Virginie Despentes - Vernon Subutex (Grasset, 2015) ***½

There is no culture in the world, no language in the world, which allows for such brutal, cynical, arrogant and scornful personal interaction as French. Whether it's in movies or in books, the joy of listening to the French attacking each other verbally with no restraint on their level of political correctness is at the same refreshing and funny.

And that's the big joy in Virginie Despentes' "Vernon Subutex", a young man who gets kicked out of his house with no other financial choice but to live homeless on the streets of Paris, talking his way into staying at other people's flats for short periods until he gets kicked out again. But Vernon, the lead character, has something other people want to, without his knowing it: some personal tapes by a former pop singer.

Despentes creates a whole world of marginal people and very rich people who suddenly interact, all driven by their own weaknesses (craving for sex, attention, drugs and money), scolding, betraying, deceiving, but they become all so human by it. Despentes is the ruthless narrator who zooms in on all these little character faults of each and every individual in the story.

Every single part of society is ridiculed and exposed: left wing, right wing, rich and poor, Europeans, Arabs, Africans, Jews, homeless and stars, gay and straight people. They are all somehow sick to the core, but at the same time, their perspective and emotional context are somehow understandable.

Despentes destroys them at the same time as she digs under their skin and narrates each character from its own deep human needs. She loves her characters as much as they love themselves, and that is the recipe for a high energy literary explosion.

Here's an example of her typical "French" style.

There are three volumes to this trilogy (as it should be). Can't wait to read the other ones.