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walterthewobot's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
enteka's review against another edition
3.0
reminds me of the stranger, but less impactful.
- my past is a joke, my present's a disaster, thank goodness i have no future.
- the sea is mean. it draws you in, withdraws and then, as soon as you turn your back to it, comes and snatches back everything it just gave you. so much for mother nature.
- my past is a joke, my present's a disaster, thank goodness i have no future.
- the sea is mean. it draws you in, withdraws and then, as soon as you turn your back to it, comes and snatches back everything it just gave you. so much for mother nature.
batbones's review against another edition
1.0
I did not like this. I was lured to try it out by John Banville's comment that he wrote like Simenon, whom I admire. I was annoyed by the lack of resemblance and I didn't find the story itself riveting even though I wanted to like and appreciate it for what it was. It's not really a crime story in the usual sense of the genre, although crimes are committed.
he11abe11a's review against another edition
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
snoakes7001's review against another edition
5.0
Another delicious slice of Gallic noir. Pascal Garnier is fast becoming one of my favourite authors.
xengisa's review against another edition
3.0
reminds me of the stranger, but less impactful.
- my past is a joke, my present's a disaster, thank goodness i have no future.
- the sea is mean. it draws you in, withdraws and then, as soon as you turn your back to it, comes and snatches back everything it just gave you. so much for mother nature.
- my past is a joke, my present's a disaster, thank goodness i have no future.
- the sea is mean. it draws you in, withdraws and then, as soon as you turn your back to it, comes and snatches back everything it just gave you. so much for mother nature.
tommooney's review against another edition
3.0
HOW'S THE PAIN by Pascal Garnier.
A kind of young drifter gets a job driving an apparent pest control expert to a meeting after a chance encounter on a park bench. Only this is Garnier so of course he isn't a pest controller but an ageing hitman. The bodies begin to pile up as they embark on a strange and violent road trip.
This isn't Garnier's best work but he is always enjoyable to read, dark and funny and slightly surreal. He was certainly the heir to Simenon; he had the same quirky style and always packs a punch in little more than 100 pages.
A kind of young drifter gets a job driving an apparent pest control expert to a meeting after a chance encounter on a park bench. Only this is Garnier so of course he isn't a pest controller but an ageing hitman. The bodies begin to pile up as they embark on a strange and violent road trip.
This isn't Garnier's best work but he is always enjoyable to read, dark and funny and slightly surreal. He was certainly the heir to Simenon; he had the same quirky style and always packs a punch in little more than 100 pages.
andrew61's review against another edition
4.0
I had seen this writers books on the library shelves and thought they look interesting purely from the covers and then I heard Ian Rankin picking one of them as his choice on Radio 4's 'A Good Read' so I gave this book a go. Many reviewers and even the cover compare it to Simenon so perhaps luckily as I have never tried him I have come to this book fresh with no preconceptions and I really enjoyed it. It reads very much like watching a black and white subtitled French film and captures very well a sense of place and character plus it is very dark but with a black humour that appealed to me. The story is about two men , Simon is an older man who on a stop in a small French Village befriends Bernard a young man trapped at home with a suffocating mother, Simon asks Bernard to be his driver as he goes on a job to the South of France. On the way to their destination they pick up a young woman and her baby after Simon intervenes in an incident where she is being abused by her partner. Simon, whose true skills are gradually revealed, is drawn into a bizarre form of domesticity whilst he completes his unique brand of pest control. The opening two chapters reveal something that eventually is resolved in the end. Apparently the writer died a few years ago and there is a limited amount of his work and I am curious to know more about him as it was a really good read and I am surprised that I had not heard of him before. As I commented it has a black cinematic feel which had me reaching for a glass of pastis and a gauloise so I would recommend it and will be certainly reading more by him.
sethlynch's review against another edition
5.0
This is the third Garnier novel I've read (the others being Panda Theory and The A26) and all three have been 5 *reads, but I preferred this one a little more than the other two.
The story is simple and compelling, the book is about character and incredibly dry, humours, observations.
The story is simple and compelling, the book is about character and incredibly dry, humours, observations.
vsbedford's review against another edition
2.0
Perhaps my experience was tainted because I had too much exposure to Garnier's work over too short of a period of time - but this novel was disappointing through and through. Noir gone Gallic with characters that fuzz with unreality.
I received an ecopy from the publishers and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received an ecopy from the publishers and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.