53 Days Sparknotes

53 Days by Georges Perec is an exciting murder mystery that has a rollercoaster of different aspects and plot twists. 53 Days is about a teacher who is assigned the task to help solve the mystery of an outspoken author who has suddenly disappeared. However, the book is not finished because the writer died before he could finish it, but left detailed notes of his planned 28 chapters. I recommend this book for young adults and readers who have a sweet tooth for a murder mystery.

A normal teacher in a tropical 1900s French town called Grianta is suddenly tasked by the Consul, who is an official to protect the citizens, to study the books and unfinished manuscripts of Robert Serval, an outspoken author, who has mysteriously disappeared. The author has left nothing but clues embedded into his books to solve his fate. The teacher slowly unfolds the mystery as he finds more clues in the book by seeking help from the original typist, but soon finds out that there are three other parts to the clues hidden in books. He is challenged with mirror stories that contain many literary techniques that reference other aspects in different books. He questions over and over why and how someone would murder Robert Serval. He is introduced to many different suspects and is fooled by many false trails. The teacher has many theories but none of them seem to match up. After weeks of intense comprehension, he realizes that a direct allusion to the solution had been there the whole time. Was it a love or hate crime?
Some examples in the book are, “Un R est un M qui se P le L de la R” which translates into “a novel is a mirror walking along a road.” This phrase played a major role in the book and would not leave the same effect if it weren't kept in its originality if it were typed in