Paul has committed the irreparable: he has killed his father. However, when he decided to act, Thomas Lanski was already dead, of natural causes. It will take nothing less than a mandatory year of therapy to unravel the circumstances that led Paul to this parricide of which he is not truly the author.
L’Origine des larmes (The Origin of Tears) is the narrative that Paul confides to his psychiatrist: the story of a wounded man, harboring an obsessive hatred for his father, guilty of causing suffering to his wife and son throughout their lives. It’s a tale of learning vengeance, in a way.
A blend of humor and melancholy, this novel can be read as a dark comedy or a burlesque drama. Perhaps both at the same time.
