Mr. minus

Laurent Graff

(Le Dilettante, 160 pages, 2020)

 ***TRANSLATION SAMPLE AVAILABLE***

Bertrand le Marec is a kind and unassuming man who aspires to a simple life. But that is easier say than done when you are the sole heir of the richest fortune in France. Uninterested in the family business and burdened by social expectations, Bertrand has found a path to freedom in hiking. While he meticulously plans his daily treks, Bertrand entrusts all the logistics—food, lodging, and even his wallet—to his driver, Martial, a former military nurse and ex-convict. After traveling through bucolic countryside and along rugged coastline, each at their own speed, the two men reconvene in the evenings in hotels and guesthouses. Everything seems fine, but little do they know that trouble is about to find them.

Mr. Minus begins as an endearing story of two buddies on the road. Now in his forties, Bertrand has become hooked on the outdoors after years of rejecting his destiny in favor of less than wholesome pursuits. As for Martial, he has come to appreciate his boss’s amiable personality and respect his singled-minded devotion to hiking—which also leaves Martial plenty of time to hang out in cafés and play the lottery. The two men, twenty years apart in age, enjoy a companionable routine that even Willy, Martial’s ex-partner in crime, cannot disturb, though not for want of trying. In the meantime, the news, which Bertrand and Martial distractingly follow on their hotel TV screen, is filled with scenes of civil unrest and declarations from a variety of new social movements. The two friends will not be able to keep the world at bay forever—they come upon a blockade set up by animal rights activists right in the middle of a quiet country road. When an anti-capitalist urban guerilla group throws a bomb at Bertrand’s family’s company headquarters, killing its president, Bertrand has to find new ways to escape his destiny—as well as a bunch of desperate shareholders.

Mr. Minus, the humble pseudonym that Bertrand, in his quest for anonymity, has chosen for himself, is a suitable title for this deceptively lighthearted short book, which proves much weightier than its 160 pages. Peppered with understated philosophical insights and bits of roman noir, Mr. Minus is at once a fun road trip story and a whimsical political fable laced with deadpan humor. The reader gladly takes the trip.

Laurent Graff is the author of several works of fiction, including Happy Days (Vintage, 2004), which has been translated into fifteen languages. The film rights to Happy Days have been optioned by Johnny Depp’s production company, Infinitum Nil.