Reviews

• Entretenido

• This book is great ! I read it in one week-end and I loved it. The style of the writer is easy to read and entertaining.

• Livre état parfait, peu onéreux, TB

• Having greatly admired and enjoyed several of Jean Echenoz's novels (1914, Running, Ravel, especially), I approached Je M'en Vais with high expectations. I cannot say that I was disappointed, but neither was I impressed. The novel is entertaining and very cleverly crafted, certainly indicative of the skilful and disciplined methods Echenoz has offered in his other fictions. But where the other three I have mentioned have all been deeply serious, Je M'en Vais is much more an entertainment--a light and often funny crime caper novel, with ironic twists and characters that require little profundity in the writing (as is found, certainly, in the three others mentioned). It is as though Echenoz set out to show that he could write a very good example of genre fiction, with suspense, a cold and calculating murderous villain, and he could combine that with some sharply observed satire of the pretensions and falsity of the contemporary art market--perhaps internationally, but certainly in Paris. The central character, Ferrer, is the owner of a fashionable art gallery in Paris; he caters to wealthy collectors, regularly seeking the new "hot" artists and sponsoring their works, promoting their reputations while profiting from the eagerness of his regular customers to purchase good examples of the latest "big thing" in contemporary art. Ferrer is not merely a cynical profiteer, however; he actually cares about art and does make an effort to find work that is not merely chic and exploitative. He has no interest in cheating his customers, but he is well aware that the tides of fashion have little to do with artistic merit and much to do with the eagerness of some who can afford it to be in on the latest popular trend. The novel begins with its title: that is, Ferrer says in the opening sentence, "Je m'en vais" as he collects his suitcase and belongings on the way out the door, telling his wife "Je te quitte; je te laisse tout mais je pars." And he goes. It does not take long to discover that this Ferrer is not going to be without female companionship for long--in fact, he is a relentless chaser and seducer, always on the lookout for an available woman who fits his preferences. So his departure from his wife sets up a sequence of encounters of varying degrees of success with other women. Not long after, we learn that his gallery is having cash flow problems and his business has been off, so that he needs a quick financial boost, but has no luck dealing with banks, none of whose financial officers care to advance him the needed loans. Next (all this is early in the novel), he learns of a possible cache of valuable native American artworks, stranded in a derelict ship iced in near the North Pole, and the "caper" aspect of the novel moves into full swing. He makes the trip, arduous and dangerous, to the North Pole, finds the ship (this is still early in the novel), and the reader will surely anticipate that there is, really must be, a plot afoot to deprive him of his financial cushion--surely when he returns, the precious artifacts will be stolen. The second main character in the novel is Baumgartner, cold, clever, obsessive, elegant and ruthless, and determined to have the artifacts Ferrer has gone to such trouble to acquire and smuggle back into France. And that is as much of the story as one is willing to tell--the thriller, complete with mysterious women and cold-blooded killing--moves rapidly to its conclusion. The satiric scenes that punctuate the thriller segments are all based at the gallery or in the company of artists and art customers. The pretensions and delusions of the artists are carefully manipulated by Ferrer and his assistants and the scenes of their conflicts and negotiations, as well as those of Ferrer persuading his wealthy customers of the desirability of the art he has for sale, are genuinely funny. This, then, is a neatly composed and elegant example of the kind of artistry it satirizes--fashionable, consistent with popular taste, but created with the highest level of craft and fashion consciousness. And it is good fun, though not a candidate for the upper level of Echenoz's canon.

• Más que una novela parece un libro de viajes. La trama no tiene mucho interės y las descripciones de lugares, personajes y situaciones llegan a ser realmente tediosas

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