Elle: The book behind the award-winning film

(Paperback)

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Description

Michle seems indestructible. Head of a leading video game company, she brings the same ruthless attitude to her love life as to business, but when she is attacked in her home by an unknown assailant, her life changes forever. Michle has almost no recollection of her attacker but she senses his presence he is never far away and this uncanny feeling triggers a whirlwind of events and memories. She begins to fear she is losing her grip on a life already complicated by a demanding job, an ex-husband, a jealous lover and a son trapped in a relationship with his girlfriend pregnant by another man.

Reviews

Incisive, corrosive, sexy, as sad as it is funny, and incontestably exhilarating

* Vogue *

'Be aware. This is a literary work, a powerful book, a novel that breaks and enters into forbidden lands'

* Paris Match *

'She is a totally absorbing character.'

* Crime Review *

'I read the book and loved it. I immediately thought there was a good film in the book, and a great role.'

-- Isabelle Huppert, Oscar nominated Actress in Town & Country Magazine

'A harrowing tale'

-- Shelf Awareness

'Djian's slim, disturbing novel, already a controversial bestseller in France, is unsparing and fiercely intelligentDjian's bold novel, winner of the 2012 Prix Interalli and adapted into an award-winning film directed by Paul Verhoeven, is slight but packs a powerful punch.'

-- Publishers Weekly, starred review

'Part thriller, part psychological drama with dark humor woven in and out,Elleis a mesmerizing work of contemporary French literature...There are enough twists to keep the reader anxiously anticipating what will happen next...Elleis a unique read for those who are searching for something different.'

-- Underrated Reads

'An intoxicating novel for sure'

-- Lire

'Philippe Djian has the knack to persuade his readers to accept the humanity of the inhuman things he describes, and that pain and pleasure dont have the same borders as good and evil. But readers don't have time to think, they have a book to finish. A book that barges in on them until the last chapter. If one thinks that it is the story that gives the speed, one is wrong; it's the art of writing.'

-- Le Magazine Littraire

Author Bio

Philippe Djian is the award-winning author of more than twenty novels, including the best seller Betty Blue. Elle is the fifth of his novels to be adapted for the screen. Published in French under its original title Oh... , this best-selling novel received the 2012 Prix Interalli. He lives in Biarritz, France. Michael Katims is a Brooklyn-born screenwriter and translator. He worked with Roman Polanski to bring Yasmina Rezas play to the big screen in Carnage, and with Jacques Perrin on the US version of Oceans.