Què! Estampes d'un dependent filòsof / What!
Novel , 2017
Angle
Pages: 247
A satire along the lines of The Odd Couple or Dinner for Schmucks, filtered by a delicious, provocative dark humour, in the purest nihilist style of Michel Houellebecq.
A textbook neurotic and misanthropic, intractable sociopath, who we’d dismiss as a lout if not for his remarkable erudition, is horrified to discover that his new neighbour, Martí Pelegós, is a bore whose each and every word and gesture is the quintessence of vulgarity. He therefore has no choice but to murder him.
The idea of killing his neighbour, steeped in an unequalled hatred, is soon revealed to our protagonist as a philosophical matter in its meaning, and an artistic one in its resolution: in order to commit the perfect crime, he must know the victim’s every move. However, spending too much time with someone you hate, particularly someone as irritating as Martí Pelegós, can become a one-way ticket to madness.
"A great novel: Qué! by Miquel de Palol. We’re talking about one of the most brilliant writers in contemporary Catalan literature." Isabel Clara-Simó, El Punt Avui