“Well-being”, “Le Mal Joli”, “The last days of the socialist party”… What to read?

With Arnaud Viviant (Regards), Jean-Marc Proust (Slate), Raphaëlle Leyris (The World) and Elisabeth Philippe (The New Obs)

“The last days of the Socialist Party” by Aurélien Bellanger, Seuil

Beginning of the 21st century. Two philosophers who are completely opposites dream of taking the Republic of Letters by storm. A second-rate apparatchik, agitator of ideas in the Socialist Party, is obsessed with saving the French Republic. While the publication of caricatures by a satirical newspaper triggers an unprecedented geopolitical crisis and a succession of attacks, these three ambitious people create a secret movement which will lead the country towards an unpredictable destiny.

“Le Mal Joli” by Emma Becker, Albin Michel

In Totémic, Rebecca Manzoni presents Emma Becker: “She became known five years ago with a novel called “The House”, it was her third book: the story of the two years she had voluntarily spent as a prostitute in a brothel in Berlin. Last year, Emma Becker published “Odile l’été”, a novel about the sexual biography of two women, published in a collection aptly named “Troublemaker”. And now “Le Mal Joli” appears, a sexual passion between Emma and the man. whom she calls Antonin de Quincy d’Avricourt.

“Well-being” by Nathan Hill, Gallimard

It’s the story of a couple, Jack and Elizabeth. At the beginning of the 1990s, they lived the bohemian life in Chicago, a bohemian life still far from being bourgeois. Their apartments face each other, they observe each other, they spy on each other, they hide in the dark, they end up meeting and it is capital Love.

“Love Gil” by Shane Haddad, POL

It is the novel of an escape and a separation. To begin with, the cruelest of all: the accidental, absurd death of a young man. Mathias is buried, and it is the incomprehension and sorrow of his friends, Gil, a young girl of 25, and Mathieu. Gil then recounts at the speed of his emotions what happened. Many things escape him. The brutality of the adult world. Daily obligations. Alcohol, which eats away. And his own resilience. She wanted to leave, to escape. Accompanied by her two friends, the two M. (Mathias and Mathieu), who face the same questions, the same striking emptiness of an entire generation.

“Famous” by Maud Ventura, The Iconoclast

Fame is my life. Was I prepared for such success? Of course yes. Cléo grew up in a family whose banality she deplored. Since childhood, she has had only one obsession: to become famous. Over the years, Cléo jumps every obstacle that is imposed on her, snatching each victory with both teeth, cutting her thigh with each failure. To the surprise of everyone but herself, Cléo becomes a global star, racking up millions of dollars, Los Angeles villas and awards.