Mammals: A Novel

By Pierre Mérot

One of the most internationally noteworthy titles from Europe in recent years, Mammals is a witty anatomization of modern life. Caustic, comic, and unflinchingly honest, Mammals is a cruel but beautiful tale of love, solitude, alcoholism, family, and unemployment. This fictional memoir of a glorious loser recounts the life of the Uncle, an unhappy Parisian bachelor whose only true loves were a Polish girl and a divorcee. He is a drunk; he is sarcastic; he works and fails desultorily in several fields until he winds up surrounded by neurotic women, a teacher in a secondary school. He tries out therapist after therapist and can't figure out who is the butt of the joke. He has nephews and this makes him nervous. In fact, almost everything about family life makes him nervous -- especially now that he's living at home again. He coins proverbs for living with lowered expectations and attempts a bestiary of his pathological parents, the mammals of the title. Riding its handbasket merrily to hell, veering now and then toward overwhelming lyricism, Mammals pieces together the portrait of modern society's Everyman. It establishes Pierre Merot as an extraordinary and delightful voice of international stature.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802170196
• ISBN13: 9780802170194
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Grove Press, Black Cat
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.8" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

Definitely disjointed

Recommended. As with a lot of good modern literature, "Mammals" aims to drag you into full view of the disjointed nature of modern man, case represented by "the uncle". Contrary to the previous reviewer I think this is the book's merit. The uncle's very sarcastic nature appealed to my literary tastes. I first read this book in 2003, at age 23. I liked it ever since. I don't particularly like writing reviews but I had to defend this novel in the light of the other review. You can read the synopsis and get a glimpse of the writing itself even without my help. I won't bother with that. I would recommend this book though. Some other books I grouped Mammals with on my bookshelf are: A Man in My Basement by Walter Mosley; The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery; and The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.