The original title is 99 Francs, but even the French changed it to 14,99 Euro eventually. I don’t understand why in Romanian they used 13 instead of 14, but anyway…..it’s one of the best books I’ve read lately and Frederic Beigbeder is starting to seriously challenge Chuck Palahniuk as my favorite author.
Even though the book was written 14 years ago, it still feels incredibly fresh and accurate. It’s sad in a way only “corporate people” could understand and it indulges into pop-culture like it’s something natural. My parents would never get it. After all, the guy does have it all, what on earth is wrong with him?
Octave is leaving the dream: he is a very successful copywriter, he earns an obscene amount of money, he owns nice stuff, lives a life of luxury. Then you find out that, besides the girlfriend, he entertains himself with expensive prostitutes and cocaine.
Life in the office is not easy: clients are difficult, colleagues are stupid, bosses demand the impossible – and even so, he gets away with a lot of shit. Which makes him bored. Sophie, the girlfriend, is one of his co-workers. She was married and he was seeing someone else when they started dating. Of course, that’s not an issue, it was pure passion and he adores her, but now she’s pregnant and he wants nothing to do with that.
Apparently, when a girl tells a guy she’s pregnant, the first thing on his mind is “Do I really want to spend the rest of my life with this?” Well, he decides he wants something else, and by the time his daughter finally becomes more than a distant concept in his head, his life takes a new turn.
Towards the end of the book, things get really weird. You’re not sure if you’re moving into sci-fi territory or if it’s all in his head, but up until that point the story is incredible. I was reading it in the subway and kept thinking “fuck, that’s exactly right”. I guess there’s a Sally Kendoo in all of us, waiting to kick nice people with her shoes (if you don’t get this, pretty please go and watch American Dreamz).
Beigbeder was writing this while actually working as a copywriter himself, and got fired after the book was published. Think of that before dissing the story. Enjoy!
Joyrock 