Netsuke — Rikki Ducornet

This captivating descent into a psychoanalyst's troubled, erotic, and harrowing inner world “tenaciously plums the tension between impulse and restraint” (American Book Review). Ruled by his hunger for erotic encounters, a deeply wounded psychoanalyst seduces both patients and strangers with equal heat. Driven to compartmentalize his life, the doctor attempts to order and contain his lovers as he does his collection of rare netsuke, the precious miniature sculptures gifted to him by his wife. This riveting exploration of one psychoanalyst's abuse of power unearths the startling introspection present within even the darkest heart. A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Ducornet has fashioned a brilliant novel “as fascinating as it is dirty and dark,” where “sex and psychosis are indistinguishable” and “the plot is impossible to resist” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). “Ducornet is a novelist of ambition and scope. One is grateful for what she's accomplished here.” -- New York Times “An unflinching meditation on the twinned drives of lust and destruction . . . Ducornet makes her characters real and scary beneath the ruminative, quietly observant prose. Highly recommended for literate readers.” -- Library Journal “An enticing, fast-moving exploration of one man's obsession with his calculated power and unhinged desires.” -- Booklist “This story has some fascinating insights and noholds-barred language.” -- New York Journal of Books “It has important things to say, embedded in the deadly beautiful prose. . . . Readers owe it to themselves to encounter this slim but complex novel on its own terms.” -- Jeff Vandermeer