"Variétés Delphi" is Nicolas Chalifour's second novel, published right here in our fair city. If you are French, bilingual, or just care to give reading in French a go (which is highly worth it), I urge you to delve into many of the dark stories published by the small, but extremely high-quality press, Héliotrope. They seem hell-bent on giving exposure to dark-humoured, sombre and engrossing emerging writers and this novel is no exception.

"Variétés Delphi" could be called a novel of games. The main character (whose name remains unknown for practically the whole novel, so I wouldn't just blurt it out here, now would I?) reminds me of a Shakespearean sprite that, upon first glance, seems to live for nothing more than being the thorn in the world's side.

While Puck plays cutesy tricks on lovers in the forest, this characters' antics are more along the lines of putting ecstasy in the soup of a pro-lifer who is about to give a speech.

Although this story often seemingly hides behind a veneer of hilarious pranks that rely on the humiliation of those perceived by the main character to be inferior human beings, we are reminded from as early on as the prologue that lurks beneath the surface.

The introductory pages place the reader in the strange hell of a father who thinks his young daughter is dead in his arms. The narrative then does a tonal 180 and lands us in the slapstick chaos of chic dining gone wrong.

This jarring shift accentuates the triviality of the character's life after being estranged from his wife and daughter, as well as exposes the baseness and artifice that grow like mould in the world with which he has surrounded himself.

At times, it felt like the author was pointlessly flexing his funny bone by writing tumultuous scenarios that seemed inconsequential to the plot and inevitably ended in catastrophe. Upon closer examination, though, these scenes of mounting disaster illustrated the truly grotesque sides of humanity that arise when inhibitions are watered down by liquor.

It's sometimes hard to tell if the character seeks chaos to bring out ugly truths or to forget his own. Somehow in his twisted games and deceit, we readers get glimpses that we also might be tangled up in one of his webs. This is pretty thrilling because there are few things that I find as exciting as realizing I've been playing the game an author has planned out for me.

Chalifour writes incredibly well paced descents into human baseness that expose his characters' desperation. Occasionally, these toils only reach their climax with death. He strings us along in an opaque mystery that I doubted so often, it almost drove me as mad as his characters.

This sombre novel full of underplayed tragedy often stopped my reading mid paragraph to enjoy perfectly satisfying turns of phrase, symbols and metaphors that for brief moments split the story wide open. Chalifour lets the reader see into the shadows just long enough to get close before he snaps the storybook shut again. Trapped in a book is my favourite place to be.

234 pages

$21,95. "Variétés Delphi" can be purchased on Héliotrope's website, as well as in bookstores.

Photos Courtesy of Héliotrope