Book description
How's the Pain? is an off-kilter, blackly comic novel about an unlikely duo of a soon-to-be-retired assassin and a deadbeat young man, from the 'slyly funny' [Sunday Times] Pascal Garnier.
'Deliciously dark ... painfully funny' New York Times
Death is Simon's business. And now the ageing vermin exterminator is preparing…
Why read it?
1 author picked How's the Pain? as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I like to read thrillers set in countries I'm visiting, and so I randomly picked up How's the Pain? billed as “French Noir”. The title alone is almost worth the price of admission.
It is supposedly the standard greeting among some African tribesmen. Beats the existential pants off “How are you?”, don’t you think? The writing fulfills the title’s promise. It is tight and funny, brutal in parts, but doesn’t succumb to some noir’s tendency to gratuitously pile on the awfulness of it all.
From Daniel's list on The best funny international classics you (may) have never heard of.
If you love How's the Pain?...
December on 5C4
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
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