The French writer, essayist, journalist, radio host and music critic offers us an autobiography in the form of short stories, mixed with fiction, memoirs, reflection and socially critical thought. He touches on key memories and experiences, from his mother's illness and death, moments with his friend Victor, the charm of the city of Paris and the tranquility of the French villages in the hilly Vosges. He introduces us to glimpses of the lives of individual characters – a saxophonist who cannot stand the sound of music from the street, dementia patients in his mother's hospital, a bohemian century-old lady who visits her and members of a tribe that is not. He despises human reproduction and childbearing, choosing friends over family. He despises the Anglicization and cheapness of European culture, and he is also immensely frustrated by the modernization of the countryside and the disappearance of the authentic rural environment that he experienced as a child. He tells the story melancholicly, but also nostalgically. The stories are intertwined with an awareness of transience and death, and he usually sees sad fates and suffering in people. Despite this, when reading, we will not feel the author's pain, but rather a sovereign and insightful presentation of life experiences.