What should I read about Quebec?
April 18, 2024 12:34 PM Subscribe
We're taking a family trip to Quebec Province, what novels should I read?
I'm already aware of the Louise Penny Inspector Gamache novels, and might try one even though mysteries (and a lot of genre fiction) are not usually my thing. I'd love something well-written, with a sense of place. Maybe historical fiction, maybe memoir. Fiction is ideal but literary non-fiction is good too, or long form magazine articles. Doesn't have to be contemporary, but it is for pleasure reading so nothing too laborious or academic.
Recommendations?
I'm already aware of the Louise Penny Inspector Gamache novels, and might try one even though mysteries (and a lot of genre fiction) are not usually my thing. I'd love something well-written, with a sense of place. Maybe historical fiction, maybe memoir. Fiction is ideal but literary non-fiction is good too, or long form magazine articles. Doesn't have to be contemporary, but it is for pleasure reading so nothing too laborious or academic.
Recommendations?
Chris Oliveros's comics oral history of the militant Francophone separatist movement in the 60s-70s, Are You Willing to Die For the Cause?
posted by Jeanne at 12:53 PM on April 18 [3 favorites]
posted by Jeanne at 12:53 PM on April 18 [3 favorites]
I would go for the John Farrow (aka Trevor Ferguson) novels focussing on detective Émile Cinq-Mars.
https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/trevor-ferguson/
Re: City of Ice (the first in the series) - “The Vancouver Sun called the book the best ever produced in Canada in genre fiction. The second in the series, Ice Lake, caused the New York library journal Booklist to claim that the series is among the very best in crime fiction today. Die Zeit, a major cultural newspaper in Germany, declared the series the best of all time.”
High praise. It’s a great series - much better imho than the cosy Louise Penny novels.
posted by whatevernot at 12:57 PM on April 18
https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/trevor-ferguson/
Re: City of Ice (the first in the series) - “The Vancouver Sun called the book the best ever produced in Canada in genre fiction. The second in the series, Ice Lake, caused the New York library journal Booklist to claim that the series is among the very best in crime fiction today. Die Zeit, a major cultural newspaper in Germany, declared the series the best of all time.”
High praise. It’s a great series - much better imho than the cosy Louise Penny novels.
posted by whatevernot at 12:57 PM on April 18
Best answer: Some well-known literary fiction by Quebec writers: The Tin Flute by Gabrielle Roy, anything by Mordecai Richler but in particular The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, The Collected Stories of Mavis Gallant
posted by Jeanne at 12:57 PM on April 18 [3 favorites]
posted by Jeanne at 12:57 PM on April 18 [3 favorites]
It would be remiss not to suggest Two Solitudes by Hugh MacLennan.
posted by bethnull at 12:59 PM on April 18 [1 favorite]
posted by bethnull at 12:59 PM on April 18 [1 favorite]
If you have kids, a Minnesotan named William Durbin has written a few YA books about the voyageurs who went through that area. My kids enjoyed the books, and one of them interviewed the author via email. :7)
(We went to Quebec City in August a couple of years ago, and we all loved it. Have a ball!)
posted by wenestvedt at 1:02 PM on April 18
(We went to Quebec City in August a couple of years ago, and we all loved it. Have a ball!)
posted by wenestvedt at 1:02 PM on April 18
The Tin Flute (originally Bonheur d'occasion) by Gabrielle Roy is considered a classic Québec novel. (Caveat: I have not read it myself.)
posted by dhens at 2:11 PM on April 18
posted by dhens at 2:11 PM on April 18
It's a hefty tome & creative nonfiction but I really loved HA!: A Self Murder Mystery by Gordon Sheppard.
posted by juv3nal at 2:14 PM on April 18 [1 favorite]
posted by juv3nal at 2:14 PM on April 18 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Québécoise here — my suggestion is to go for fiction and avoid the more political stuff mentioned above. It’s hard to get the full nuance of the two solitudes / separatist / Quebec nationalism situation in just a book or two, and it might unnecessarily colour your experience of an amazing place.
