Virginie Despantes - Vernon Subutex 3 (Grasset, 2017) ****

I finished the last part of the Vernon Subutex trilogy this summer, in which the situation escalates. The group of homeless people led by Vernon continues to organise 'convergences', evenings of discussion and dance in complete darkness, like rave parties but then so special that you get into a trance without even taking any drugs or alcohol. 

"A présent, il (Vernon) jouit d'un confort qui n'est pas materiel - ils dorment dans des maisons vides, quand il ya des maisons, rarement chauffees, ils s'installent à côté de sources quand il n'y a pas l' eau courante et font des toilettes a l' extérieur par moins sept, ils mangent dans des gamelles - et pourtant ils vivent dans le luxe. Ils sont convaincus de partager une expérience à part, une extra ball que la vie ne leur devait pas, quelque chose d' octroyé, de magique. Et il ne veut pas que ça s'arrête". 

Meanwhile, this sense of bliss is in stark contrast with the lives of some other characters, the vengeful Dopalet who will release a wave of terror on the innocent. He represents the rich French, or the middle class French, who believe they only have rights and no duties, who become increasingly right wing and frustrated with life and society, and who also exemplifies the current waves of hate and anger that ripple through French society, feelings that have become totally acceptable now to articulate, leading even to the joy of ventilating anger and rage.

"Il sent monter en lui une haine abjecte et il est étonné de sa vigueur. Probablement le retour du refoulé ... Le plus gênant, c'est le plaisir qu'il ressent quand cette haine le tra­verse. Il sent qu'il se connecte à une énergie du terroir, qu' on lui a interdite pendant de trop longues décennies - une énergie frarnçaise, patriote, puissante et riche. Il est conscient de la monstruosité de ces pensées. Il a cinquante ans, toute sa vie on lui a répété qu'il ne fallait pas les autoriser".

Like in the previous books, each chapter is written from the perspective of one character, and Despentes describes every feeling, thought and action by this character full of cynicism, self-delusion, sarcasm and toxicity. In a way, it couldn't be more French than this. They curse, they rant, they feel misunderstood, they complain about their fate, about society, about everybody else, about everything actually. 

"Sylvie n' avait jamais organisé de soirée chez elle. Par honte. Parce que c'etait un petit appartement ordinaire, sans aucun cachet, bas de plafond. Parce qu' elle y avait empilé les trois meubles qui tenaient. Que la rue était moche, sans charme, que l' entrée sentait la soupe aux légumes, la nourriture de pauvre. Que le dealeur du sixième bloquait la porte et que les toxicos pissaient contre l' ascenseur. Elle avait laissé entrer Olga qui squattait le sofa. Elle savait qu'Olga ne verrait rien de tout ça. Elle est habituée. A ses yeux, cette merde immonde, c' est la vie normale."

The story itself only transpires through these personal rantings by the characters. Vernon himself is but a character in the background, the red thread around which everything revolves, but who is surprisingly absent as a voice in the story. Despentes is ruthless for her characters but at the same time, she brings them to live like real life persons, with their petty thoughts, the little problems of daily life, while at the same time reflecting on society, or even taking the reader by surprise, or by commenting as an omniscient author, breaking the narrow perspective of the characters depicted. 

"Il vomissaient partout sur le camp, avec une belle énergie de soûlards"

"L'intelligence est utile pour justifier les décisions, après coup. On l'utilise pour se raconter une histoire plausible. On fait semblant, d'y voir clair, d'être cohérent. Mais la vérité, c'est qu'on agit sans réfléchir. C'est tout."

It is also a book of human terror, of brutal violence and the absolute lack of empathy. I thought the second volume of the trilogy was not as good as the first one, and I wasn't sure whether to even start on this one, but it is even better than the first book. It is well-written, with a strong pace, wonderful direct language and her vitriolic pen. 

It is the "condition humaine", it is about the deep anger among so many people that society is unfair with little justice, but especially the other humans, to quote Sartre "L'enfer, c'est les autres". Within this gigantic societal terror, there are some real humans, with good feelings of tenderness and respect, so fragile in this violent environment. 

"Cette merde immonde, c' est la vie normale." (This squalid pile of shit is just normal life).

Virginie Despentes - Vernon Subutex 2 (Grasset, 2015) ***½

This is part two of the trilogy. Vernon Subutex, the record store owner disappeared in the first part and became homeless. Now, his former friends and other people, with less honest interests, find him back among the other homeless people (Charles, Olga, Laurent). Despentes keeps adding characters and all of them get the same depth of exploration. To her credit, they are all interesting, recognisable, genuine. She digs in their pasts, creating a very broad canvas in which the original plot - the search for the lost tapes of Alex Bleach the rock star - becomes a little bit too distant, yet her writing is so energetic, fast and politically incorrect, that as a reader you stay glued to her narrative, that rushes forward in the present tense, in a language and vocabulary that is young, and makes you feel part of what's happening. 

Her characters, often relatively marginal to what is happening in society, are often more honest than the world around them, the world of fast food, fast sex, fast culture, fast money. 

I had wanted to read the third part this year too. It's waiting on the shelf. 

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.