Vernon Subutex

Virginie Despentes

Vernon Subutex begins with a man losing his record shop, then his apartment, and gradually being pushed out into the city. Around him gathers an enormous cast of former friends, lovers, musicians, professionals, addicts, drifters and people whose lives have taken unexpected turns.

Despentes moves through a Paris of apartments, bars, parks, couches, neighbourhoods and precarious lives. Money determines who can remain where. Friendships become temporary shelters. People who once seemed part of the same cultural world drift into radically different social realities.

This is Paris without the outsider’s romance. It is simply the place these characters live, struggle, age, disappear and occasionally find one another.

Vernon Subutex is a trilogy. The cover shown is the English edition of volume one.

Paris; Music; Housing; Inequality; Precarious work; Friendship; Trilogy