Bonheur d’occasion / The Tin Flûte gets my vote, with a close second for Mordecai Richler. Then go spend some time in the neighbourhoods where the stories are set: Saint Henri, Mile End, Outremont. The novels mostly take place in historically poor neighbourhoods that have changed a lot in the last few decades, but they each retain a lot of the essence you’ll find in the book.
posted by third word on a random page at 2:24 PM on April 18 [2 favorites]
Bonheur d’occasion / The Tin Flûte gets my vote, with a close second for Mordecai Richler. Then go spend some time in the neighbourhoods where the stories are set: Saint Henri, Mile End, Outremont. The novels mostly take place in historically poor neighbourhoods that have changed a lot in the last few decades, but they each retain a lot of the essence you’ll find in the book.
posted by third word on a random page at 2:24 PM on April 18 [2 favorites]
The Morning After: The 1995 Quebec Referendum and the Day that Almost Was is an interesting read if you're into the nonfiction political thriller sort of genre. (Link is to the Montreal Review of Books.)
posted by heatherlogan at 7:14 PM on April 18
posted by heatherlogan at 7:14 PM on April 18
"The Girl Who Was Saturday Night"
"The Home for Unwanted Girls"
posted by virve at 1:59 AM on April 19
"The Home for Unwanted Girls"
posted by virve at 1:59 AM on April 19
I strongly encourage you to read something written originally in French. Quebec is somewhere around 85% francophone, and novels originally written in English will represent a small and specific part of Quebec's culture.
Here is a list with some ideas. (Even if you don't read French or want to use Google Translate, you can easily spot the titles on this list.)
Two of my specific suggestions would be:
- Nikolski by Nicolas Dickner
- choose one novel from the Plateau Mont-Royal Chronicles by Michel Tremblay
posted by MangoNews at 6:51 AM on April 19
Here is a list with some ideas. (Even if you don't read French or want to use Google Translate, you can easily spot the titles on this list.)
Two of my specific suggestions would be:
- Nikolski by Nicolas Dickner
- choose one novel from the Plateau Mont-Royal Chronicles by Michel Tremblay
posted by MangoNews at 6:51 AM on April 19
Implied Spouse is extremely into Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache books. My impression is that they are pretty entertaining on their own and will also give an interesting sense of place and local foods.
posted by implied_otter at 6:53 AM on April 19 [1 favorite]
posted by implied_otter at 6:53 AM on April 19 [1 favorite]
I recommend Maisonneuve for some Anglo views, including fiction in translation (Annie-Claude Thériault’s story is the link), and non-fiction. There is a national focus but you can find good Québecois writing there. Use the archive link to navigate cause the latest articles require subscription but the archive is great.)
I enjoyed Tatouine a lot and it felt rooted in Montreal, for my novel pick.
posted by warriorqueen at 7:07 AM on April 19
I enjoyed Tatouine a lot and it felt rooted in Montreal, for my novel pick.
posted by warriorqueen at 7:07 AM on April 19
Best answer: Heartily nth Mordecai Richler and Gabrielle Roy's The Tin Flute, which is wonderful.
I also recommend Zoe Whittall's Bottle Rocket Hearts, which is about a couple of queer girls in pre-referendum Montréal (1995) in and around McGill University. Like in both The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and The Tin Flute, Montréal is something of a character in Bottle Rocket Hearts. They're all very atmospheric novels, though also specifically of their time and of a Montréal that mostly no longer exists.
For a book by a non-white author, Bone & Bread by Saleema Nawaz is fantastic and more modern Montréal. It's about twin girls who grow up in a Sikh family in Montréal that runs a bagel shop in the city's Hasidic Mile End neighbourhood.
posted by urbanlenny at 8:40 AM on April 19
I also recommend Zoe Whittall's Bottle Rocket Hearts, which is about a couple of queer girls in pre-referendum Montréal (1995) in and around McGill University. Like in both The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and The Tin Flute, Montréal is something of a character in Bottle Rocket Hearts. They're all very atmospheric novels, though also specifically of their time and of a Montréal that mostly no longer exists.
For a book by a non-white author, Bone & Bread by Saleema Nawaz is fantastic and more modern Montréal. It's about twin girls who grow up in a Sikh family in Montréal that runs a bagel shop in the city's Hasidic Mile End neighbourhood.
posted by urbanlenny at 8:40 AM on April 19
The Paul graphic novels are great. I like Ostie d'Chat even more (that's an archive, this is a collection), but I don't think they've ever been translated, and are very, uh, blue in their frank depiction of the sex lives of twenty-something Montrealers in the early 2000s. They're also written in joual/Quebec slang, which can be a hard slog for people who only really have read "France French".
posted by Shepherd at 7:05 PM on April 19 [1 favorite]
posted by Shepherd at 7:05 PM on April 19 [1 favorite]
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posted by Juniper Toast at 12:48 PM on April 18