I’m not sure I can say I actually enjoyed this exploration of the underbelly of Parisian life, but I did find it strangely compelling. I haven’t read Vernon Subutex 1 – and I don’t feel impelled to enter his world any further – but in that first volume of the trilogy Vernon ran a record shop and developed a sort of cult following. Now he’s lost everything and is sleeping rough, but he still has his followers as he has in his possession the last recordings of musician Alex Bleach, and Bleach’s followers want to track Vernon down to see the tapes. A community of down-&-outers, drug users, drunks, homeless, porn stars and various other low life people this book, all connected in one way or another, and the novel is a relentless ride through their lives. The writing is accomplished and authentic as far as I can tell, and this carried me through the somewhat unpalatable storyline.

"We are the defeated - and we are thousands. We are searching for a way."

I picked up the first book in the Vernon Subutex series by Virginie Despentes, translated from the French by Frank Wynne, because I was drawn in by the synopsis that promised sharp social commentary of contemporary French society and references to 90s music. Moreover, Vernon Subutex, 1 made it onto the 2018 Man Booker International Prize shortlist, and while it wasn't among my favourites from the shortlist, I was still curious to find out what happens next.

The second volume in the series seamlessly picks up where the first volume left off and follows the adventures of Vernon and the colourful group of characters from the previous book, while also providing some more insight into their backstories and introducing some new characters.

While it seems that the main purpose of the first volume was to provoke strong emotions in the reader, the narrative of the second book feels much more focused and controlled. Despentes has a great ear for dialogue and, although the book features quite a lot of characters (there’s even a helpful index at the beginning of the book to remind the reader who everyone is, in case you get lost), each of their voices is sufficiently distinct so that I never got confused by the consistently shifting narrative that switches from chapter to chapter between the different points of view. This book also provided that long-awaited sharp social commentary on present-day French society that I was expecting and didn’t quite get from the first book. By giving a voice to this assortment of characters from diverse backgrounds, the author unflinchingly tackles various complex issues such as race, class, poverty, privilege, corporate greed, violence against women, marriage, loneliness, political ideology, generational conflict, ageing, and mental illness. The most notable theme in this series that persistently comes up in the first two books is class struggle, and how oppression affects the mental state of the population. As one character observes:

"The working class has been so brainwashed over the last decade that the only thing they care about is spewing hatred about bougnoules. They’ve been stripped of the self-respect it took centuries to win, there’s not a moment of the day when they don’t feel like they’re being fleeced, and they’ve been taught that the only thing they’ve got to make them feel a little less shit is to bang on about how they’re white so they have a right to put down darkies. In the same way that kids in the banlieue torch the cars outside their own tower blocks and never invade the sixteenth arrondissement, the Frenchman in dire straits takes it out on the person sitting next to him on the bus."

Vernon is still homeless and living rough, however, he seems to have become a sort of mad poet and spiritual leader for the group of his unhappy/frustrated friends and acquaintances. They flock to the Rosa Bonheur bar located in the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont in northeastern Paris just to see Vernon spin a set as the DJ, and suddenly you get a scene with some neo-fascist nutjobs, ex-porn stars, and a lesbian biker dancing to James Brown's "The Payback" or singing along to David Bowie's "Heroes", while "off in a corner, lit by a pale green light, Vernon looks out at them, his eyes half closed, an enigmatic smile playing on his lips. He has become a sphinx." This series is such a wild ride!

This book also finally reveals what exactly is on the much-coveted tapes featuring the final interview with the deceased rock star Alex Bleach which starts out quite poetically and acts as a catalyst for some of the events in the second half of the book.

"WE ENTERED INTO ROCK MUSIC THE WAY YOU ENTER A CATHEDRAL, remember, Vernon, and our story was a spaceship. There were so many saints everywhere we didn’t know who to worship. We knew that as soon as they pulled out the jack plugs, musicians were human beings just like everyone else, people who went for a shit and blew their noses when they caught a cold. We didn’t give a fuck about heroes, all we cared about was that sound. It transfixed us, floored us, blew our minds. It existed, we all felt the same way in the beginning, Jesus fuck this thing exists? It was too big to be contained within our bodies."

