Tried reading this one and it just was not meant for me. This does not mean that it is not a good book, I just was not in the right place to be reading it and have decided to not try picking it up anytime in the near future.

David Foenkinos is a french writer, musician and playwring. His works has been translated in many languajes.

The Mystery of Henri Pick is a story about books and how they get published. It makes you think about all the amazing works we coudn't read because of editorial choices.
It's inspiring, easy to read, and it is worthy of the investment of time to read

Had high hopes for the story but was let down by the rambling character arcs. Also don't think that the twists were done all that well.

This is genuinely a joy to read; it is enthralling and witty. Don't let its simplicity deceive you - it is weaving something magical within those pages.

Cheerful and sweet, this is the kind of mystery you can curl up and read by a roaring fire and you know nothing truly awful will happen. It is also a charming ode to the publishing industry. Unfortunately, I found it just a bit meandering and it dragged a bit. Might have been the translation but it felt like it could have been edited down a little shorter.

Published in France in 2016; published in translation by Pushkin Press on September 1, 2020

“It is wise to be wary of anyone who loves books” cautions Madeleine, the widow of Henri Pick. Yet The Mystery of Henri Pick is a book for booklovers. The plot revolves around writers and critics and libraries and books, published and unpublished. The novel asks whether literary success has more to do with the story of a book than the story the book tells.

People who loves books and even some who rarely read harbor the belief that they have a story to tell. An unwritten book languishes in many souls. A small percentage actually take the trouble to write it, only to have the manuscript rejected by multiple publishers until they stop shopping it around. What happens to all those unpublished manuscripts?

Richard Brautigan conceived the notion of a Library of Rejected Books in his novel The Abortion. One of Brautigan’s fans brought it to life in the form of the Brautigan Library, which now resides in Vancouver. David Foenkinos imagines a librarian in a French village who, tickled by Brautigan’s idea, dedicates part of the library to unpublished manuscripts. Jean-Pierre Gourvec welcomes all rejected novels, provided their authors drop them off in person. By the time he dies, the library has accumulated thousands of manuscripts.

After Gourvec dies, Magali Croze assumes stewardship of the library. The unpublished manuscripts became covered with dust. An editor named Delphine Despero happens to spend an afternoon in the library with her boyfriend, Frédéric Koskas. There she discovers a novel called The Last Hours of a Love Affair. The book blends a love story with the death throes of Pushkin. The author was Henri Pick. Or that, at least, is what the public is told.

Henri Pick owed a pizza shop before his death. His wife had no idea that he had written a book. Henri showed no interest in literature, although his widow discovers a volume of Pushkin among his belongings.

Delphine’s discovery of Pick’s book sets the literary world on fire. The idea of a man pursuing a secret project that can be promoted as a masterpiece assures that the novel will be a best seller. The discovery changes the lives of Henri’s widow Madeleine and his daughter Joséphine. Journalists hound them for information about Henri in their hope of feeding more tidbits to the novel’s admirers.

Jean Michel Rouche, formerly an influential book critic who has become undone by his professional disappointments, suspects that Pick did not actually write the mysterious book. His effort to unmask its true author wakes him from his depression and gives him a reason to live. The mystery also drives the plot that brings the cast of characters together. Did or didn’t Pick write the amazing book?

The truth is revealed in an epilogue but is the truth really all that important? The Last Hours of a Love Affair brings joy or contentment to people who imagine that it might have been written for or about them. After all, readers “always find themselves in a book, in one way or another. Reading is a completely egotistical pleasure.” Perhaps the novel’s true origin is unimportant because “life has an inner dimension, with stories that have no basis in reality, but which are truly lived all the same.”

While the novel illustrates the ways in which people value form over substance — if conventionally published, The Last Hours of a Love Affair would probably have had a small readership — it also asks whether form and substance might sometimes have equal merit. If a book is meant to capture hearts, why are the heart-capturing circumstances of its discovery and publication of any less value than its content? Perhaps the story of artistic creation can be just as important (even if just as fictional) as the art itself.

Books about books are always fun for booklovers. The Mystery of Henri Pick explores the nature of books while revealing the hidden natures of its characters. With deceptive simplicity, the novel weaves together the lives of seemingly unremarkable people who, like most people who read, are more remarkable than they appear. Foenkinos even tells a couple of low-key love stories. The Mystery of Henri Pick is a charming addition to the literature of literature.

