Bye Bye Blondie

Gloria & Eric were once punk mascots, homeless, high, & in love, on a noisy mix of drugs, Parisian counterculture, & each other. Now, he’s a television personality & she remains bitter at the local bar. Reunited twenty years later, Gloria’s hunt for immortality & redemption in love reveals the simultaneous ecstasy & banality of a wrecked modern romance.

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Gloria lives in seething rage, lashing out at everyone—particularly, a string of bewildered boyfriends—at the local bar. But when her latest explosion leaves her out on the street, she unexpectedly runs into famed television personality Eric Muir. Incidentally, he's also her teenage boyfriend, & the one who started it all.

Once upon a time, Gloria & Eric met while institutionalized, & then became a mascot couple for those homeless & high on a noisy mix of drugs, music, & counterculture. Now, twenty years later, Gloria is enamored by youthful love resurrected & determined to immortalize their story by writing a screenplay.

Whisked away to Paris, she's transformed from a provincial loose cannon into an urbane party guest. But navigating life & love isn't any easier for the middle-aged. Cutting deep to unearth the marriage of institutional violence & heterosexual relationships, Bye Bye Blondie illustrates how young women are continuously dragged down & neglected, & then dangled false offers of fame in lieu of real, redemptive recognition.

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Virginie Despentes is a writer, filmmaker, & noted French feminist critic. She is the author of many award-winning books, including King Kong Theory, Apocalypse Baby (winner of the 2010 Prix Renaudot), & the Vernon Subutex trilogy (shortlisted for the 2018 International Booker Prize).