Midwest Review
Synopsis: "My Weil" by Lars Iyer follows a group of twenty-something PhD students of the new-fangled subject Disaster Studies at an inferior university in Manchester, England, the post-industrial city of so much great music and culture. They are working class, by turns underconfident and grandiose (especially when they drink) and are reconciled to never finishing their dissertations or finding academic jobs.
Their immediate enemies are the drone-like Business Studies students all around them, as well as the assured and serene PhD students of the posh university up the road. And they're working together on a film, through which they're trying to make sense of their lives in Manchester and, in particular, to the Ees, a mysterious patch of countryside that appears to have supernatural qualities.
Into their midst arrives Simone Weil, a PhD student, a version of the twentieth century philosopher, who becomes the unlikely star of their film. Simone is devout, ascetic, intensely serious, and busy with risky charity work with the homeless. Valentine, hustler-philosopher, recognises Simone as a fellow would-be saint. But Gita, Indian posh-girl, is suspicious: what's with Simone's nun-shoes? And Marcie (AKA Den Mom), the leader of the pack, is too busy with her current infatuation, nicknamed Ultimate Destruction Girl, to notice.
The narrator, Johnny, who was brought up in care and is psychologically fragile, and deeply disturbed by the poverty of his adopted city, gradually falls in love in Simone. But will his love be requited? Will Simone be able to save the souls of her new friends and Manchester itself from apocalypse?
Critique: Eloquent, erudite, original, compelling, memorable, entertaining, "My Weil" showcases author Lars Iyer's impressive and genuine flair for the kind of narrative driven storytelling skills that fully engage the reader from beginning to end. "My Weil" will have a particular appeal to readers with an interest in dark humor and fictional satire. While a strongly recommended pick for both community and academic library Contemporary Literary Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "My Weil" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $10.99).