Pig Tales [Paperback]

Marie Darrieussecq (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 26, 2001

A bizarre tale encompassing feminism, politics and social hypocrisy. A stunning young woman employed in the sex industry enjoys extraordinary success at bringing home the bacon (in part due to her increasingly rosy and irresistible backside) until she slowly metamorphoses into a pig.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Franz Kafka meets George Orwell in this dark, dystopian tale. Set in Paris in the near future, the story revolves around a young woman who works as a beautician and masseuse, for whom happiness is derived from perfumes, shampoos, and generally hedonistic pursuits. One day she realizes she is slowly (and quite literally) becoming a pig. Life as a neophyte porker, she discovers, isn't all that bad, though it does contain some unique dangers. She remains extremely popular with her massage customers, who take unusual glee in adopting her barnyard ways. Unfortunately, it is difficult for a pig to find true love in a human world; abandoned by her lover, her days blur into an endless stream of swine-like debauchery. Then she meets Yvan, a young corporate type who sometimes becomes a wolf. Pig Tales, a Prix Goncourt finalist and overnight sensation in France (where they believe Jerry Lewis to be a comic genius), is Marie Darrieussecq's first book. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

"I suspect that any publisher who agrees to take on this manuscript will be heading for trouble," admits the unnamed female narrator of this brash first novel, which is set in France in the not-too-distant future. The narrator works in a beauty/massage parlor and becomes distressed by her gradual transformation into a werepig. Much of this progression is documented by her increasing appetites for food and sex, but also by her ruddying complexion, narrowing eyes and the appearance of a corkscrewing tail. The world, too, seems to be transforming itself, as external events intrude on the narrator's life: revolutions, counterrevolutions, feasts, famines and epidemics. It all points, albeit vaguely, to a satire of French far-right politics. As for the protagonist, she suffers through perils but emerges, her naivete intact, essentially unbowed. The novel's 20-something author is a French schoolteacher with a sharp pen and a strong eye for quirk. Some of the ancillary characters, such as Yvan the aristocratic werewolf, pack a pizazzful punch, but Pig Tales keeps striking the same notes over and over: from the worship of flesh/meat on the bone to the constant porcine puns, this short book tires out much too fast. (May) FYI: Pig Tales is currently selling 3000 copies a day in France, and a film version, to be directed by Jean-Luc Godard, is in the works.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Faber Paperbacks (September 26, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571193722
• ISBN-13: 978-0571193721
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,801,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Young author worth following, June 3, 2000

By 

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

This review is from: Pig Tales: A Novel of Lust and Transformation (New Press International Fiction) (Paperback)

The subtitle of "A Novel of Lust and Transformation" caused me to hesitate before picking up this small volume. The subtitle is both accurate and a teaser - the novel never slips into crudeness even when presenting crude behaviour.

The tale - a woman transforming into a pig and writing her story when she has accepted a pig life style - is a difficult story to successfully write. Darrieusseeq makes a few slips but clearly establishes herself as an author to be watched.

The social message of the book is a little overbearing, a little "plastic". But the book as a whole is sufficiently interesting that the reader is willing to forgive the message.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty in Pink, February 18, 2000

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"[e-mail]" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pig Tales: A Novel of Lust and Transformation (New Press International Fiction) (Hardcover)

After looking at the front and back covers I feared this might be yet another overhyped little novel about sex by an overhyped writer - a book that would start with a sprint and then run out of ideas after 40 pages. Although the novel sags half way through, it recovers well and exceeded expectations. Apart from the obvious winks at Orwell and Kafka, the book also reminded me of Zahavi's Dirty Weekend and Atwood's Handmaid's Tale. It's like a Will Self novel, except that it it has humour, heart, narrative skill...and truffles. Four Oinks.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decadence at its most piggish: 3.5 stars, June 3, 2004

By 

Debbie Lee Wesselmann (the Lehigh Valley, PA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Pig Tales: A Novel of Lust and Transformation (New Press International Fiction) (Paperback)

The debut novel by Marie Darrieussecq, who later published another short novel UNDERCURRENTS, is a fantasy about a part-time perfume employee who finds herself transformed bit by bit into a luxurious pig the men go wild for. Her flesh grows rosy and firmly "pneumatic," and the men cannot keep their greedy hands off her. She revels in their attention. However, what makes her desirable at first eventually exacts its cost. When she meets a werewolf lover who understands the complexity of being part human, part animal - and even, at times, all animal - she finds an odd redemption.

This book is less scandalous than its subtitle suggests, with the opening quote about a pig being slaughtered the most distressing moment of this short, allegorical story. Darrieussecq's sensual language of greed and lust carries this book beyond its thin premise, but ultimately, the novel ends up being not much more than an beautifully worded exercise in imagination.

Readers of contemporary French literature in translation will be keenly interested in this fantasy that took the country by storm in 1996. It can easily be read in an afternoon, though understanding the psyche behind it is much more difficult.