de Vigan is a poet of powerlessness; much like Underground Time, No And Me has Parisian characters struggle with the realisation that their life isn't nearly as in their control as society tells them it is - and that it's not necessarily balanced with being able to influence the things they're not supposed to think about. "Me" is Lou, a 13-year-old schoolgirl, precocious and intelligent enough to be bumped up a few classes but still only a kid; "No" is Nolwenn, an 18-year-old homeless girl who reluctantly agrees to be Lou's school assignment, friend, and adopted sister. Is it really that easy - take in someone who's spent the entirety of their short life being screwed over, clean her up, give her a happy home (as happy as Lou's home can be) and live happily ever after? On the other hand - how much easier, or how much harder, is it to keep looking the other way and doing nothing?

We can send supersonic jets and rockets into outer space, identify a criminal from a strand of hair or a tiny particle of skin, create tomatoes that keep for three weeks in a fridge without shriveling, squeeze billions of data onto a computer chip. We can let people die in the streets.