Smoking Kills

Author:
Antoine Laurain
Translator:
Louise Rogers-Lalaurie
Publisher:
Gallic Books
US Release date: Aug 7, 2018
Fume et tue
was first released in French in 2008
Pages: 208
ISBN: 978-1910477540
also available as ebook
Genre:  literary fiction

Goodreads

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS BOOK

Do you like quirky and dark? Then French writers are the right thing for you, especially contemporary ones. The Suicide Shop, by Jean Teulé, that I reviewed here a couple of years ago, fits the bill. And the book I’m presenting today does very well too. Smoking Kills is the latest book by Antoine Laurain available in English. The President’s Hat was certainly quirky enough. But now, Laurain has decided to add dark humor to his narrating skills. And it works, even for me, who usually don’t really like reading funny books.

Some passages are totally hilarious actually, though replaced in the context of the whole book, they sound bleak. If the English title is not too uplifting, the original French is worse: it literally says, Smoke and kill, in the imperative mode, just as new commandments.

The book is set in the context of the evolution of French law on smoking, when the smoking ban in offices eventually turned Fabrice’s life upside down.
The smoking ban and his wife’s disapproval of his addiction leads him to a hypnotist. Fabrice does not believe hypnosis can cure him, but he goes to a session, by mere curiosity.

Trouble starts when the hypnotist half manages to do it: Fabrice still feels the urge to smoke, but he no longer feels any pleasure when doing it. Until something dramatic happens: by accident, he pushes a guy under the métro, and as the man dies, Fabrice gets back his enjoyment, just for a few minutes. Is this event offering Fabrice a solution on what to do to find again the pleasure of smoking? Or should he ask his hypnotist to finish his job or even reverse the process?

The book will end in a manner and place you probably never expected. The editor calls it “subversive and politically incorrect.”

The book contains also hilarious views on contemporary art and on the world of high executives – Fabrice works as a headhunter in a Consultant Company. I also learned a few things about amphibians!

Reptiles, amphibians and my careful observation of them had been my gateway to the observation of top-finance directors and other high-flying executives. My office at HBC was little more than a giant virtual terrarium. The rare, exotic species I hunted were no longer coiled lazily behind the glass of their tanks, but scrupulously filed behind my computer screen, each in his box, or folder. My knowledge of the animal kingdom had been the ideal training ground for life as manhunter.
Page 54

VERDICT: Quirky story, as the French know how to do, with a good dose of dark comedy, by a skilled and entertaining writer.

ARE YOU PLANNING TO READ THIS BOOK?
Any other thoughts about smoking in literature
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