PositiveBomb Magazine... the tension that electrified Subutex 1 evaporates, as does the characters’ defining anger. What’s left is reconciliation ... In Despentes’ hands, this dynamic is fraught with unsettling potential. Never a writer to shy away from the uglier aspects of humanity, we’re left to consider what will happen to a group of deeply unhappy people brought together through mutual rage and in thrall of a charismatic, addled central figure ... Ultimately, Vernon Subutex 2 doesn’t suggest that the cast of the trilogy is slated for a happily-ever-after. Instead, the sudden release of pressure feels sinister. The tide of misery has gone out too abruptly, and the reader is left to anticipate it crashing again in Subutex 3 with redoubled, tsunami-like force.
Virginie Despentes Trans. by Frank Wynne
RaveThe Brooklyn Rail... virtuosic ... The novel’s first half is grim, luminous, and packed with stunning psychological insight, but it’s contained enough to allow the reader to feel in control. You’re lulled by the trajectory of the mystery—what do those tapes reveal?—and the chase. Then, the second half cartwheels off the course of the caper and twists into something darker and more exuberant ... the best novel we have about Facebook, and not just because its cast is a reflection of one man’s \'friends list.\' Vernon’s Facebook use propels the novel’s forward momentum ... a brilliant, blistering social novel that’s only become more relevant since its initial 2015 publication ... touches upon the increasing precariousness and invaluableness of the personal brand, the spread of misinformation online, and the rise of the right wing populism. Prescience can sound ponderous; in Despentes’ hands it’s wry ... The translation uses Anglicisms that make the dry wit of Vernon Subutex 1 sound especially deadpan to American ears ... grinds you to a pulp, but it also exposes you to something urgently human. This is a vital novel.
