A man lays down his prayer-mat in the middle of a Parisian ring-road in the rush-hour, looks east to Mecca and is carted off in a straitjacket . . .
Two feisty girls offer up to a bovine, sweaty stranger his fantasy, only to fulfil theirs . . .
A trashed, thirtysomething poser unwittingly saves the life of the star DJ's ex at the opening of a chic Parisian club . . .
This collection from Georgia de Chamberet reflects modern French life, multicultural, iconoclastic, energetically variegated, with attitudes of resistance and rebellion. The witty angst of Desplechin and Desarthe, the virtuoso misanthropy of Houellebecq, the brutal vivacity of Despentes - these, among others, demonstrate the range and vitality of current French writing.
For anyone seriously interested where the French novel may be going, 'XCites' is vibrant and portrays areas of French life we often ignore.
