STRIPTEASE BY GEORGES SIMENON
When one considers the breadth of Simenon’s work (something in the region of two hundred novels!! plus over a hundred novellas and legions of untraceable pulp novels written under various nom de plumes!), its difficult to formulate an opinion considering his ‘best work’ (ha ha). Though, discounting the most popular books I would like to draw your attention to a more obscure novel entitled STRIPTEASE. It follows the day to day routines of exotic dancers in a seedy Cannes nightclub, and the introduction of a ‘new girl’ Maud who steals the show. The plot follows the actions of Celita; an older, more jaded dancer who sets about undermining Maud’s position with a vicious alacrity. What begins as almost schoolyard bullying quickly escalates into something more malicious. Magnified by the tawdry, revolving world of the dancing-club, Simenon very subtly charts the fracturing state of Celita’s mind. Dealing with the pressures of age and fading beauty with in almost underhand way, the author slyly creates a complex psychological portrait of many universally familiar personality types - stripping in the rather merciless way accorded to the title.
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