Review: The Eskimo Solution

The Eskimo Solution

Pascal Garnier

This short novel is basically a story within a story. The main character is an author, working on a story about Louis, his main character. In the story, Louis has found a way to help many of his friends by killing off their elderly parents, so that the children or dependents can inherit property or money and live happily ever after. As the overall story develops, so do events in the authors own life. These events start to mirror his fiction and his own life seems to almost overwhelm him.

By the end of the book I got the feeling that the main character was living two different lives, a real one and a fictional, the differences between the two being not that great. It's an interesting tale, which is well observed and cleverly written. It is, however at times a bit confusing as the story switches abruptly between the author's own story and the fictional story. This “blurring” of the lines seems to reinforce the sense that reality and fiction become one and the same.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and I can't wait to read more of Garnier's work. But for newcomers I would recommend starting with Moon in a Dead Eye where the structure of the story is much more straightforward.

Thanks to Netgalley and Gallic Books for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.