SOURCE: A review of The Mustache, in The Review of Contemporary Fiction, Vol. 9, No. 1, Spring, 1989, p. 256.

Malin is an American critic and educator. In the following positive review of The Mustache, he remarks on some of the philosophical implications discussed in and raised by Carrère's novel.

The hero of this deceptively simple, metaphysical novel [The Mustache] decides to remove his mustache, to transform his appearance. He is, after all, an adult who wants to become another person. He is tired; he wants some special change. He desires to create another physical—and spiritual—design. We are not really informed about his reasons for metamorphosis; we merely accept the desire as an ordinary longing—one we can easily understand.

But once he shapes himself differently, he—and his social relationships—falls apart. It appears that, once any design is acceptable and routine, it cannot be changed without wide-ranging...