“Sexy, hopelessly romantic, and almost sneakily meditative, Dyer’s novel invokes the shades of Hemingway and Fitzgerald, but as they might be imagined by Truffaut.” The New Yorker
Paris Trance is the story of two expatriates, Luke and Alex, who meet in Paris and become inseparable. Each falls in love, and the two couples travel the city together in a fever of indulgence and self-discovery.
“Entrancing… I can’t think of a recent novel that better describes the scarily charged beginning of a love affair.” The New York Times Book Review
“Four things that get under your skin: shards of glass, splinters of wood, sharp needles, and books by Geoff Dyer. Where most writers barely nick the flesh of human feeling, Dyer somehow manages to dig deeper… Unusually for a contemporary English novelist Dyer is as interested in asking big, difficult questions about the meaning of life as he is in developing motifs, displaying his learning, making points, making you laugh, shocking, soothing, or being cool, all of which he manages to do with unnatural ease.” Guardian
“Witty, erotic and melancholy, a beautifully written tale.” The Times
“Charming books tend to wither as fashion moves on or as we grow older. The Catcher in the Rye, and maybe Ginger and Pickles, seem to be exceptions. Then there are books, such as The Great Gatsby, whose callowness itself profound, whose charm is persistingly, enduringly transient. Geoff Dyer has written such a book… a book about being thoughtless, young and in love… The irresistible quality of the book steals up, like sun through a plain curtain.” Candia McWilliam, New Statesman
First published: UK, Abacus 1998; UK, FSG, 1999
Current paperback editions: UK, Canongate; US, Picador