<b>Completely arresting</b>. He [Carrère] has the talent...of showing us his foibles without demanding that we identify with them.
The Times
<b>An exhilarating new work of autofiction... It's wonderful.</b> 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
<i>Yoga</i> is the story of how a life can fray, tighten itself into a noose, unravel and, <i>in the process</i>, be built and braided into lines that make up <b>a profound and moving work of art.</b>
- Geoff Dyer,
A <b>devastating </b>portrait...[Carrère's] singular, <b>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</b>, is an answer in itself.
- Sam Byers, Guardian
<b>I loved Emmanuel Carrère's <i>Yoga..</i>. A useful manual for this era</b>, where nothing seems connected but everything's related.
- Adam Thirlwell, Times Literary Supplement *Books of the Year*
Unlike any book I've ever read... <b>Carrère is anything but ordinary as a talent</b>, but his great and precious gift is to reveal his own mind in such a way that <b>illuminates the infinity that belongs to every human person</b>.
- Megan Nolan, author of ACTS OF DESPERATION,
[With] relentless clarity of thought and confessional honesty... <b><i>Yoga </i>is fascinating</b> on the purpose of meditation... <b>[an] extraordinarily compelling account</b>.
Financial Times
<b>Stunning...<i>Yoga</i> is a deeply moving reflection on the painful occupation that is living.</b>
Elle
<b>[Carrère's] skill in constructing a narrative from disparate materials is exceptional... [and] relentlessly interesting.</b>
Observer
<b>Impressive... reveals itself as a monumental book on the human condition.</b>
L'Obs
This 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