PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Marc Joan, a biomedical scientist, is the author of the literary horror epic Hangdog Souls, as well as a number of award-winning and award-nominated short stories published in numerous magazines and journals. Marc was raised in South India, and he now lives in England.
PRAISE FOR THE CARTOON LIFE AND LOVES OF A STUPID MAN 'My favourite book this year was Marc Joan's forthcoming The Cartoon Life and Loves of a Stupid Man. Set in France, it's about a seller of comic books who becomes convinced his wife is having an affair. What I loved about the novel was its luxuriant language, its vivid descriptions, and the depiction of a man descending into a self-made hell. Jean-Paul Sartre, who loved comic books as a kid, wrote that hell is other people. Not necessarily. Hell is often simply one's self, that most intimate of strangers' Anil Menon for The Asian Age 'A stylistically brilliant novel with an extremely unreliable and troubled narrator. At first a funny and endearing portrayal of the frustrations of a comic book shop owner with a beautiful and much more successful wife, the plot gradually takes a darker turn and descends into tragedy and horror. The sympathetic but obtuse central character and command of language and dialogue reminded me of the works of Nabokov and John Kennedy Toole. Strongly recommended.' Goodreads reviewer, 5* 'I love love love this book. It is so deranged and smart and creative.' Goodreads reviewer, 5* 'It's a slow burn of a story, well written and plotted, and progressively claustrophobic. I was totally sucked into the book, and had to tear myself away last night in order to go to sleep' Goodreads reviewer, 5*
