Emmanuel Carrère

This was supposed to be a “smiling and subtle” book about yoga…

Emmanuel Carrère, who has been practicing yoga for 35 years, is at a 10-day Vipassana meditation retreat where the participants can neither communicate among themselves nor with the outside world (telephones are not allowed as well as books and even notebooks) when the Charlie Hebdo attacks happen. Having been asked to write and read a text in honor of Bernard Maris, he must brutally interrupt the retreat and return to Paris. Over the course of the following months his life falls apart: first with the end of his marriage, of which he was so proud; and then with the breaking off with his mistress with whom he had an episodic and mysterious relationship that was just as meaningful. Next follows a period of deep depression that will notably lead him to being interned at l’hôpital Sainte Anne and having electroshock therapy sessions. To try to divert this now unbearable daily rhythm, he spends several months on the island of Lesbos moderating writing workshops with young migrants. It will be an occasion for wonderful encounters, still not without mystery, with young Afghan refugees and with the creator and principal moderator of the workshops.