Rate this book

Fatale (1977)

by Jean-Patrick Manchette(Favorite Author)

3.59 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1590173813 (ISBN13: 9781590173817)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

publisher

NYRB Classics

review 1: A lot of people seem to have really dug this one, but I still don't know... Like, I'm not sure if it was good on a level I just wasn't in a mood to comprehend or if it was, actually, really bad. And right now, I'm leaning towards bad, because it seemed like a ham-fisted and poorly executed stab at surrealism. Surrealism by way of a 13-year-old boy who was really fond of gross-out humor. I think the translation bugged me too because the tone of the dialogue was all over the place; sometimes it seemed period and at others it seemed oddly modern. For a lot of readers, this unevenness was a positive thing, but I found it off-putting and confusing.
review 2: It's good! It's short, enjoyable, did not see the conclusion coming. The best part of the book is not the ove... morerarching story arc, which is a good thriller noir piece, but the gems of details that are revealed along the way, completely subtle and with a deadpan delivery (unlike the reviews I write here). The translation is not the best, and so some of the syntax and the voice is disjointed at times (unless that's the author's doing, in which case, uh, my apologies to the translator). But it's got its really good moments, and is a quick read. less

Download links for: Fatale

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