wheel can engulf us and grind us into dust.
It also made me reflect in the way I look at people in our society, namely the ones we rendered invisible.
A really good book, that takes the comfort of our cultural references and throws them back at our faces.

Recommended to everyone who loves music, Paris, good books and is not afraid of a good strong story.