The Birthday Party

9781804270226
Fitzcarraldo Editions
Paperback
504pp
Fitzcarraldo Editions
197x125x35
Laurent Mauvignier Fitzcarraldo Editions FFC Paperback 2023

The Birthday Party�is a strange and marvellous thing: a thriller in slow motion. The tension builds so patiently that you almost miss it, with the result that when shocking events occur it’s too late to turn away. This is a dark and discomfiting work of beauty and violence, made all the more disturbing by its idyllic setting.’
- Jon McGregor, author of�Lean Fall Stand

‘This is a tension-ratcheting novel in which, over the space of a single day, the past breaks brutally into the present. There are shades of Joyce and Faulkner, but Mauvignier’s writing is entirely his own: in lyrical, digressive, shapeshifting narrative, Mauvignier merges psychological depth and penetrating character study with the relentlessness of a cold-blooded thriller. A triumphant, genre-crossing book.’
- Patrick McGuinness, author of�Throw Me to the Wolves

‘Mauvignier’s ability to keep the shocks coming…are among the qualities that make this riveting novel so nastily effective. Managing dynamic action as well as split-second psychological shifts…the whole shebang culminates in an extravagantly choreographed set-piece blow-out of nigh-on unbearable jeopardy…this macabre twist on the marriage-portrait novel ultimately invites prudence and humility on the thorny question of how much can we ever know about those closest to us.’
-�Anthony Cummings,�Observer

‘Daniel Levin Becker’s translation renders Mauvignier’s prose as fluid, often lovely…Mauvignier’s erudite thriller proves as interested in the grander deceptions of storyline as it is the ways we deceive ourselves.’�
-Jonathan McAloon,�Financial Times

‘The tension of the novel increases greatly but the style of the novel – the attentive detailing of each character’s attempt to comprehend these unfolding events – remains steadfast, giving it the quality of a Michael Haneke film…. This astute thriller doesn’t disappoint.’
-�Declan O’Driscoll,�The Irish Times

The Birthday Party�is characteristically stylish and intellectually ambitious, but it is also built around an immersive, suspenseful story: it is a thriller that experiments as much as it thrills…. But this is also a remarkably open book, since it invites itself to be read in a number of ways…Daniel Levin Becker’s translation is excellent – nimble and accurate throughout – and does justice to Laurent Mauvignier’s suggestive prose.’
-�Russel Williams,�Times Literary Supplement

‘[R]emarkable…. Readers whose tastes run to the pacey thrillers of James Patterson may find their patience frayed by the glacial progress of this quasi-Proustian noir. But if the beer god had meant everyone to drink Miller Light, he wouldn’t have given the Belgian Trappists all those rich recipes. A compelling blend of mystery, horror, and suspense.’
-�Kirkus starred review

‘One of France’s most talented writers.’
-�France Today

‘It is truly a great book: enthralling, impressive and fascinating in its literary methods…. I was totally captivated by its sentences that build up pleasure, terror and anxiety, their long, slow rhythms that create its dynamic and tension just as much as the situation itself.’
- Jean-Claude Raspiengeas,�Le Masque et la Plume

By Published On: January 29th, 2025Categories: Uncategorized0 Comments on The Birthday Party

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