The Guardian , 1 of the 10 Best Debut Novelists of the Year BuzzFeed , A Most Anticipated Book of the Year A New Statesman Most Anticipated Book of the Year "Mordant, torrential, incantatory, Bolano-esque, Perec-ian, and just so explosively written that I had to stop and shake the language-shrapnel from my hair and wipe it off my eyeglasses so I could keep reading." --Jonathan Lethem "Manic and thrillingly musical." --Dustin Illingworth, The New York Times Book Review "A sardonic novel of poetry, plagiarism and literary politics that leans into its nihilism . Clever." --Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal " Dead Souls is an exceedingly cerebral comedy about the viability of contemporary poetry . One of the wittiest, sharpest, cruelest critiques of literary culture I''ve ever read. Riviere unleashes a flock of winged devils to tear apart the hermetically sealed world of privilege, praise and publication in which a few lucky writers dwell . What no summary can convey is the hypnotic effect of Riviere''s relentless prose .
An astute, wildly original novel that talks trash about everyone whose success galls you. And there''s nothing quite so delicious as that." --Ron Charles, The Washington Post "Sharp and funny." --Lily Meyer, NPR "Hypnotic." --Meg Whiteford, The Believer "A brilliant and brilliantly entertaining novel. The writing is merciless; the rage is genuine . Exhilarating." --Toby Litt, The Guardian "An ingenious and authentic debut novel about privilege and public vilification in the arts sector .
Entirely original." --Jonathan McAloon, Financial Times (UK) "Whip-smart . Weirdly hypnotic . The strange and inexplicable abound: there are conspiracies, clues and delicious Nabokovian red herrings . Dead Souls is a real achievement." --Tristram Fane Saunders, The Daily Telegraph "Readers will get caught up in the waywardness of this 300-page single-paragraph novel, following its numerous and surprising digressions wherever they may lead . The novel pinches its set-up from Camus''s The Fall , veers close to Thomas Bernhard''s sweeping syntax and yokes together scuzz with the cult of poetry à la Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño . By stepping through Dead Souls '' funhouse mirror, we see the current normal reality is as absurd and empty as an email.
Yet, running through the novel is a skein of hope; stealing might not be as antisocial as it is usually made out. In fact, a little bit of plagiarism might be one of the most communal acts of all." --Sammi Gale, inews (UK) "Inventive . Timely and provocative." --Arianna Rebolini, BuzzFeed , Best Summer Books "Riviere . artfully blends metaphysics, existentialism, ideas of originality, and plagiarism, plus an enticing dose of history and memoir in this captivating read." -- Reader''s Digest , A Best Fiction Book of the Year "Reminiscent of Thomas Bernhard and, more recently, the works of Lucy Ellman and Mike McCormack . Brilliantly inventive .
Laugh out loud funny, harsh and savage, but also sobering and thoughtful." --Ian Mond, Locus "The sheer brio and tumbling intelligence of Riviere''s narration lift almost every page. Once you catch the spuming surf of his prose-and, as with Bernhard or Marías, it does take a little time-you''ll want to ride the wave to the shore . Wickedly sharp." --Boyd Tonkin, The Arts Desk "Manic and relentless . Impeccably written." --Dana Hansen, Chicago Review of Books "Riviere''s provocative debut novel . calls to mind Thomas Bernhard not only for its form but its rhythm and cadence .
Will appeal to fans of Kate Zambreno''s Drifts." -- Publishers Weekly.