Pretty Things by Virginie Despentes

(pb; 1998, 2018. Translated the French by Emma Ramadan.)

From the back cover

“Stunning Claudine and gloomy Pauline pretend to be one person so that Claudine can be famous, but just as thing take off, Claudine commits suicide. Pauline hatches a new scheme, taking on her dead sister’s identity, inhabiting her apartment, and reading her emails─slowly realizing the costs of femininity is to dazzle on the outside while rotting on the inside.”

Review

Pretty is my favorite book by Despentes thus far. It is a blunt, character-true and entertaining takedown of how society defines (and suppresses) femininity, identity, sexuality, pop culture and other notions of (un)acceptable behavior─nothing is sacred here, even the truest, kindest and ultimately healing aspects of human nature undergo rigorous and often clever examinations. This fast-moving, trance-inducing novel is excellent, memorable and worth owning, perhaps even worth re-reading a few years from now.

King Kong Theory by Virginie Despentes

(pb; 2006: translated from the French by Stéphanie Benson)

From the inside flap

“With humor, rage and confessional detail, Virginie Despentes─in her words 'more King Kong than Kate Moss'─delivers a highly charged account of womens’ lives today. She explodes common attitudes about sex and gender, and shows how modern beauty myths are ripe for rebelling against. Using her own experiences of rape, prostitution and working in porn industry as a jumping-off point, she creates a new space for those who can’t or won’t obey the rules.”

Review

In the six short essays that make up this collection, Despentes writes about, in her usual fiery and blunt fashion, about gender roles and behavior, how being raped and being a celebrity changed her, what we can do to fix ourselves and improve the social and cultural systems that shape and imprison us (as she sees it). This is an excellent, mostly focused read, one worth checking out.

Bye Bye Blondie by Virginie Despentes

(2004: translated from the French by Siãn Reynolds)

From the back cover

“Gloria has spent decades drinking, swearing, and determinedly lashing out at anyone that dares come close. But when finally given the chance to ‘make it,’ she finds herself unexpectedly vulnerable to the promises of fame and fortune. A biting satire of the naĩveté of both rebellion and conformity, Bye Bye Blondie looks at what happens when a woman decides to sell out─only to discover that the joke’s been played on her.”

Review

This is a rage-, violence- and comedy-fueled tale, one that takes on the notions of societal class, romantic comedy, the sense(s) of evolving selves, and other relatable, pertinent themes. Bye is an excellent, pedal-to-the-metal and punk-sensitive work, one worth reading.

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The resulting film, directed and scripted by the book’s author, was released in France on March 21, 2012.

Béatrice Dalle played Gloria. Emanuelle Béart played Frances. Soko played Gloria ado. Clara Ponsot played Frances ado. Jean-Marc Royon played Michel. Olivia Csiky Trnka played Hélène.

Lydia Lunch played La chanteuse. Coralie, billed as Coralie Trinh Thi, played La gothique.

Rape Me (a.k.a. Baise-moi) by Virginie Despentes

(pb; 1991, 1999: translated from the French by Bruce Benderson)

From the back cover

"Manu and Nadine have had all they can take. Manu has been brutally raped, and determines it's not worth leaving anything precious lying around vulnerable -- including her very self. She teams up with Nadine, a nihlist and prostitute who watches pornography incessantly, and they enact their own version of les vols et les viols (rape and pillage) -- they lure men and have sex without a second thought; they rob stores and kill anyone who gets in their way. Nadine and Manu are in search of ultimate, true freedom -- even if it means death."


Review

Raw, chaotic-charactered, sexually explicit crime spree novel. Despentes' writing is spare, the characters -- even Manu and Nadine -- read like real people, and are (almost) sympathetic; the tone and headrush-pace are old-school violent and brash as mid-Seventies, f**k-everyone-and-everything punk.

Potent, nasty-kicks book, if you don't mind your reading choices spiked with unrepentant, self-destructive hedonists, equally crazy notions, and a couple of terrifying -- if brief -- rape scenes.

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Rape Me, released cinematically under its original French-equivalent title (Baise-Moi), came out on in France on June 28, 2000. The film's stateside release date was June 1, 2001.

Karen Lancaume (billed as Karen Bach) played Nadine. Raffaëla Anderson played Manu. Ouassini Embarek played Radouan. Delphine McCarty played Severine. Hacène Beddrouh played Lakim. Patrick Eudeline played Francis.

Rape Me was co-directed and co-scripted by book author Virginie Despentes and Coralie.