Monsieur Viannet

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Monsieur Viannet is fifty years old. He lives with his wife in a tiny, cold apartment near Bastille, where even the drafts can’t get rid of the stale tobacco smell. Monsieur Viannet used to be a handsome man. Monsieur Viannet used to be athletic. Monsieur Viannet used to be in the army. Monsieur Viannet has children that he never sees. Above all, Monsieur Viannet was acquitted after having been accused of murdering his father.

Ricocheting between prison, homeless shelters and shabby hotels, Monsieur Viannet belongs to what is known as the urban poor, an underclass of people on the margins; homeless and heartbroken before their time. His loneliness has become absolute. Even his wife is no more than a witness to what he once was, a mute accuser.

Any of us could have run into Monsieur Viannet in the street, but Monsieur Viannet doesn’t go out any more. He has his cigarettes that he chain-smokes, his beer that he guzzles from morning ‘til night, his flat-screen that is never turned off and that reflects the world’s absurdity like a mirror. Like it or not, Monsieur Viannet is our precise contemporary.

Across from him: the narrator. She has been hired by a rehab centre to evaluate how former residents – including Monsieur Viannet – are doing. She asks the questions. And despite her professional rigor, she becomes haunted by Monsieur Viannet’s radical despair, until the final tragedy.

With a background as a sociologist, Véronique Le Goaziou here reveals herself first and foremost as a remarkable writer. Monsieur Viannet is a novel written almost entirely in dialogue, yet the essential is played out between the lines. Alexandre Viannet’s words trace the sadly ordinary outlines of a life doomed to failure from the start. Thanks to the author’s talent, the flip side of today’s society and an unresolved exploration of the human condition form a backdrop to this tense, harsh novel.

Véronique Le Goaziou is a sociologist and an academic. She has written several sociology books. Here previous works published by Éditions de La Table Ronde: La Vieille Femme et les mouettes (1996) and À cause de la vie (2003). Monsieur Viannet is her fourth novel.

“A story of life written on the bone, not an ounce of fat, even less pathos… a novel as taut as a guitar string, and as resonant.” Le Monde des Livres

“A bitter and unyielding encounter with uncertainty.” Midi Libre

“A poignant book.” Le Républicain d’Uzès

“A tough and realistic novel, much needed.” Parutions.com