First published 2023
In "Family Idiot," Jean-Paul Sartre's final novel, a middle-aged man named Gustave grapples with his family's troubled past. Isolated in his family's crumbling manor, Gustave delves into his mother's mental illness and his father's violent outbursts, uncovering a legacy of shame and resentment. As he sifts through old letters and photographs, Gustave is forced to confront his own role in perpetuating the family's cycles of dysfunction. Sartre's unflinching exploration of the human psyche lays bare the complex ties that bind us to our kin, even as they threaten to consume us.
Genres: fiction, family, literary-fiction, 20th-century, family-drama
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-secrets, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Family Manor
Period: 20th Century
304 pages · Hardcover · University of Chicago Press
Content warnings: mental-illness