The novel starts with the transfer of Antoine Blin’s remains from the Panthéon to… the graveyard of his native suburb. This humble post-office employee, robbed of a real life, the victim of crooks of all kinds, suddenly emerges from the shadows into the limelight. At the age of forty four, Antoine is elected as ‘Mister Everybody’, and celebrated as one of the most popular personality of the country.
It was on an exceptionally hot, stuffy day, that it suddenly happened. For a while now, Antoine had become convinced that a pungent, persistent smell surrounded him. Coming out of the doctor’s,he made an encounter that changed his destiny and lead him to his tragic end.
Le syndicat des pauvres types is a comical and cruel tale with a anti-hero, a solitary, withdrawn man who hardly has a taste of glory before he is murdered. Éric Faye delights in combining the everyday reality with absurdity, angst and humor.
Le syndicat des pauvres types confirms the unique, compelling style that had guaranteed the success of Faye’s first novel, Le Général Solitude, (Le Serpent à Plumes, 1995).

Éric Faye was born in Limoges in 1963. He works at Reuter’s Paris office. The author of short-stories as well as novels, he has published Croisière en mer des pluies (1999), Les cendres de mon avenir (2001), La durée d’une vie sans toi (2003) and Mes trains de nuit (2005) with Stock.