''The Divine Child'' () is a 1992 novel by the French writer Pascal Bruckner. It tells the story of twins who are educated while still in their mother's uterus and one of them ends up refusing to be born; he struggles with his mother and with God and eventually becomes a celebrity while still unborn. The book was published in English in 1994, translated by Joachim Neugroschel.

Reception

Stewart M. Lindh wrote in ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', "What Pascal Bruckner, one of France's finest contemporary novelists, does in ''The Divine Child'' is to take us on a

Candide ( , ) is a French satire written by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, first published in 1759. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled ''Candide: or, All for the Best'' (1759); ''Candide: or, The ...

-like journey into the world of neonatology". Lindh called the novel "no mere Gaelic version of ''

Look Who's Talking ''Look Who's Talking'' is a 1989 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Amy Heckerling, and starring John Travolta and Kirstie Alley. Bruce Willis plays the voice of Mollie's son, Mikey. The film features George Segal as Albert. P ...

'', but a fierce satire of science gone wild". ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' called the novel "A would-be Rabelaisian novel from French writer Bruckner (''Evil Angels'', 1987), who has an interesting idea -- defy death by refusing to be born -- but smothers it with gratuitously explicit sex, grotesque physical details, and old-hat intellectualism. ... One of those too-clever novels where the writer is more intent on strutting his stuff than telling a convincing tale."

Reception

{{DEFAULTSORT:Divine Child 1992 French novels Éditions du Seuil books French-language novels Novels by Pascal Bruckner