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The Bourgeois Empire
Shortlisted for the ReLit Award
“A carnivalesque romp through middle age, addressing the menace of mortality while lampooning comic stereotypes . . . Pulses with life.” — Globe and Mail
A Nabokovian fever dream, an encyclopedic guide to mortal sin, and a thoroughly contemporary reimagining of Billy Wilder’s classic film The Lost Weekend; and yes, of course, it’s a love story too
In this sharp-witted tale of desperation and decadence, a middle-aged man tries to escape the anxieties of failure and grueling reality of everyday existence with a wide range of distractions — from an opulent home renovation to torrents of pornography to alcohol and pills and fast cars. He’s been told again and again that asceticism and a bit of restraint might serve him better, spiritually speaking. But temptation seems to follow him everywhere — and soon the house of cards he’s been building may completely collapse.
“The most striking thing about Evie Christie’s unconventional debut novel, The Bourgeois Empire, is its point of view — not because of its use of the second person, which is a formal device that Christie is willing to let slip on occasion, but for the withering cold eye it casts on masculine stereotypes … That the book works so well is testament both to Christie’s wonderfully alert writing and the way she maintains a perfectly balanced moral tone throughout.” — National Post
“The Bourgeois Empire, Christie’s second book and first novel, pulses with that same sexual intensity she brought to Gutted, only magnified tenfold …The take is as brave and seductive as it is corrupt, and as pornographic as it is beautiful.” — Broken Pencil
“Evie Christie’s debut novel is brutally brilliant … Christie puts you in the shoes of this despicable man, but ties the laces with compassion.” — Telegraph-Journal
“A carnivalesque romp through middle age, addressing the menace of mortality while lampooning comic stereotypes … Pulses with life.” — Globe and Mail
“The Bourgeois Empire, Christie’s second book and first novel, pulses with that same sexual intensity she brought to Gutted, only magnified tenfold …The take is as brave and seductive as it is corrupt, and as pornographic as it is beautiful.” — Broken Pencil
“Evie Christie’s debut novel is brutally brilliant … Christie puts you in the shoes of this despicable man, but ties the laces with compassion.” — Telegraph-Journal
“A carnivalesque romp through middle age, addressing the menace of mortality while lampooning comic stereotypes … Pulses with life.” — Globe and Mail
