Rien Ne Va Plus Book

"Every time I want to write, want to write love stories. But as soon as I pick up the pen I'm overcome by horror." The story is simple. A woman and a man marry; their marriage ends in cruelty, infidelity, and divorce. But this novel tells their story twice, from opposing perspectives, until the distinction between truth and deception seems to disappear. It becomes impossible to tell love story from horror story in Margarita Karapanou's devastating exploration of just what makes us want to read each, just what makes each so tempting to write. The result is an ironic, seductive, brutal experiment, a novel that refuses to shy from the moment of rien ne va plus - the moment in roulette when the game becomes fate; when, with an impossible faith, a masterly writer tells of her own dissolution.

Publishers Weekly

In her first English translation, Greek novelist Karapanou (1946–2008) details a complicated marriage between a successful veterinarian and an incipient writer, with several intriguing outcomes. On their wedding night, naïve bride Louise witnesses her icily handsome, urbane husband, Alkiviadis, proposition a boy in a bar. Humiliated but attracted by her husband's homosexuality, Louise is nonetheless repelled by his need to control her; what follows is a crushing divorce and, then, a suicide. But that's just the first draft; Karapanou resets her story with recombined leads and an even darker slant; in this version of events, Alkis is an adoring husband who wants a baby, and Louise is a spoiled, manipulative, self-destructive character repulsed by Alkis's offer of stability and unconditional love. Ghastly details of pregnancy and abortion alternate with charming episodes of travel and discovery, such as Louise's visit to America in mismatched company. Beginning simply, this remarkable tale escalates in conflict and complexity, and proves even more engaging the second time through. (Dec.)