Didier van Cauwelaert: Jules (2015)

There wasn't a great number of books to choose from in Super U so I picked up Didier van Cauwelaert's Jules. And it's not bad, but then what should you expect from a Goncourt winner? Maybe more, OK, but here we have guide dog labrador Jules whose (lesbian) mistress Alice stops off to buy some macaroons at Orly airport from Zibel's stand. Zibel is really an engineer in bio-chemistry and astrophysics, but we won't go into that. He's also smitten, obsessed by the beautiful Alice. But Jules is smitten by her too.

So when Alice's operation succeeds and she gains her sight Jules is redundant. When he's given a new (blind) owner Jules can still find no purpose in life, so he attaches himself to the closest he can find to Alice: Zibel. Due to Jules, Zibel loses his job, his accommodation, and his bearings. He must find Alice, and of course he now has a perfect excuse for searching for her.

Great literature this certainly isn't, but it's nevertheless a very readable, humorous, and undemanding read if you're in the right mood.

My other Didier van Cauwelaert post:
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Didier van Cauwelaert: Un aller simple | One Way
Didier van Cauwelaert: Vingt ans et des poussières