Twenty Minutes of Silence
Twenty Minutes of Silence
Twenty Minutes of Silence
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Description
Description
In an opulent villa near the English channel lives a well-to-do family. A man--a husband, father, and employer--has been shot dead. The bullet is from his own gun, which he got from the Germans during the war. In this family, the father has a safe, a monkey wrench, a wife, and a maid named Rose. The son has a swing, a croquet set, a rain coat, and a car. They all read detective novels to fall asleep (the father), to stay awake (the son), to distract herself from an empty marriage (the mother). Packed with brutal revelations, the novel centers on the twenty minutes of silence it takes for the family to alert the doctor (who lives next door) of the father's death. Everything in this high-octane drama is subject to change, including the setting and the characters, who are truer to life than might at first appear. But who if anyone is the true criminal and who is the victim? In this marvelous and sui generis novel, written in Bessette's signature taut and stripped-back prose, the detective novel is turned inside out and wholly on its head.
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
This riveting translation at once slays and reinvents the mystery genre. Replete with operatic revelations.--Thรบy รinh "NPR"
It's a very fine book.--Raymond Queneau
I've never understood why Lili is Crying and Twenty Minutes of Silence have not been given their rightful place on the very frontline of the avant-garde, alongside Natalie Sarraute and Marguerite Duras.--Alain Bosquet
Living literature, for me--it's Hรฉlรจne Bessette.--Marguerite Duras
Naturally, it's the description of an idea, a feeling, an impalpable, an imponderable, in a word: a soul drama in all its abstraction.--Hรฉlรจne Bessette on Twenty Minutes of Silence
"Bessette sustains the mood with hypnotizing language. This slippery and satisfying novel probes the unresolvable mysteries of life."-- "Publishers Weekly"
Bessette's story rivetingly dissects the whodunnit form in a constellation of language.-- "Monocle"
An impressive example of what Bessette can do with form and language, giving primacy to individual speech while also denying the idea that there's ever a singular "I," and always teasing out the reader's attention and laughter.--Hannah Weber "Words Without Borders"
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
Publisher:
New Directions Publishing Corporation
Pub date:
2026-06-16
Length:
96 pages
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