The former dandy Marc Marronnier divorces Anne after three years of marriage.
The Daily Telegraph's Alastair Sooke compared Love Lasts Three Years to Holiday in a Coma, a 1994 novel by Beigbeder about the same main character.
Sooke said it retains "splashes of the acid wit" from the earlier book, but Love Lasts Three Years is a more reflective work with simpler language and fragmentary chapters, which successfully convey the feeling of being in love.
[1] The English translation by Frank Wynne, published in a shared edition with Holiday in a Coma, received the 2008 Scott Moncrieff Prize.
[2] The book was the basis for the 2011 film Love Lasts Three Years, written and directed by Beigbeder and starring Gaspard Proust.