An NYRB Classics Original, "Last Words from Montmartre" is a novel in letters that depicts the gradual dissolution of a relationship between two lovers and ultimately the complete disintegration of the narrator. In a voice that oscillates between extremes – from self-deprecation to arrogance, from compulsive repetition to elevated reflection, from restraint to vulnerability – it can be read both as a masterpiece of the author and as a labor of love, as well as her own suicide note. "Last Words from Montmartre," written shortly before the explosion of internet culture, also serves as a kind of farewell to letters. The introductory note encourages us to read the letters in any order. Each letter unfolds like a chapter, with the narrator writing from Paris to her beloved in Taipei, as well as to family and friends in Taiwan and Tokyo. The book begins with the death of a beloved pet, a rabbit, and ends with an ominous expression of the narrator's resolve.