Princess Hoppy, Or, the Tale of Labrador

"Exhilarating... [T]he chief pleasures of this book are its narrative inventiveness and vigorously related amusing parodies, excellently translated by Bernard Hoepffner. Mr. Roubaud is a vivid and charming writer who seems to smile as he makes esthetic and philosophical points about the autonomy of fiction and the illusory nature of destiny. He is, moreover, highly proficient at various forms of humor, from the silly to the sophisticated. When he does satirize the vanities of society, his touch is light and never meanspirited." -- New York Times Book Review "A zany jeu d'esprit." -- Washington Post Book World "One of the strangest books that I have ever had the pleasure of reading completely and finding that I had not quite fully understood just what it is I was reading is Jacques Roubaud's The Princess Hoppy... Roubaud takes advantage of language,... expectations of heroic fairy tales, and postmodern perspective to create a story rife with intrigue, suspense, and mathematical puzzles. The Princess Hoppy is an irreverent trip through out collective consciousness, with elements familiar to everyone, but with a bizarre twist, making us realize just how it is we go about reading stories. I have found the story to be educational... and simultaneously fabulously entertaining. This is one book that will be read many times and recommended as a positive and fun read." -- Texture #6