SOURCE: “The Famous Five at a Loss,” in Spectator, April 25, 1998, pp. 40–41.

In the following review, Irvine offers a positive assessment of Paris Trance.

There is an initial fear that a book called Paris Trance may join the ranks of the increasingly hackneyed ‘ecstasy generation’ literature. Geoff Dyer has achieved far more with his compelling third novel.

The novel charts a year in the lives of two couples in a place called Paris, Trance, which ‘bears only an approximate or incidental resemblance to the city of that name in France.’ Luke and Alex are two Englishmen who become close friends whilst working in a factory in Paris. Luke becomes involved with a Serbian beauty called Nicole and Alex falls for the North-African Sahra. What follows is an in-depth analysis of the two relationships (Luke's is more violent, difficult, Alex's is homely and loving) and their interaction. We see the...