Overall, I'm glad I gave the second book in this series a try. I found it much more enjoyable than the first volume, which I was very conflicted about. However, if you absolutely loathed the first one for the controversial or offensive opinions and coarse language, I wouldn't really recommend continuing on with this series. For those of you who haven't read the first volume, I would honestly suggest waiting until all three of the books have been published because this series is basically one long, continuous story that has been divided into three volumes, and, given the large cast of characters, I think it's a good series to binge-read all the way through. I'm certainly looking forward to reading the final volume and finding out how all this is going to end!

And so with Book 2 we pick up where we left Vernon at the end of the first book – homeless, and somehow in possession of video footage everyone wants hold of….

If you liked (loved?) Part 1 then you will further immerse yourself in the world created by Virginie Despentes, a Paris and a story that gives voice to the marginalised, the dispossessed, the extremes of society. The word ‘rambunctious’ popped into my head half-way through this. Now, given that it’s a word I don’t think I have ever knowingly used in conversation in my life, I somehow feel that it’s entirely appropriate: uncontrollably exuberant, boisterous. The book sweeps along, covering Despentes’ favourite themes – politics, society, immigration, extremism, religion, music – and as the book progresses some of the minor characters from book 1 become more filled-out. Stories become more and more intertwined as Vernon himself becomes less the focus of our attention and more the figure around whom all the other characters orbit. Indeed, as in his previous life when everyone hung out in his record store, now everyone hangs out in the park where he sleeps rough, to discuss every subject under the sun, while Vernon sits serene, surrounded by his ‘sect’ or ‘gang’ as various characters refer to it.

The plot is, well, complicated – this is not the place to go into that. Suffice to say that it develops from Book 1 in ways that seem to snowball out of control. At its heart is music: music as communion, as salvation, as freedom, and as escape. Despentes shamelessly drops in references to innumerable tracks that will have you searching them out on your personal choice of website – there is a soundtrack to the books that is irresistible. And then there is Paris itself – Despentes has created an almost Dickensian city, a gritty world populated by oddities and characters who are seldom wholly likeable, sometimes downright nasty, but always vivid. It is Dickens transplanted to another place, another time, where drugs and violence and music are the backdrop.

I genuinely can’t wait until Book 3 gets published in English. I am tempted to try out my very rusty school French on an original language version just to see how the story ends. But then again, maybe I’ll wait... 4 stars for this, as I gave Book 1 – I’ll wait until Book 3 before I venture into 5-star territory.

Vernon Subutex is living in the streets of Paris now; he found a quite comfortable place in the parc des Buttes Chaumont and doesn’t really care about his old acquaintances. But they show up one after the other since there are still things going on all connected to him. First of all, Emilie’s apartment was broken into and Vernon’s rucksack has been stolen. He didn’t really care about it, but he had something that many people were keen on seeing destroyed: tapes with recordings of Vernon’s and Alex Bleach’s discussions in which the later and now dead musician reveals that Vodka Satana hasn’t died from an overdose but was killed. A whole bunch of people gathers on the Parisian hill, all grieving their own kind of loss, searching for meaning in their life and finding in Vernon the piece that holds them all together.

I liked the second instalment of the Vernon Subutex series a lot more than the first. I had the impression that the different stories which are told somehow better fit together and they are a lot more interesting than in the first. Even though Vernon Subutex still gives the novel the title and he is definitely the linking item between all of the characters, he just plays a minor role here.

It is not obvious from the beginning how all the characters relate, sometimes it needs a longer explanation to reveal the missing link. But Virginie Despentes has equipped them all with stunning lives that are not only interesting to read but also very diverse and each offer something completely new. What she manages in this way is to offer a broad picture of the French society, especially since her characters come from all kinds of classes and normally they wouldn’t really interact. But here, it does not only work, but it is convincing and great to read.