Low Heights: Shocking, hilarious and poignant noir

Author: Pascal Garnier
Publisher: Gallic Books
ISBN: 1910477443
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 161

Book Description
In Low Heights, from the 'slyly funny' [Sunday Times] Pascal Garnier, a grumpy retiree has his world turned upside down when a man claiming to be his son turns up on his doorstep. 'Another classy and clever little drama' The Bookbag At least vultures have the decency to wait until their prey's dead before picking it apart ... After losing his wife and suffering a stroke, cantankerous retiree Edouard Lavenant has moved from Lyon to a village in the mountains with his put-upon nurse, Therese. One day, a man comes to the door claiming to be Edouard's long-lost son. Edouard's temper seems to be softening, but it isn't long before the local vultures are circling overhead ...

C'est la Vie: Shocking, hilarious and poignant noir

Author: Pascal Garnier
Publisher: Gallic Books
ISBN: 1910477826
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 80

Book Description
A writer finds fame and misfortune after winning a big literary prize and embarking on a roadtrip with his son in this novel by the 'slyly funny' [Sunday Times] Pascal Garnier. 'A jeu d'esprit of hard-boiled symbolism' Wall Street Journal Writer Jeff Colombier is not accustomed to success. Twice divorced with a grown-up son he barely sees, he drinks too much and his books don’t sell. Then he wins a big literary prize and his life changes for ever. Overwhelmed by his newfound wealth and happiness, he feels the need to escape and recapture his lost youth, taking his son, Damien, with him. And if shady lawyers and mysterious girls lead them down dangerous paths . . . well, c'est la vie.

Low Heights

Author: Pascal Garnier
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
ISBN: 1805336118
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description

A Long Way Off: Shocking, hilarious and poignant noir

Author: Pascal Garnier
Publisher: Gallic Books
ISBN: 1910477710
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 67

Book Description
A Long Way Off is a shocking noir about an impromptu road trip where a father discovers he doesn't know his daughter at all, from the 'slyly funny' [Sunday Times] Pascal Garnier. 'Plays out like an existential fever dream' Wall Street Journal Marc dreams of going somewhere far, far away – but he’ll start by taking his cat and his grown-up daughter, Anne, to an out-of-season resort on the Channel. Reluctant to go home, the curious threesome head south for Agen, whose main claim to fame is its prunes. As their impromptu road trip takes ever stranger turns, the trail of destruction – and mysterious disappearances – mounts up in their wake. Shocking, hilarious and poignant, the final dose of French noir from Pascal Garnier, published shortly before his death, is the author on top form.

Death by Sunshine

Author: Allison Burnett
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781937746001
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 262

Book Description
"Like Truman Capote, Allison Burnett knows how to pull up a chair and whisper a juicy story into his lucky reader's ear. Death By Sunshine is a quickly-paced tale inhabited by fascinating and funny creatures." - Nell Scovell, Vanity Fair "In this age when the genuine comic novel seems to be an extinct species, Allison Burnett gives us reason to rejoice. Death By Sunshine is a return trip to the world of B.K. Troop, one of the most appealing characters ever put on a page." - Charles Busch, author of The Tale of the Allergist's Wife and Die, Mommie, Die! "Death by Sunshine is classic Burnett: hilarious, gut-wrenching, and entirely entertaining. He takes us on a journey across the country into the darkest recesses of the human psyche - with a few detours into the excesses of the human flesh along the way. A terrific read!" - Claire LaZebnik, author of Epic Fail and Families and Other Non-Returnable Gifts "B.K. Troop is that rarest find: an unexpected and entirely engaging new character." - Seduced by a Literary Original by Robin Russin, Los Angeles Times B.K. Troop is an aging, erudite, chemically imbalanced, gay, alcoholic novelist living in Manhattan. His life is turned upside down when he is invited to Los Angeles to adapt one of his novels into a screenplay. Soon after his arrival, B.K. is thrust into the heart of a mystery that only he can solve. With the help of his trusty Mexican chauffeur, B.K. penetrates the lower depths of Hollywood with hilarious and surprisingly poignant results.

