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Grégoire Bouillier
Rating: 6.7 | 0 User Reviews | Send to Friend
Product of a ménage à trios; semi-incestuous relationship with his mother; sexually abusive relationship with his brother; infatuation with a prostitute; and racial outcast. These are only a few key descriptions of Grégoire Bouillier that would likely bring his resume to the top of the pile if he were to apply to one of the many fucked up reality television shows of our current generation. It is neigh impossible to believe some of the captivatingly filthy stories that he tells so frankly, but perhaps even more unbelievable is how he got his start: The novel begins with the author’s claim to having a happy childhood. This, however, is immediately followed with an anecdote about his mother, who asks him and his brother, “Children, do I love you?” before casually tossing herself out of the window in one of many, many failed suicide attempts. His awful relationships with women, namely four influential loves who loom over the narrative, you can consider as inevitable by-products of his experiences with his mother. Though, for the most part, Report is a charmingly dizzying piece of work, the insane situations he finds himself in with his lovers -- from nearly getting killed in Mexico to losing his mind as a result of heartbreak -- result in a churn of constant interjections that curb the otherwise simple stream of his story. Enduring his breakdown, he saves his life by reading Homer’s Odyssey “in a single transfigured night.” Strangely, the characters and plot of the epic tale help him place order on life’s more random moments. But, just when one thinks Bouillier’s life does not need any more sadness, the novel ends with his mother trying to commit suicide once more and lamenting the fact that “even death doesn’t want [her].”
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