The Suicide Shop

by Jean Teulé

Overview

Has your life been a failure? Let's make your death a success. With the twenty-first century just a distant memory and the world in environmental chaos, many people have lost the will to live. And business is brisk at The Suicide Shop.
Run by the Tuvache family for generations, the shop offers an amazing variety of ways to end it all, with something to fit every budget.
The Tuvaches go mournfully about their business, taking pride in the morbid service they provide. Until the youngest member of the family threatens to destroy their contented misery by confronting them with something they’ve never encountered before: a love of life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781906040901
Publisher:	Gallic Books
Publication date:	08/10/2008
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	169
File size:	184 KB

About the Author

Jean Teulé lived in the Marais with his partner, the French film actress Miou-Miou. An illustrator, filmmaker and television presenter, he was the prize-winning author of ten books including one based on the life of Verlaine. He died in 2022.

Editorial Reviews

'A suicide shop that is full of life' LE FIGARO 'A gently comic fable' FINANCIAL TIMES 'Jean Teulé presents the zany world of The Suicide Shop with just the right amount of humour ... and wraps up his story with a celebration of life' LE MONDE 'Original, irredeemably mocking and unexpectedly poignant; The Suicide Shop is a timeless classic. Teulé’s subtle and understated humour is exquisitely French and his ability to mix up the serious, the taboo, the comical and the tender displays a brilliance rarely seen' THE TRUTH ABOUT BOOKS ‘an enjoyable, thought-provoking little book, with an original quirky style of its own’ VULPES LIBRIS 'Reading The Suicide Shop, and watching Alan attempt to win everyone round to his way of thinking, is an absolute delight. A perfect short read and a book that is guaranteed to become a cult classic' MEANDMYBIGMOUTH 'As a fan of The Addams Family, The Suicide Shop charmed the socks off me' CHASING BAWA Praise for Jean Teulé '[Tuele's] darkly comic tales delved into real-life murky milieus as well as his own baroque imagination, and detailed an array of misdeeds ranging from cuckoldry to cannibalism' THE TELEGRAPH

From the Publisher

09/15/2013
The Tuvache family has a lucrative business selling their customers every imaginable device for committing suicide. A few centuries in the future, when environmental catastrophe is an everyday occurrence, most people are desperate and looking for assured methods with which to end their lives. However, to the Tuvaches' horror, Alan, the newest member of the family, is born with a joyous disposition and an impish desire to bring happiness into the lives of his family and the morose customers of the Suicide Shop. In a style reminiscent of Charles Addams's cartoons about his macabre Addams Family, Teulé, a French author and filmmaker, creates this blackly humorous story with a delicate touch as Alan's influence reaches even the most hardened family members. VERDICT While Teulé writes in a comedic style and much of this novella (which has been turned into a successful animated film) is charming, this book is not recommended for readers who have experienced the suicide of a family member or friend. With its ambiguous ending, this title is only for lovers of extremely black comedy. It will appeal to those who enjoyed Chuck Palahniuk's Survivor or Joseph Heller's Catch-22 and to Charles Addams's fans. [Gallic Books is a six-year-old British publisher specializing in French literature.—Ed.]—Andrea Kempf, formerly with Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS

Library Journal