FICTION

Dear Dickhead

by Virginie Despentes
Farrar. Sept. 2024. 304p. tr. from French by Frank Wynne. ISBN 9780374611613. $28. F
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In this novel, Rebecca and Oscar are a contemporary French version of Edward Albee’s George and Martha. They cannot stop hurling insults at each other, even as that very act wears away the veneer of antipathy to reveal the true fondness each harbors for the other. Borrowing structure from the Great Dialogues of Plato, French author Despentes’s (King Kong Theory) latest to be translated into English is a study in friendship masking as truculence. The two argue and expound over the internet on current issues, such as the Me Too movement and the COVID shutdown, and personal problems, such as substance-use disorder. Complicating their already Freudian relationship are Zoe, a feminist blogger who accuses Oscar of sexual aggression, and Corinne, Oscar’s sister, who is a lesbian and Rebecca’s childhood friend.
VERDICT Despentes’s unsparing directness and fluid style are well served by Wynne’s translation; nothing is lost. The novel is funny, raw, compelling, and well worth readers’ time.
Reviewed by Michael F. Russo , Aug 30, 2024
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