He is one of the best-known writers in France. Laurent Gounelle has had success for several years now with remarkable books. After the success of The gods always travel incognito, The man who wanted to be happyor I promise you freedom, the writer is back. Thursday May 2, 2024, he published his new novel, An almost perfect world, published by Mazarine. In the latter, he tells the story of David Lisner whose daily life is punctuated by technology. From the start of the day he is guided by his voice assistant, applications give him advice on how to dress according to the weather and his appointments, his connected refrigerator also tells him what to eat, etc. A life in which Man can no longer envisage anything for himself. And while one might think at first glance that this could help, this is not the case…In full promotion for this new work, Laurent Gounelle agreed to answer questions from Current wife Tuesday May 7, 2024. The opportunity for the writer to reveal his little writing rituals such as having his wife read the manuscript: “There I have a real ritual: I make her read the first chapter, then nothing more until the end of the book, and finally, with a lot of anxiety, I give her the manuscript. She is always the first reader before my editor, and it’s tough! [Rires] She’s not diplomatic at all, but she’s sincere.”
Three favorites to take away this summer
In the interview, Laurent Gounelle also took the opportunity to answer the question that many readers are asking: what book to take in your suitcase this summer? “I’ve read all of Charles Pépin’s essays, I love them! As a very good novel, I read Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. It’s a big story but it’s a more or less autobiographical novel, we don’t know exactly where the fiction is and where the reality is… It’s quite fascinating. He is a man who escaped from prison and takes refuge in India, he finds himself in the slums of Bombay and is recruited by the local underworld. A whole bunch of things happen to him… It’s an incredible adventure novel and at the same time there are regular philosophical considerations, life lessons, It’s a powerful novel, extremely well written.” he reveals firstly.
But Laurent Gounelle has two other big favorites: “I also recommend All the light we can’t see by Anthony Doerr, this is also a very good novel. I also really liked Where the Crawfish Sing by Delia Owens. She’s an academic specializing in biology, it’s a very beautiful novel, quite feminist. It takes place in nature, there are very beautiful descriptions of the atmosphere in the swamps of the southern United States.” Here’s something to keep you busy for the arrival of sunny days.