"Somewhere out in the woeful constellation of literary comparison,
a lonely satellite drifts between remote stars--Ulysses and Mrs.
Dalloway, The Stranger and When Harry Met Sally--beguilingly
reflecting the distant light of each. Taped to the bottom of that
satellite is this perfect little book, a message to
extraterrestrial intelligence that says: we are human, heartbroken,
grim and funny in our despair, yet hopeful and miracle-prone, and
some of us are French." --John Hodgman, author of THE AREAS OF MY
EXPERTISE
"I woke up the other morning and started to read this marvelous
book. I stayed in bed until I read the last page. I could not for
the life of me think of anything in the world I wanted to do but
read this book. I am tempted to stay in bed until Gré goire
Bouillier produces another one." --Daniel Handler, author of
ADVERBS "''Just when you think you''ve thought of everything, ''
Gregoire Bouillier writes, ''you forget the book sitting right
there on your bedside table.'' This should be that book. It is
intelligent, compact, and curious, like a good hunting dog
scrambling up a tree." --Gary Shteyngart, author of "The Russian
Debutante''s Handbook"
"In "The Mystery Guest," Gregoire Bouillier has been ditched by a
girlfriend in the way another man might be abandoned by God: does
the universe make sense any more? Paranoid, badly dressed and often
drunk, madly hopeful one moment and howlingly distressed the next,
Bouillier makes for an unforgettable narrator, and Lorin Stein' s
fine and resourceful translation succeeds in capturing the mood of
poised hysteria. This book goes a long way toward confirming the
truth of what Beckett said: there is nothing funnier than
unhappiness." --Benjamin Kunkel, author of "Indecision"