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 through and ...