The Panda Theory

Author: Pascal Garnier
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781906040420
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 171

Book Description
Despite being a stranger in a small town, Gabriel quickly earns acceptance due to his acts of kindess and exceptional cooking, but behind the reserved appearence is a dark and haunted past.

I Am Not Sidney Poitier

Author: Percival Everett
Publisher: Graywolf Press
ISBN: 1555970192
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 275

Book Description
I Am Not Sidney Poitier is an irresistible comic novel from the master storyteller Percival Everett, and an irreverent take on race, class, and identity in America I was, in life, to be a gambler, a risk-taker, a swashbuckler, a knight. I accepted, then and there, my place in the world. I was a fighter of windmills. I was a chaser of whales. I was Not Sidney Poitier. Not Sidney Poitier is an amiable young man in an absurd country. The sudden death of his mother orphans him at age eleven, leaving him with an unfortunate name, an uncanny resemblance to the famous actor, and, perhaps more fortunate, a staggering number of shares in the Turner Broadcasting Corporation. Percival Everett's hilarious new novel follows Not Sidney's tumultuous life, as the social hierarchy scrambles to balance his skin color with his fabulous wealth. Maturing under the less-than watchful eye of his adopted foster father, Ted Turner, Not gets arrested in rural Georgia for driving while black, sparks a dinnertable explosion at the home of his manipulative girlfriend, and sleuths a murder case in Smut Eye, Alabama, all while navigating the recurrent communication problem: "What's your name?" a kid would ask. "Not Sidney," I would say. "Okay, then what is it?"

A Visit to Don Otavio

Author: Sybille Bedford
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780907871873
Category : Mexico
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
Mexico, through the eyes of Sybille Bedford is a country of passion and paradox: arid desert and shrieking jungle, harsh sun and deep shadow, violence and sentimentality. In her frank descriptions of the horrors of travel - through bug-infested jungle, trapped in a broiling stationary train, or in a bus with a dead fish slapping against her face - she gains our trust. But it is the charmed world of Don Otavio which steals our imagination. He is, she says, "one of the kindest men I ever met". She stays in his crumbling ancestral mansion, living a life of provincial ease and observing with glee the intense life of a Mexican neighbourhood.

Inherent Vice

Author: Thomas Pynchon
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101594675
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Book Description
"The funniest book Pynchon has written." — Rolling Stone "Entertainment of a high order." - Time Part noir, part psychedelic romp, all Thomas Pynchon—private eye Doc Sportello surfaces, occasionally, out of a marijuana haze to watch the end of an era. In this lively yarn, Thomas Pynchon, working in an unaccustomed genre that is at once exciting and accessible, provides a classic illustration of the principle that if you can remember the sixties, you weren't there. It's been a while since Doc Sportello has seen his ex- girlfriend. Suddenly she shows up with a story about a plot to kidnap a billionaire land developer whom she just happens to be in love with. It's the tail end of the psychedelic sixties in L.A., and Doc knows that "love" is another of those words going around at the moment, like "trip" or "groovy," except that this one usually leads to trouble. Undeniably one of the most influential writers at work today, Pynchon has penned another unforgettable book.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics

Author: Marisha Pessl
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101218800
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 540

Book Description
The mesmerizing bestseller that combines the storytelling gifts of Donna Tartt and the suspense of Alfred Hitchcock—A New York Times Ten Best Book of the Year Special Topics in Calamity Physics is a darkly hilarious coming-of-age tale and a richly plotted suspense story, told with dazzling intelligence and wit. At the center of the novel is clever, deadpan Blue van Meer, who has a head full of literary, philosophical, scientific, and cinematic knowledge. But she could use some friends. Upon entering the elite St. Gallway School, she finds some—a clique of eccentrics known as the Bluebloods. One drowning and one hanging later, Blue finds herself puzzling out a byzantine murder mystery. Nabokov meets Donna Tartt (then invites the rest of the Western Canon to the party) in this novel—with visual aids drawn by the author—that has won over readers of all ages.