14. The Mystery Guest by Gregoire Bouillier

One fall afternoon in 1990, Bouillier was asleep in his apartment wrapped up in a blanket with all his clothes on, when his telephone rang. He immediately sensed it was a woman who walked out on him without any warning two years before. Without answering why she left, she asks Bouillier to accompany her to a birthday party as a mystery guest. Her friend, the contemporary artist Sophie Calle, likes to celebrate her birthday each year with as many people as she was old, plus a mystery guest to stand for the year she was about to live. Although confused as to why he was asked by his ex, and going through periods of self exploration, he attends the party and still does not get answers to the questions he is seeking from his former love. After the party however, walking the streets of Paris, he finally begins to make sense of his life and how he has been living over the recent years.

This is an odd, quirky, little book that is easily read in about an hour. Written as a memoir during this time period of his life, Bouillier won the Prix de Flore in 2002. I found it very lyrical and very French and could easily see it as a French movie. I first read about it on a web site I get many reading suggestions from, Ayelet Waldman’s wonderful booklog:

http://www.ayeletwaldman.com/booklog/