Student Jerome Lupien is swept up in a series of misadventures and criminal escapades in this portrait of a city infamously mired in the corrupt alliances of politicians, political lobbyists, and construction magnates. The school is unconventional, but the education singular.
Jerome Lupien — libidinous, unscrupulous, and fresh out of university — is ambitious and at loose ends. Whether on a hunting trip in the woods, on an escape planned in good faith to Cuba, or seeking to make his way in Montreal, Jerome cannot help but be embroiled in misadventures and underworld escapades. He is conned by the devious — a hunting guide, a low-life car salesman, and, ultimately, a well-to-do political lobbyist profiting from the city’s infamously corrupt partnership of politicians wielding remunerative contracts and the construction firms in cahoots. The unwitting (though frequently culpable) young man is enrolled, whether he knows it or not, in an unconventional and criminal school. And the education is singular, not only for Jerome, but also the reader.
The young man’s heady journey provides — as only Yves Beauchemin can do — an extraordinary, full, and trenchant portrait of class variety. Here is a mordant piece of social satire that is a marvelous entertainment and wonderfully traditional narrative too.
Student Jerome Lupien is swept up in a series of misadventures and criminal escapades in this portrait of a city infamously mired in the corrupt alliances of politicians, political lobbyists, and construction magnates. The school is unconventional, but the education singular.
Jerome Lupien — libidinous, unscrupulous, and fresh out of university — is ambitious and at loose ends. Whether on a hunting trip in the woods, on an escape planned in good faith to Cuba, or seeking to make his way in Montreal, Jerome cannot help but be embroiled in misadventures and underworld escapades. He is conned by the devious — a hunting guide, a low-life car salesman, and, ultimately, a well-to-do political lobbyist profiting from the city’s infamously corrupt partnership of politicians wielding remunerative contracts and the construction firms in cahoots. The unwitting (though frequently culpable) young man is enrolled, whether he knows it or not, in an unconventional and criminal school. And the education is singular, not only for Jerome, but also the reader.
The young man’s heady journey provides — as only Yves Beauchemin can do — an extraordinary, full, and trenchant portrait of class variety. Here is a mordant piece of social satire that is a marvelous entertainment and wonderfully traditional narrative too.
| Published By | House of Anansi Press Inc — Sep 25, 2018 |
| Specifications | 384 pages | 5.25 in x 8 in |
| Keywords | satire; behind the scenes; corruption; translation; montreal; |
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Excerpt |
| Written By |
YVES BEAUCHEMIN is a mordant social satirist and one of the most pre-eminent Québecois writers of his generation. His novels include Charles the Bold, The Waitress of the Café Cherrier, and The Alley Cat, which was the bestselling French-Canadian novel of all time. He is also a children’s book writer and a member of the Académie des lettres du Québec. In 2011, he was awarded the Ludger-Duvernay Prize, which recognizes the outstanding contribution and societal influence of Quebec writers. |
| Written By |
|
YVES BEAUCHEMIN is a mordant social satirist and one of the most pre-eminent Québecois writers of his generation. His novels include Charles the Bold, The Waitress of the Café Cherrier, and The Alley Cat, which was the bestselling French-Canadian novel of all time. He is also a children’s book writer and a member of the Académie des lettres du Québec. In 2011, he was awarded the Ludger-Duvernay Prize, which recognizes the outstanding contribution and societal influence of Quebec writers. |
“Beauchemin’s considerable skills as a narrator of improbable events deployed along a plot line ingeniously constructed remain on full display here. As does his sharp eye for broad but sharp description of buffoons spouting farrago and bravado, and his ear for telling declamations that immediately undercut their alleged intentions —everything we have learned to expect from the master.” —Winnipeg Free Press
“Beauchemin’s prose is amiable and fluid.” —Quill and Quire
“A moral story of initiation, vengeance, and redemption (and just a little bit of love) . . . reminiscent of Balzac’s Lost Illusions, Flaubert’s Sentimental Education, or Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations.” —Le Devoir