Do Not Touch [Paperback]

Eric Laurrent (Author), Jeanine Herman (translator) (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 19, 2009

When French mafioso Oscar Lux saved Clovis Baccara from killing himself, he became the boss and something of a mentor to Clovis. Twenty years later, it is no surprise that Clovis is named best man when Oscar decides to settle down and get out of the business. Fulfilling his role as second-hand man, Clovis is entrusted with the job of guarding Oscar's new bride when Oscar is taken into police custody for embezzlement and racketeering on the day after his wedding. Alone on his boss's honeymoon in Los Angeles with Oscar's incredibly attractive new wife, Clovis tries his hardest to adhere to the one rule he has given himself, the rule which gets harder to heed as each moment passes: do not touch.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A classic dime-store plot involving a trio destined for tragedy gets a stagy, gilded treatment by French novelist Laurrent, in English translation for the first time. At age 40, Clovis Baccara is a successful Parisian financial wheeler-dealer and lothario love struck by the sight of his longtime business partner's young intended, Veronica. Oscar, the would-be groom, has gotten increasingly paranoid about their life of white-collar crime, and the marriage marks his resolve to get out of the business and start a family. That plan goes awry when the police apprehend Oscar on his wedding day. Of course, he's left instructions for Clovis, the only man he can trust, to take his bride to the couple's honeymoon suite in Malibu and wait for his release. Clovis makes himself miserable trying to ignore Veronica's charms, and the animosity builds between them over the next several days, leading to the inevitable détente. Driven more by baroque description than actual plot, this over-the-top performance is a titillating comic romance with a heavy accent. (Jan.)
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Review

"Eric Laurrent [is] decidedly one of the most virtuosic of our young writers." --Jean-Claude Lebrun, l Humanite

"Part of Laurrent's talent lies in his ability to reinvent (or perhaps subvert) a commonplace theme by means of language as well as humor. Together they allow the author to maintain an ironic distance that aptly reflects the modern condition." --Donald J. Dziekowicz, World Literature Today

"[Laurrent's] books are impressive ones, both by virtue of their quality and their range." --Warren Motte, Fables of the Novel

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Product Details

• Paperback: 139 pages
• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press; First English Translation edition (January 19, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564784312
• ISBN-13: 978-1564784315
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,324,185 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece, January 3, 2009

By 

M. Wilson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Do Not Touch (Paperback)

Probably the best book I have read in the last decade, beautifully written, compelling and original, makes the reader hang on every word.

Laurrent masterly depicts the desire of Clovis for Veronica, the wife of his mob boss, spinning the reader in a web of language written so elegantly that it rivals (maybe surpasses) Joyce. A prose novel with the profundity of poetry, this is a book I could (and will) read again and again. A must-read.