Sandman Blues

Martha Wilson is Canadian correspondent for the Japan Times (Tokyo) and
a Toronto-based freelance editor and writer.

When 26-year-old Julien goes looking for a girlfriend, he settles on a
woman some might consider an odd candidate, since she’s a shoplifter
at the market where he works. Undeterred by this inauspicious beginning,
Julien quickly falls in love with Annie. She has some problems, but
she’s young, sexy, and brash, and she wears tight clothes.

Stéphane Bourguignon is a screenwriter, and it shows. This novel has
tremendous stylish appeal and a flashy visual quality; unsurprisingly,
it is now being developed as a film. It’s not all fluff, though—the
tenderness and poignant moments ring true.

In this early part of the book, Julien is trying to reclaim his life;
his previous girlfriend was killed by a stray bullet. For him, reaching
out to Annie now is a first step back into the world. The second step is
just as hard, or harder: he must decide what to do when Annie announces
that she wants a baby.

Of course, we know from the beginning that Julien will find his way
back. The novel’s breezy tone makes that clear from the first
paragraph. Bourguignon tells the story deftly, though, and peoples it
with wacky, eccentric characters. What wears thin is the trendiness and
the beauty cult (and the nasty subtext, which links a woman’s value
with her youth and looks).