This Is Life

Dan Rhodes' new novel does that Dan Rhodes thing that Dan Rhodes does so well: talk about the extreme light and dark at the centre of the human condition in a wildly comedic way. Rhodes' new novel centres on pretentious student Aurelie Renard's attempts to impress her even more pretentious professor with an attempt to create great art, great art that really gets to the nub of the human condition.

However, when, during her filming, she accidentally hits a baby in the face with a stone, the baby's mother decides to teach her a lesson, leaving her with a baby to look after, a thing that she manages to turn into her great art project. Meanwhile, other elements, like a wildly rude nude act romping around Paris, an obsessive professor desperate to find a student to sleep with, and the baby's mother all draw together in a plot centring around Aurelie's misguided attempts to do right by the baby.

Rhodes is a masterful storyteller and this brims with the warmth of a writer in love with his characters. His comic timing is impeccable and his ability to create hilariously up-ended set pieces is unsurpassable. Dan Rhodes may just be the funniest author writing today.