Everyday Life

by Lydie Salvayre

The hiring of a new secretary shouldn't be a big deal--just a slight a change in the office environment. But for the protagonist of this novel, it is a declaration of war, a call to arms: The new secretary has only been here two days, she says, and I'm already talking about evil, a word I shouldn't even be using--arming myself for battle and choosing my weapons. Her quiet life of sacrifice and service has been rudely disrupted by the new hire,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1564783499
• ISBN13: 9781564783493
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press
• Length: 119 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 4.9" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Meet Literature's Greatest Unreliable Narrator

Madame Suzanne tells us about the difficulties of her daily life. This is a short novel, but in a way that is a blessing. After all how long can the reader let this obnoxious woman bend our ear? Suzanne seems to live in Plato's cave where she sees her fellow humans as shadows that she has great difficulty in interpreting. She continually shares her philosophy of life with us. At one point she says: "I don't go out of my way to find friendly people. Friendliness disgusts me. Wearing the mask of a smile, friendly people insinuate themselves into your life. They pry and wreak havoc." You can imagine what happens when a new secretary joins the office staff. We have learned enough by now that when Suzanne describes her as a fat woman with disgusting bulbous breasts, the new secretary must be an attractive, sexy lady. Suzanne never seems to have met a human being that she liked, except, as she says for her father and her boss Mr. Mayer. She pointedly omits her daughter and son-in-law. Periodically those around her manage to spark a flame of warmth in her cold heart, but she generally manages to douse it before it spreads too far. Her paranoia knows no bounds. Everyone is out to destroy her, to spread malicious tales about her. She retreats further into her dark psychic tunnel. Why should we care about all this? Why should we let Suzanne go through this wailing and gnashing of teeth in our presence? Because, in a morbid sense, she is quite amusing. After all we don't have to live with her; we just have to listen for awhile. It's rather refreshing to pick up a novel as unusual as this one. Does Suzanne ever see the world in a better light? Possibly. Read it and find out. I say read it, because I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the movie to appear. It would be a little too frightening to watch.