Newmag Presents Joel Dicker’s “The Baltimore Book” and Pascal Bruckner’s “My Little Husband” on Armenia TV (Video)

Recommending “The Baltimore Book” to fans of detective fiction, translator Samvel Gasparyan advised readers to begin with “The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair”.

“Although Dicker’s new novel is not a direct sequel, the main characters are the same, and many details become clearer if you’ve read the first book. All the books published by Newmag cultivate a love for reading, encouraging readers to read with pleasure. This novel will be especially popular among detective enthusiasts.”

According to Gasparyan, Joel Dicker’s works also offer valuable lessons in writing. Both novels revolve around the idea of a book within a book, with characters confronting the challenge of facing a blank page. In “The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair”, the author presents dozens of reflections on how to write a novel. In “The Baltimore Book”, one character aspires to write but ultimately submits a clean, white notebook, suggesting that a blank page itself can be a poem, one that should not be spoiled unless something worthy is written.

Gasparyan considers “The Baltimore Book” to be high-quality literature, particularly suitable for teenagers. He emphasized that both Dicker’s and Bruckner’s novels are family stories that explore relationships between loved ones, parents and children, and those emotionally close to one another.

Speaking about Pascal Bruckner’s “My Little Husband”, translator Gohar Amirbekyan described the novel as an artistically layered family story.

“The book has many deep layers and no single, fixed message,” she explained. “It is multi-genre and multi-stylistic, incorporating existential themes, imaginary characters, and allegories. Nothing is stated directly or explicitly.”

Amirbekyan also recalled that during the book’s presentation, French writer Pascal Bruckner described “My Little Husband” as an ode to the physical beauty of women.