The Erasers [Paperback]

Alain Robbe-Grillet (Author), Richard Howard (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Robbe-Grillet, Alain | Publication Date: January 21, 1994

Alain Robbe-Grillet is internationally hailed as the chief spokesman for the noveau roman and one of the great novelists of the twentieth century. The Erasers, his first novel, reads like a detective story but is primarily concerned with weaving and then probing a complete mixture of fact and fantasy. The narrative spans the twenty-four-hour period following a series of eight murders in eight days, presumably the work of a terrorist group. After the ninth murder, the investigation is turned over to a police agent, who may in fact be the assassin.

Both an engrossing mystery and a sinister deconstruction of reality, The Erasers intrigues and unnerves with equal force as it pull us along to its ominous conclusion.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press; 1st Evergreen Ed edition (January 21, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802150861
• ISBN-13: 978-0802150868
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #302,273 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars not your typical mystery novel, February 2, 2006

By 

anonymous - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Erasers (Paperback)

While this is billed as "a pure detective tale or as a complex, many leveled novel," those who are expecting a whodunit will be disappointed. There is certainly a crime: for the eight days preceding the opening of the book a murder has been committed in some part of the country at the same time every day, presumably by the same terrorist group. Now economist Daniel Dupont has been murdered, or has he? Wallas is sent from the Bureau to solve the crime---or is he really the assassin? The book has action and even an ending, but there the similarity with the mystery novel ends. It is more like the British television series "The Prisoner" that aired in the 70's.

The action goes back and forth between flashbacks, characters, and ruminations. The same scene is described over and over from the viewpoint of different characters...or is it an imagined event? One character climbing a stairs dissolves into another character climbing a different stairs (or is it) dissolves into another (or is it) character obsessing about how he will climb the same set of stairs. The sound of a buzzer dissolves into the sound of a woman's voice. Another character plans a detailed suicide, but it is only in the imagination of the local police inspector, who realizes there are social limitations to who can be accused of a murder and is determined to report a believable suicide. And is it the hero staring into the canal or the bartender staring into the fishtank?

In the end we are left to sort out the fantasies from actual happenings and possible motivations. The author gives cryptic clues: a picture of lightning striking a tower as two figures fall out of it resembling a tarot card, and the mutterings of a drunk who spouts riddles about Oedipus "What animal is parricide in the morning, incestuous at noon, and blind at night?" Who is betrayed, and who is a position to betray? And what about the theory of the inspector's assistant that an illigitimate son has committed murder to collect the inheritance?

If you like 'The Prisoner', you will like this. If you want a mystery novel with predictable dialogue and action, pick up Agatha Christie or Mickey Spillane.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Buy This Book!, September 12, 2002

By 

K. DeV (Chicago) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Erasers (Paperback)

I read this many years ago after borrowing it from a friend and had to buy it now to own it and re-read it. My friend read it for a class and came to love it. He told me about and I found the plot intriquing. It's more than that. It's fascinating! Robbe-Grillet writes in such an unusual style which you soon grab on to, and then it pulls you in. As another reviewer said, take nothing for granted. Everything is important. If you like trite stories with no plot aside from the "been there done that" type, then don't buy this. You'll probably hate it. But if you enjoy being captivated by a story, and want a story and plot line to take you somewhere, this is it. This is a story which requires you to think. The story and the plot fold in and on themselves and becomes tangled, but then unfolds and reveals the brilliant mind of the author. A literary masterpiece!

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A perpetual exercise in doubting 'the facts'; great mystery, November 13, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Erasers (Paperback)

The narration and elaborate descirptions in this book lure the reader in more and more. You cannot let one single aspect of the narration escape you, it's too important to the impact of the ending. There is also a plot within a plot in this book; the unfolding of events is extremely well done. I couldn't put it down because as the reader, you feel more omnicient than the characters and can't wait to see the final outcome.