Desolation [Hardcover]

Yasmina Reza (Author), Carol Brown Janeway (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 24, 2002

From the internationally acclaimed playwright and author of Art comes a first novel of extraordinary brilliance: the outpourings—at once eccentric, dark, and exceedingly funny—of an old man reflecting upon his life, marriages, friendships, love affairs, and the enragingly separate existence of his spoiled, and lost, only son.
He has had a full life, and now, in his later years, retired, his second wife getting on his nerves, love affairs a distant memory, he has a few things that he’d like to get off his chest.

As he talks—half to himself, half to the son he can’t understand—we’re introduced to Nancy, his too-happy wife; to their housekeeper, Mrs. Dacimiento, who still can’t put the bag properly over the rim of the garbage can; to his chum Lionel; to his daughter and her wannabe-truly-Jewish husband; and to the heartbreaking Marisa Botton, his idiotic, irresistible mistress. Finally, we witness his chance re-encounter with the charming Genevieve Abramowitz, who in telling him a story of her own leads him to his final overtures.

Yasmina Reza has written a symphonic monologue—a passionate kvetch, a truly original work.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A curmudgeonly retired Parisian is the narrator of this delightful first novel by playwright Reza, author of the Tony Award-winning Art. Bienvenue to Samuel's world, where too-cheerful Nancy, his second wife, "doesn't understand that a man who has no place to whine cannot be a normal man," and his disappointing 38-year-old son "crisscrosses the world on the 99 cents he gets from subletting the apartment I rent for him." Samuel's best friend, Lionel, "can't get it up anymore"; his marvelous mistress, the delectable Marisa (aka "my Babylon"), is now only a memory; Mrs. Dacimiento, his housekeeper, hasn't mastered the art of fitting the plastic garbage sack properly over the rim of the garbage can-"Sometimes I long to say, `Have you never put a rubber on a guy?'" The winter of this Parisian's delightful discontent alternates brilliantly between dry humor and wry flashes of heartbreaking wisdom. Crafted with loving care and remarkable attention to voice, this short novel portrays an aging man desperately trying to make sense of life while talking out loud to himself, his son, his buddy Lionel and, finally, to an old friend and fellow gardener, Genevieve Abramowitz, whose response helps him to realize that desolation can be the prelude to one last stab at true communication. "The garden-all me," Samuel discovers, can lead to a late-in-life blossoming. "But the world is not outside us. The world lives within us."
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Reza, best known for her play Art, not surprisingly offers a first novel with the same theatrical quality. The book reads like a one-man show, featuring a monolog delivered by an elderly French gentleman who is both thinking out loud and speaking with various people from his life, including his itinerant son, his lovers, and the friends who have passed on before him. At the end of his life, he's confounded by his wayward son's "happiness" (which he sees as resignation and sloth) and reflects on how close he himself may have come to achieving that blissful state, ultimately wondering what, indeed, it is. The book, while not lacking in wit or some measure of insight, nevertheless feels more like an open-ended character sketch for a future stage production than a complete novel. A slight and curious work that will garner most of its readership from those familiar with the playwright. Purchase accordingly.
Marc Kloszewski, Indiana Free Lib., PA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 135 pages
• Publisher: Knopf (September 24, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375410872
• ISBN-13: 978-0375410871
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,091,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Excellent final third but ..., August 13, 2005

By 

M. J. Smith (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Desolation (Hardcover)

Monologues can be an effective approach to novels (Tabucchi, Hrabel,Tuck and Kolitz come to mind). However, to be effective the reader needs to be sympathetic/empathetic to the speaker or the problem. Unfortunately, for the first two-thirds of this novel Samuel Perlman was a bitter, uninteresting character. However, the last third places Perlman's isolation/desolation into a broader existential, Jewish, Kabbalistic context. Finally, his issues become issues of humanity - how to create a life, a persona to stave off desolation.

The author provides a very consistent voice and a dry humor that makes the novel an enjoyable read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reflections of a Life!, April 7, 2003

By 

Joseph J. Hanssen "Joe" (Upstate New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Desolation (Hardcover)

Yasmina Reza is the author of the Tony Award winning play "Art" and it is evident from the beginning paragraph of this debut novel that this author is very familiar with the stage. Written in monologue form, the story gives voice to the ravings and complaints of an old man named Samuel Perlman. Samuel is complaining most of the time about his adult son, from whom he feels estranged. This is a son he feels is lazy, "rotting in leisure", and who has no ambition or passion in his life. In analyzing his son's misguided life, he starts to reflect upon his own life, his marriages, love affairs, and close friendships. Could it be he is terrified of his own daily monotony? Loneliness, solitude and Samuel's inability to escape his own unhappiness or daily routine are perhaps his greatest enemy?

This is a brilliantly written first novel that is humorous funny, sad, heartbreaking, uplifting and disturbing all at the same time. You get a sense of just how fragile life is and how hard it is to escape one's final destination. One has to look beyond the complaints of Samuel to really know him. Excellent. Highly Recommended!

Joe Hanssen

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting monologue, November 4, 2002

By 

Emilia Palaveeva "ema-in-seattle" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Desolation (Hardcover)

Written in the form of a monologue, this short novel is about the life, disappointments and losses of an old man. Disappointed at his son for lacking ambition and embracing mediocrity, the narrator shares his thoughts of his life, his friends and the events that shaped his life.

The novel and the language are interesting. However, I did not feel any compassion or sympathy towards the character. He is an old man bitter with disappointment at everyone around him. Yet, he himself, despite his talks of thriving in conflict and turmoil, has avoided conflict all his life and continues to do so with his wife, dauther and her family. While he does not claim he is perfect he also does not take any responsibility for anything or anyone.

While the monologue technique was interesting, I found the book mediocre.