RECOMMENDED

This was the second of two books gifted to me via NetGalley this month. Unfortunately, much like the ARC copy of Private Means, The Mystery of Henri Pick by David Foenkinos also missed its mark. Translated from French to English, The Mystery of Henri Pick follows a publisher and a failing author who make the executive decision to publish a rejected manuscript found in a library filled with unpublished novels.

The book follows a plethora of characters in the aftermath of publication. These include; a librarian and her mundane marriage, a widow and her jilted daughter, a money-struggling journalist; a failed author, and his attempts to write from the bed, and of course the mysterious Henri Pick. As the sleepy town begins to wake up, the same question is on everybody’s lips: who was the real Henri Pick?

Personally, I was not interested in finding out who Henri Pick was. The novel was neither gripping nor interesting; there were too many diverse secondary plots that feebly bled into the main plotline. Let us just say I am not holding out for a second book.

The Mystery of Henri Pick by David Foenkinos (translated by Sam Taylor) is a book about authors, publishers, and book lovers. It is a book for bibliophiles with lots of literary references, many to French literature with which I am not familiar but nevertheless. The "farcical" part of the book description is very much embodied in the book. The "moving" part is much less present for me. M favorite part is the little known history I learned about the Brautigan Library.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2020/11/the-mystery-of-henri-pick.html

Reviewed for NetGalley.

4.5⭐ out of 5⭐

I'm totally surprised, but in a good way. The title and the epilogue called my attention, although I couldn't have imagined it was going to be this way. It's quite original and even funny. I like the way the author writes. The narrator tells us the story in a very particular way; witty and original. Therefore, it makes you keep on reading. You need to know what's going to happen next. You totally need to know how this mystery ends.

There're several characters and, in my humble opinion, I think they're all interesting. Each one of them is important, they're like the threads that compose this intrincated pattern.

The story itself is interesting, original, fun, and it has even some sad elements which are narrated with mixed emotions; sometimes, the narrator tells us these facts in a way we can totally empathize with the characters, therefore we can feel this sadness, but then it takes a different turn, and we can see bits of irony.

I find it difficult to summarise the story without giving spoilers, so I won't tell you anything new by saying that the story revolves around the mysterious manuscript called The Last Hours of a Love Affair, by Henry Pick, who died two years ago and owned a Pizzeria in a little French town. This manuscript was found in the peculiar library of rejected books by Delphine -a young editor- and Frédéric -an author whose first book was rejected several times until read by Delphine, therefore it ended up being published but with no success.

Who was Henri Pick? How could a man who seemed to have no interest in books write such a novel? Everything around the book's author seems contradictory. That's why the journalist Jeane-Michel Rouche is so intrigued. He thinks there's something strange about this whole media story. He won't be at peace until he demonstrates that Henri Pick couldn't have written that novel.

Thanks to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

4.5★s

“Publishing a novel that nobody reads is like encountering the world’s indifference in person.”

The Mystery of Henri Pick is a novel by French author, David Foenkinos. It is translated from French by Sean Taylor. When junior editor at Éditions Grasset, Delphine Despero takes her boyfriend, struggling author Frederic Koskas, home to Breton for a vacation, she’s not expecting to discover a best-seller.

But, in the nearby town of Crozon, the municipal library boasts an unusual section: several shelves dedicated to unpublished manuscripts. This was implemented by a former librarian, Jean-Pierre Gourvec, who got the idea from a Richard Brautigan novel. The manuscripts might be many-times rejected, or never submitted, but the one condition is that the author delivers his work in person.

Delphine and Frederic idly peruse the shelves and happen upon The Last Hours of a Love Affair, by Henri Pick. They are stunned: it’s unbelievably good! Everyone who reads it is captivated. But who is Henri Pick?

Now deceased, it turns out he was, for forty years, the local pizzeria owner, and no one, not even his wife and daughter, had any inkling of his literary leanings. Delphine has no trouble convincing her bosses at Grasset to publish, but what really makes it a best-seller is this fascinating back-story. No-one, however, can predict what far-reaching effects this discovery will have.

