I ask our readers to forgive my loyalty to Nicolas Rey. I know it's a fault to be so predictable. But a novel that begins with
“My name is Martin Faubert and you are not reading an essay on happy sobriety”
is a novel that begins well. Martin is a 50-year-old doctor who says,
“I only have a handful of years left before everything falls apart for good.”
What a great idea to choose a doctor narrator. I identified myself because critics are a kind of doctor who regularly provides a check-up on literary health. Example: Modiano is better, Ernaux is losing his mind, Jean d'O is dead, what is Echenoz doing? The novels are blood samples that we analyze rigorously.
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Alternative medicine,
by Nicolas Rey, Au Diable Vauvert, 288 p., €19. ,
My diagnosis of the week: Nicolas Rey is in good shape in 2024. He is a light Djian, a Jaenada who would not be interested in news items, the John Fante of my generation. He is the inventor of gentle pessimism. His message is simple: life sucks but…
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