El bigote

A man in his thirties shaves off the mustache he has worn for years, expecting his wife to notice and be amused. She says nothing. When he points it out, she insists he never had one. His friends and coworkers agree with her. As he insists on his own memory, the novel moves into paranoia, with the man questioning his marriage, his sanity and the nature of reality. A trip to Asia only deepens the confusion. Carrère writes a spare, tense psychological story in which an everyday detail becomes the crack through which the whole world slides.

Readers who like Kafka, Hitchcock or Paul Auster will enjoy this slim, disorienting thriller. It is a good pick for an evening when you want something short and unnerving.

Deep, inward-looking, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

Best for readers like The Literary Connoisseur. Which reader are you?