Madeleine Pick is stunned to find herself interviewed on TV; Henri’s daughter, Josephine, is also in demand, and courted by a long-gone husband; the now-librarian, Magali finds the extra workload from all the literary tourists irritating; Frederic is jealous at the attention Delphine is bestowing on this dead author; but a certain once-renowned literary critic is so sceptical, he decides to investigate.

Does he learn the truth? Does the librarian run away with her young lover? Does the daughter reunite with her husband? Did the pizzeria owner really write the novel? If not, then who did?

While some of the literary references will be lost on the everyday reader, this is still a marvellous literary mystery, clever and funny, with (of course!) a very French flavour. There are some delightful last-minute plot twists in this intriguing little tale. Very entertaining.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Pushkin Press

Ahh, Romance

This is a love letter to writing, reading, and, in part, to publishing, selling, and publicizing books. Just to round things out and to humanize the project we have a vast array of characters who are all involved in affairs and romances of their own. It's all tres charmant and mellow. There are some nice set pieces, lots of memorable throwaway lines, and just the right bit of edge to keep things from getting too sweet and cute. An amusing, meandering, light read.

While on holiday in Crozon Brittany, literary agent Delphine Despero finds the manuscript for a novel. The Last Hours of a Love Affair by Henri Pick, rejected for publication, has lain in a library housing such manuscripts for over two years, and its author is now dead. Once published, it becomes a sensational bestseller, and everyone wants to know more about the author. Could Pick, a pizza chef from Crozon, really be the actual author?

Foenkinos has written an intelligent, yet deceptively simple novel that is perfect for anyone in love with reading. A beguiling read full of whimsical dialogue and witty engaging characters. And it just happens to contain a nice puzzle about the searching for the important things in life, and finding happiness.

A charming, fun read that I highly recommend.

This was a very unusual but also delightful read. Delphine, is an editor from Paris, who goes to visit her parents in Brittany, where she visits the library of rejected books. They found a book that they both agree is an absolutely amazing read. The author, Henri Pick, however has died a couple years back and thus cannot “confirm” that he is the author. This becomes as a total shock to Pick’s family and the book is published under the pretence that a “secret” book is found. A great setup and honestly I think it carried through the book. Only thing that got a bit confusing was all the characters and their backstories, it was not fully clear why some of them were introduces. Sometimes just introduced slight confusion. Still the twists and turns were well executed and I absolutely loved the commentary-style footnotes.

For the lovers of books about books and libraries and quirky characters. Enjoyable!

Thank you Pushkin Press and Netgalley for this copy.

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

This was an enjoyable read, even if the first half of the novel was a bit too slow and repetitive in my opinion.
I grew fond of every character and I was really involved in their lives. I liked a lot the main plot and the ending was kind of surprising and developed really well.
If you love books and you're looking for a quick and intriguing book, this is the right one for you!

Thank you to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Now available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

If you like mystery, then I do not recommend David Foenkinos' "The Mystery of Henri Pick." However, if you like descriptions of Brittany and life in the French countryside, quirky characters and meandering, intersecting storylines, then this is the perfect book for you. While I struggled to find a central narrative and protagonist, I did greatly enjoy meeting the characters that populate this book.

A strange story of unfulfilled novelists, a library if rejected books and dishonesty on a series of levels.
Was compelled to finish this even though I was losing interest by the end, and the final twist came at the end so I was well to stick it out.
Good honest translation style, the book is like a matter of fact retelling with little embellishment, and was enjoyable.
#NetGalley
Thanks for the opportunity to read this ahead of publication in exchange for an honest review

The Mystery of Henri Pick is about how such a pragmatic man, a local pizza maker, could write such a beautiful novel.

Delphine is an editor at a small French publishing house. She selects Frederic’s book, The Bathtub, from her slush pile and publishes it. It bombs. However, Delphine and Frederic fall in love.

While visiting Delphine’s parents, the pair find an unpublished book in the back corner of a library. It is called The Last Hours of a Love Affair. It intermingles the end of an affair with the hideous death of the Russian poet Pushkin. The book was written by a recently deceased local, Henri Pick. Delphine loves the book. She visits the widow Pick and receives permission to publish the book. The book becomes a hit! Could Henri really have written such a great novel? Or was the library’s owner the real author?

