Vernon Subutex 1: A Novel
About this ebook
Vernon Subutex was once the legendary proprietor of Revolver, a famed music shop in Paris. But by the 2000s, with the rise of the internet and decline in physical media sales, his shop is struggling. When it finally closes, Subutex finds himself adrift, his savings gone. The death of a rock star who had been covering his rent leaves him homeless, launching him on an epic saga of couch-surfing, substance abuse, and destitution. Just as he resigns himself to life as a panhandler, a forgotten comment he made on Facebook goes viral.
Word spreads that Subutex possesses the last recordings of the deceased musician on a collection of VHS tapes. Soon a motley crew of characters, from screen writers to social media groupies, porn stars to failed musicians, are hot on Vernon's trail, unbeknownst to him.
"Virginie Despentes's Vernon Subutex trilogy is the zeitgeistiest thing I ever read. Everything about it is contemporary, right down to the fearless woman author who doesn't think of herself as a feminist and gives an impression at least in interviews of habitually killing rapists." —Nell Zink, Bustle, "The Best Books Of The 2010s"
Discover more
Ratings and reviews
About the author
Virginie Despentes is a writer and filmmaker. She worked in an independent record store in the early '90s, was a sex worker, and published her first novel, Baise Moi, when she was twenty-three. She adapted the novel for the screen in 2000, codirecting with the porn star Coralie Trinh Thi. Upon release, it became the first film to be banned in France in twenty-eight years. Despentes is the author of more than fifteen other works, including the Vernon Subutex Trilogy, Apocalypse Baby, Bye Bye Blondie, Pretty Things, and the essay collection King Kong Theory.
Frank Wynne has translated the work of many authors, including Michel Houellebecq, Boualem Sansal, Frédéric Beigbeder, and Ahmadou Kourouma. He won the International Dublin Literary Award with Houellebecq for The Elementary Particles.
