Book Review – The Babylonian Trilogy by Sébastien Doubinsky

Sébastien Doubinsky is one of those gloriously frustrating individuals who, in my selfish stupor, seem to exist in order to make you feel inadequate. Born in France, then spending some time in the US, moving back to France and then moving to Denmark, he has work penned in multiple languages. This is where the inadequacy sets in – he’s his own translator! Glancing at his bibliography, I’m presented with a tantilising list of titles in both French and Danish that I’ll NEVER get to read. Instead, I’m left with his only English novel to date, THE BABYLONIAN TRILOGY.

THE BABYLONIAN TRILOGY is comprised of three lengthy shorts set in the fictional city of Babylon. The chapters within each story are broken down into many individual threads that, as the story progresses, begin to bind. The structure of each story is fascinating and requires time for the reader to orient themselves. Doubinsky doesn’t allow you to linger on one moment too long before plucking you away and dropping you into another. Peppered throughout each story are aphoristic meditations about life that lend a distinct gravitas to the proceedings.

Rather than a story as such, I’d label THE BAYLONIAN TRIOLOGY a book about themes. The setting of Babylon is used to dissect issues that are so firmly embedded in our world that it’s hard to read it as fantasy. In the first story, an ever present, unending war is occurring far away from Babylon, yet, the tendrils of the war affect everything. From the soldiers themselves, we’re taken into the mind of a bloodthirsty journalist who just wants to exploit the devastation and capture the grandeur of death on camera for the distanced, pacified television audience to consume. We are introduced to a struggling author, with ALL the typical pretences, who exploits the war in order to find elusive success. The second story concerns a detective on the hunt for a serial killer and smears on a thick topping of noir to invigorate it. The third story concerns the nature of Babylon itself and reinforces the previous two stories as three protagonists try and escape the city.

As mentioned earlier, I believe this book to be about themes more than narrative. Of course, the narrative is there – it’s just that the themes of the book are so strong and all-encompassing. It’s difficult to respect many of the characters within, even if you do find yourself identifying with them more than you’d probably like. Consider the plight of the struggling author. He is obsessed with the stereotypical conceits that go along with being an author. He spends time staring at a wall of rejection slips while embracing ennui. He cheats on his girlfriend; more to experience the fleeting sexual encounters that he believes inspire authors than anything else. You get the sense it’s merely in order to pine for her when the relationship inevitably breaks. For me, the key to unlocking this book can be found within the story about the reporter. Those around her can see ‘death in her eyes’ and it’s clear she’s mining misery for her own gain. It’s hard to know whether she follows death or if death follows her. The reader will be inclined to turn her into a monster while ignoring their own morbid fascination with death as entertainment. And this is what I like so much about THE BAYLONIAN TRIOLOGY – it is a story about us. I love the discomfort that results when forced to contemplate my weaknesses. We’re all so flawed.

THE BAYLONIAN TRIOLOGY is a very idiosyncratic book, told in a way that will lead some to frustration. I wasn’t frustrated in the slightest and enjoyed the slight Altman-esque vibe that infused the many different strands of narrative. I recommend this book very highly. I can’t wait for Doubinsky to write his next English book.

THE BABYLONIAN TRILOGY is available from PS Publishing.

M

 

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