The Mystery of Henri Pick reminds me of a Seinfeld episode about nothing—minus the humor, unfortunately. I was only about 10% into the book when I figured out the twist ending. I kept reading assuming it couldn’t be that simple. It was. 2 stars.

Thanks to Steerforth Press, Pushkin Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

If you are a fan of literary mysteries, this might be the book for you. The mystery is set off in a library in the French region of Brittany, where a former librarian had begun a library of rejected manuscripts. When young editor Delphine and her boyfriend Frédéric—whose first novel recently tanked—find a masterpiece of a novel in the library of rejects, they set out to find the man who wrote it. It turns out that the author of said manuscript, Henri Pick, is a recently deceased pizza maker, who had never written a word in his life.

The publication of the novel sets off a series of unexpected consequences for various characters, as one journalist sets out to prove that Pick did not have a hand in writing the masterpiece.

Books where one action sets off a series of hilarious circumstances are just not my cup of tea. If you enjoy books like that, this is definitely the book for you!

This quirky book, part comedy and part mystery with a dash of romance, is for bibliophiles.

Crozon, in the Brittany region of France, has a library which houses manuscripts rejected by publishers. Delphine Despero, a young, ambitious editor, finds a gem amongst these rejects and works to have it published. The book, entitled The Last Hours of a Love Affair, was purportedly written by a now-deceased pizzeria owner, Henri Pick. Interest in this unlikely writer rises to a fevered pitch, though there are some, like Jean-Michel Rouche - a once-influential literary journalist, who cannot believe a man who never read could have written the book.

The book examines all aspects of the publishing industry; we meet writers, editors, publishers, book representatives, reviewers, librarians, and readers. There is gentle mockery of virtually all these people; for example, “Writing is the only job in the world where you can stay under the duvet all day long and still claim to be working.” We meet an editor for whom “the choice of keeping or deleting a comma could make her heart beat faster.” Publishers are skewered for using whatever means they can to promote sales: “This is often how the fate of a book is decided; some are given a head start. The publisher’s enthusiasm is the deciding factor; every parent has a favourite child.” Even controversy is welcomed because the attention it brings can boost a book’s sales. A librarian examines “each reader’s physical appearance in order to work out which author they needed.” Even readers are gently spoofed: “Readers always find themselves in a book, in one way or another. Reading is a completely egotistical pleasure.”

The author’s opinion is that we are “edging towards a complete domination of form over substance.” Pick’s novel, for example, becomes a best-seller, not because of the quality of the book itself, but because of the mystery surrounding its writer: “people were talking much more about the mystery of Henri Pick than about his book.” The life of Pick’s widow is turned upside-down once the book is published. At the end of the book, there is a reference to “our society’s obsession with form over substance.”

The book explores how recognition and fame affect people. Joséphine, Prick’s adult daughter, for instance, is depressed about the state of her life until journalists turn their attention to her in an attempt to learn about Henri: “Like a briefly famous reality-TV star, she was seduced by the idea of being special” and “discovered a taste for the drug that is fame.” She parlays her moment of fame to improve sales in her lingerie shop: “People queued up to buy a bra from the daughter of a pizzeria owner who’d written a novel in absolute secrecy.” Unfortunately, she becomes so accustomed to the limelight that she lets it consume her and fails to realize that someone might take advantage of her for personal gain.

How people deal with a lack of recognition is also explored. Delphine’s boyfriend is a writer whose first novel is not a commercial success, and he has to learn how to deal with failure. Likewise, Jean-Michel Rouche was once a powerful voice in the literary world but, after being fired, realizes that he might soon be forgotten, so he sets out to re-establish his reputation by proving that the publication of Pick’s novel is a literary hoax.

Romance is not a favourite genre for me, but the romantic touches in the book are delicate. The stories of several of the characters illustrate the theme of Pick’s novel: the last hours of a love affair. The romance behind Pick’s novel is certainly touching.

