Recommendation for contemporary French lit

October 26, 2021 3:47 AM

I’ve reread Leila Slimani’s Adele and Lullaby several times over the last couple of years. More recently I’ve enjoyed Nina Bouraoui’s novels. I’m looking for contemporary French literature set in and around Paris, novels focussing on daily lives, romance, work. Essentially a 21st century Francoise Sagan. Anything that will make me feel like I’m in Paris/France. I can read French so happy with recommendations in the original French and English translation.
posted by bigyellowtaxi to Writing & Language (2 answers total)

I loved L'Élégance du hérisson (The Elegance of the Hedgehog) by Muriel Barbary. It's about 15 years old now, and reads even earlier -- felt sort of midcentury to me -- but it's so, so good.
posted by basalganglia at 8:47 AM on October 26, 2021 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Three recommendations that varyingly fit the brief (none of which I believe are available in English translation):

Arène (Négar Djavadi) -- this was the immediate first thing that I thought of. It takes place all over Paris (including lots of parts outside of the touristy circuit, this isn't an Eat Pray Love type thing) and is quite contemporary. (Djavadi's other novel Désorientale, which is available in English, is excellent but definitely not Paris-focused)

Les choses humaines (Karine Tuil) -- perhaps more of an "issue" novel, but I think otherwise fits the bill

La vie commence à 20h10 (Thomas Raphaël) -- this is absolutely a breezy, beach/airplane type read, and has absolutely no pretenses of being a fancy/highbrow/literary novel, but I really enjoyed it

I know you mentioned France, but if you're open to novels set in contemporary Quebec, two additional recommendations I'd make are Un lien familial by Nadine Bismuth and Manuel de la vie sauvage by Jean Philippe Baril Guérard, which are quite different from each other but are both set in contemporary Montréal/Quebec.
posted by andrewesque at 3:32 PM on October 26, 2021