Philippe Djian is the type of novelist who claims to be guided by his characters. In Without countinghe let himself be led blindly by his main character, a journalist recently in the grip of hallucinations (a “gleaming gorgon” or a “firebird of misfortune”), in a disconcerting game of massacre camped largely in the cold nights of a late spring.
Faced with the singularity of the proposal, the almost dreamlike atmosphere, the fluidity of the dialogues and the quirky humor of Without counting, the reader will only ask to let himself be led in his turn in this very good novel: “I sometimes wonder how far my curiosity will go. As soon as a door opens, I rush in. Where is this tunnel still taking me, I tell myself, it’s stronger than me. »
Impotent due to a failed vasectomy, Nathan has very little physical contact with his wife Sylvia. “Once you relegate sex to the second category, everything becomes easier. This does not prevent him from feeling almost erotic sensations when he attends his stepmother Gaby’s public readings. “Sex is always hiding somewhere. I know it. He is still there and he will remain so, he is the one leading the dance. »
A great poet, Gaby has lived in the garden shed of her son-in-law and her daughter since the death of her husband Robert in the fire of their house. Owner of Awakening, a newspaper where Nathan has worked for ten years, Gaby refuses to shut down and sell her land despite numerous requests from deputy Richard de Brunevigne. As Nathan struggles to keep the diary alive, the dead pile up around Gaby.
Without forgetting these women with irrational behavior, Barbara, Richard’s wife, and their handyman, Nicole, who throw themselves on Nathan’s neck: “It’s not easy to be the spitting image of Joaquin Phoenix in his good days. And the little Coton de Tuléar offered by Barbara to Sylvia, which follows Nathan like her shadow and leads him to approach the enemy as if by magic. “It’s a sect, or whatever, cotton is a sign of recognition, even rallying. »
After the disappointment Double Nelson, an improbable romance novel set against a backdrop of espionage, which heralded a turning point in the career of the prolific novelist and lyricist, Philippe Djian is back in better shape than ever. Skillfully handling the ellipsis, the unspoken and the succinct description specific to the various interpretations, the author delivers a story as playful as it is captivating on power games and social inequalities.
While he cheerfully borrows from noir novels and psychological thrillers, Djian skilfully adds a fantastic note, thus evoking Maupassant in passing, in order to plunge with delight into the abysses of Nathan’s psyche until the last twist. “I approach to ask him what is going on and the kid replies that he has seen the devil. I tell him listen, kid, we can’t see the devil, the devil is inside of us. »