The many allusions add to the novel. Because many of the literary references are to French literature with which I am not very familiar, I found myself doing some research as I read. I’ve not read The Possibility of an Island by Michel Houellebecq and had never even heard of HHhH by Laurent Benet. I wish I had read The Lover by Marguerite Dumas so I could understand why it is the novel one of the characters needs in her life. I even went on YouTube to find a recording of the French singer Barbara singing “Göttingen”, the song which was so impactful on Joséphine (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2beYoAxxC8A). And I learned that there is an actual library of unpublished manuscripts: http://www.thebrautiganlibrary.org/about.html.

There are some wonderful turns of phrase: “The burning question was on her lips, as impossible to hold back as a man fleeing a house on fire.” One man is described as being “capable of withdrawing into himself like a Russian doll.” Authors drop off their rejected manuscripts “to rid themselves of the fruits of their failure.” An unhappy woman regains “the use of her zygomatic muscles. Now she could be seen parading outside her shop, looking like a lottery winner.”

The humourous touches are pitch-perfect. The television interview with Pick’s widow is a wonderful scene. Pick is described as “the Fitzgerald of pizza”! An overweight woman has an affair and worries that her size is unattractive. Her lover tells her, “”I like women with curves. It’s reassuring.” She replies, “’Did you need that much reassurance?’” And there’s the man who wonders about a woman’s interest in him: “It had been a long time since a woman had driven three hundred kilometres to see him without warning. In fact, it had never happened before.”

I’ve read a couple of other feel-good books with a French connection for book lovers: The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/2015/07/review-of-little-paris-bookshop-by-nina.html) and The Girl Who Reads on the Métro by Christine Féret-Fleury (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/2020/06/review-of-girl-who-reads-on-metro-by.html), but The Mystery of Henri Pick is the best. It is deceptively light-hearted; the mystery is actually secondary. The book comments on subjects like society’s superficiality, the impact of fame, and human nature in general. I think that most readers picking up this novel will feel they have “the right book in their hands, a book that [speaks] to them.”

Note: I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley.

The Mystery of Henri Pick by French author, screenwriter, and director David Foenkinos has finally been translated into English. Published in France in 2016 as Le Mystère Henri Pick, it is now sure to delight American readers.

During a visit to her parents in Brittany, editor Delphine and writer-boyfriend Frédéric visit the nearby “library of unpublished books” –a depository for “literary orphans.” Former Breton librarian Jean-Pierre Gourvec had modeled the library after a fictional library in a Richard Brautigan novel and the one created by a literary fan after the Brautigan’s suicide. For acceptance into the library’s collection, authors who had failed to find a publisher were required to deliver their rejected manuscripts in person.

After visiting the library and leaving with a manuscript, Delphine launches a prepublication campaign for a newly discovered masterpiece, The Last Hours of a Love Affair. The book juxtaposes the ill-fated affair with the slow, agonizing death of Russian poet Alexander Pushkin after he was wounded in a duel. The novel’s backstory captivates the French reading public; even the Germans are begging for first translation rights. Everyone clamors to know more about the deceased small-town pizzeria owner who authored this masterpiece. As the press descends on Henri Pick’s widow and daughter and book fans flood the daughter’s lingerie store and the library of unpublished books, lives begin to change.

Once a dreaded critic who had made many enemies and now found himself unemployed and in a troubled relationship, Jean-Michel Rouche questions the likelihood that a pizzamaker authored such a book. Realizing he has a new, much-needed mission in life, Rouche launches a one-man investigation. The pace picks up with his arrival in Brittany despite initial obstacles. Foenkinos introduces readers to more Breton locals and to another outsider attracted to not only the library, but also the librarian. He slowly unfolds the lives, relationships, and secrets of his characters, living and dead.

Revolving around Delphine’s successful launch of the posthumous novel and Rouche’s investigation into its authorship, The Mystery of Henri Pick is as much the story of how The Last Hours of a Love Affair changes lives as it is about the mystery surrounding the book, itself.

Some readers express concerns about translations. Don’t worry about this one. Sam Taylor has translated more than fifty books from French and written four novels, two of which were long-listed for the International Booker Prize. He knows what he’s doing. If you enjoy watching films made from books you have read, you also have reason to look forward to a subtitled release of the 2019 French film. You can already watch the trailer on YouTube.

Thanks to NetGalley, Pushkin Press, and David Foenkinos for an advance reader copy of this surprise-filled book.