Skip to main content

Author Talk: Katherine Pancol, author of The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles

Nov 4, 2013

Question: The title of your book refers to Antoine’s new life and livelihood in Africa, but it also seems to work as a metaphor of sorts. What does it mean to you?

Katherine Pancol: One morning when I was in New York I read an article in The New York Times about a man who went off to raise crocodiles because he was sure he would make a fortune. He was like a Forty-Niner during the Gold Rush. As it happens, raising crocodiles can be very profitable, because every part of the animal can be used, from its hide to its blood and claws. Antoine thinks he’ll make a fortune and realize his dream of becoming a rich, powerful businessman. In fact, the opposite happens. He winds up bankrupt and despairing, tracked by the crocodiles who watch him at night, waiting to get close enough to devour him. The crocodiles’ yellow eyes shining in the darkness represent the appeal of riches, the glittering gold that leads men to their doom—and women, too.

Editorial Content for Dirty Love

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Harvey Freedenberg

Although only two years have passed since the publication of Andre Dubus III’s searing memoir, TOWNIE, it’s been five years since he’s produced a work of fiction. In HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG, he portrayed a tragic clash between Iranian immigrants and American culture. THE GARDEN OF LAST DAYS imagined the days leading up to the 9/11 attacks, in part through the hijackers’ eyes. Read More

Teaser

In these linked novellas in which characters walk out the back door of one story and into the next, love is "dirty" --- tangled up with need, power, boredom, ego, fear and fantasy. These narratives express extraordinary tenderness toward human beings, our vulnerable hearts and bodies, our fulfilling and unfulfilling lives alone and with others.

Promo

In these linked novellas in which characters walk out the back door of one story and into the next, love is "dirty" --- tangled up with need, power, boredom, ego, fear and fantasy. These narratives express extraordinary tenderness toward human beings, our vulnerable hearts and bodies, our fulfilling and unfulfilling lives alone and with others.

About the Book

In this heartbreakingly beautiful book of disillusioned intimacy and persistent yearning, beloved and celebrated author Andre Dubus III explores the bottomless needs and stubborn weaknesses of people seeking gratification in food and sex, work and love.

In these linked novellas in which characters walk out the back door of one story and into the next, love is "dirty" --- tangled up with need, power, boredom, ego, fear and fantasy. On the Massachusetts coast north of Boston, a controlling manager, Mark, discovers his wife's infidelity after 25 years of marriage. An overweight young woman, Marla, gains a romantic partner but loses her innocence. A philandering bartender/aspiring poet, Robert, betrays his pregnant wife. And in the stunning title novella, a teenage girl named Devon, fleeing a dirty image of her posted online, seeks respect in the eyes of her widowed great-uncle Francis and of an Iraq vet she’s met surfing the Web.

Slivered by happiness and discontent, aging and death, but also persistent hope and forgiveness, these beautifully wrought narratives express extraordinary tenderness toward human beings, our vulnerable hearts and bodies, our fulfilling and unfulfilling lives alone and with others.

It was a real-life mystery that could have been a film noir. Between 1966 and 1972, a writer by the name of John Lange published eight paperback suspense novels. These were the kind of books with racy and sexy covers once found in drug stores, airports and bus stations. One of them even got nominated for an Edgar Award in 1971. Then John Lange just disappeared, apparently vanishing right off the face of the earth. His books soon followed and fell out of print for decades, perhaps showing up now and then in a garage sale or used bookstore.

January 1, 2014 - February 5, 2014

Rate the books you have read to let us know if you think they would be good selections for book groups.You can add books that you have read personally or with your book group. Share the title and the author, and please pay attention to proper spelling. Capitalize words as appropriate! All submissions will be reviewed before they are posted, thus your post will not appear immediately.