Synopses & Reviews
An unsparingly truthful account of love, betrayal, and the traps we set for ourselves, by France's master of psychological suspense
In work after work, the critically acclaimed author Emmanuel Carrère has trained his unblinking gaze on the lives of others as they fight a losing battle with that most fearsome of adversaries—the self. Now, determined to escape the bleak visions of his narratives, he takes on a film project in the heart of Russia while also embarking on a new love affair back home in Paris. But soon enough, the diversion he seeks eludes him, intimacy proves too arduous, and Carrv®re is left peering into the dark mirror of his own life.
Set in Paris and Kotelnich, a small post-Soviet town, My Life as a Russian Novel traces Carrère's pursuit of two obsessions—the disappearance of his Russian grandfather and his erotic fascination with a woman he loves but cannot keep from destroying. In prose that is elegant and passionate, Carrère weaves the strands of his story into a travelogue of a journey inward. Road trip, confession, erotic tour de force—this fearless reckoning illuminates the schemes we devise to evade ourselves and the inevitable payment they exact.
Review
“A captivating memoir that reads like a literary erotic-suspense novel.” —
The Boston Globe“Carrère brings the whole to sharp focus with a few jarring truths and a moment of great beauty. You leave its last pages with a deep appreciation for life.” —The Washington Post
“An elegant, emotional self-examination, full of bleak but truthful insights about the lies and compromises of love.” —The Times (London)
“Recalls Hitchcock and Calvino.” —Details
“Brims with ideas and incidents...Gripping and fascinating, an intimate portrait of a complicated mans inner life and his struggles to find some kind of happiness and fulfillment.” —The Guardian (London)
“Even by the high standards set by his earlier books, Emmanuel Carrères My Life as A Russian Novel is a masterpiece, a searingly candid, breathtakingly beautiful exploration of territories both far and near: Russia and France; the past and the present; brutality and love; the inscrutable desires of the other and the often equally unfathomable motivations of the self. This is an unforgettable book from the most original, exciting, and important figure in contemporary French literature.”
—Caroline Weber, author of Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution “Emmanuel Carrère has written a work of infinite sorrow, infernal jealousy, and violent passion. My Life as a Russian Novel dazzles.” —Le Monde “An exceptional book in which the adversary, this time, is Carrère himself, revealed in a lucid, unflinching analysis…. Remarkable.” —Le Figaro
Synopsis
From the master of psychological suspense and the author of The Adversary comes “a work of infinite sorrow, infernal jealousy, and violent passion” (Le Monde). Set in Paris and Kotelnich, a small post-Soviet town, My Life as a Russian Novel traces Carrères pursuit of two obsessions—the disappearance of his Russian grandfather and his erotic fascination with a woman he loves but cannot keep from destroying. In prose that is elegant and passionate, Carrère weaves the strands of his story into a travelogue of a journey inward. Road trip, confession, and erotic tour de force—this fearless reckoning illuminates the schemes we devise to evade ourselves, and the inevitable payment they exact.
About the Author
Emmanuel Carrère, novelist, filmmaker, journalist, and biographer, is the award-winning internationally renowned author of Class Trip, The Mustache, and The Adversary, a New York Times Notable Book. Carrère lives in Paris.