Description
Book SynopsisThis is a book about yoga. Or at least, it was.
January 2015. High on literary success and familial bliss, Emmanuel Carrère embarks on a rigorous ten-day meditative retreat in rural France in search of clarity and material for his next book, which he thinks will be a subtle, upbeat introduction to yoga.
But his trip is cut short, and he is brought down to earth with a thud when he returns to a Paris in turmoil in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack. From then on, Carrère's life - along with his novel-in-progress - begins to unravel in ever more unexpected ways.
'The story of how a life can fray, tighten itself into a noose, unravel... profound and moving' Geoff Dyer
'Extraordinarily compelling' Financial Times
Trade ReviewCompletely arresting. He [Carrère] has the talent...of showing us his foibles without demanding that we identify with them. * The Times *
An exhilarating new work of autofiction... It's wonderful. It is Carrère's willingness to face his own flaws full in the face that makes his writing so striking, and - dare I say it - relatable. -- Cal Flyn * Literary Review *
Yoga is the story of how a life can fray, tighten itself into a noose, unravel and,
in the process, be built and braided into lines that make up
a profound and moving work of art. -- Geoff Dyer
A
devastating portrait...[Carrère's] singular,
ever-expanding work, in which one pain need never obscure another, in which truths and half-truths are held not in opposition but in delicate, precarious balance, is an answer in itself. -- Sam Byers * Guardian *
I loved Emmanuel Carrère's Yoga... A useful manual for this era, where nothing seems connected but everything's related. -- Adam Thirlwell * Times Literary Supplement *Books of the Year* *
