My review of "Running Away" at PopMatters.

My review of Running Away by Jean Philippe Toussaint is up at PopMatters. A sample:

In the spirit of Camus and Beckett, Jean-Philippe Toussaint has provided a slice of a character's life so uncanny and deep that to try to boil it down to its essence is nearly impossible: it already has been boiled down. Running Away shaves off just a few days from the unnamed narrator's life, yet it cuts to the root of him, and what is peeled away is pressed to the window where dirty light filters...