pickThis is Toussaint‘s first novel about a man who seems to be aloof from society, wishing to spend his days in his bathtub. Unwanted visits from painters and spouse spur him to flee to a hotel in Italy and then later to a hospital where he never has the surgery he was slated for. Toussaint is a master of depicting imagery and emotion. If you combined Proust with a Kafka plot, this novel would result. It‘s absurd, funny, serious and insightful.
“After dinner I went into the lounge and sat in front of the television for a parade of silent, incomprehensible images of catastrophe. Images without sounds are powerless to express horror. If the last few seconds of life of the ninety billion humans who have died since the earth was formed could be filmed and shown in succession in a movie theater, the spectacle would, I think, soon pall...“
so-soEh. This slim novel tells the story of a young man who decides to live on his bathroom. He mysteriously gets invited to the Austrian Embassy - what will he do? Told in numbered paragraphs, and broken into "books", it's a quick read, but it didn't do much for me. I enjoyed his thoughts sometimes, yet it all seemed so blasé in general. I read another of the authors' works this year, and while I liked this better, I can't say I'm a fan. ⭐️ ⭐️ 1/2.
The Bathroom | 
