Mention Books Conducive To The Fat Woman Next Door Is Pregnant (Chroniques du Plateau Mont-Royal #1)
| Original Title: | La grosse femme d'à côté est enceinte (Chroniques du Plateau Mont-Royal, #1) |
| ISBN: | 0889221901 (ISBN13: 9780889221901) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Chroniques du Plateau Mont-Royal #1, La traversée du siècle #12 |
| Characters: | Richard Tremblay, Rhéauna Rathier-Tremblay, Ti-Lou Desrosiers, Josaphat-le-Violon, Victoire Tremblay, Gabriel Tremblay, Albertine Tremblay-Côté, Édouard Tremblay, Philippe Tremblay, Thérèse Côté, Marcel Côté, Gérard Bleau, Rita Guérin, Rose Ouimet, Gabrielle Jodoin, Germaine Lauzon, Pierrette Guérin, Claire Lemieux, Marie-Louise Brassard, Mastaï Jodoin, Ernest Lauzon, Laura Cadieux, Mercedes Benz |
| Setting: | Montreal, Quebec (Montréal, Québec),1942(Canada) Quebec (Québec)(Canada) |
Michel Tremblay
Paperback | Pages: 252 pages Rating: 3.71 | 1054 Users | 85 Reviews
Identify About Books The Fat Woman Next Door Is Pregnant (Chroniques du Plateau Mont-Royal #1)
| Title | : | The Fat Woman Next Door Is Pregnant (Chroniques du Plateau Mont-Royal #1) |
| Author | : | Michel Tremblay |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 252 pages |
| Published | : | January 1st 1981 by Talonbooks (first published 1978) |
| Categories | : | Cultural. Canada. Fiction. France |
Explanation To Books The Fat Woman Next Door Is Pregnant (Chroniques du Plateau Mont-Royal #1)
It is the glorious second day of May, 1942. The sun is drawing the damp from earth still heavy with the end of a long Quebec winter, the budding branches of the trees along rue Fabre and in Parc Lafontaine of the Plateau Mont Royal ache to release their leaves into the warm, clear air heralding the approach of summer.Seven women in this raucous Francophone working-class Montreal neighbourhood are pregnant—only one of them, “the fat woman,” is bearing a child of true love and affection. Next door to the home that is by times refuge, asylum, circus-arena, confessional and battleground to her extended family, with ancient roots in both rural Quebec and the primordial land of the Saskatchewan Cree, stands an immaculately kept but seemingly empty house where the fates, Rose, Mauve, Violet and their mother Florence, only ever fleetingly and uncertainly glimpsed by those in a state of emotional extremis, are knitting the booties of what will become the children of a whole new nation.
In this first of six novels that became his Chronicles of the Plateau Mont Royal, Tremblay allows his imagination free reign, fictionalizing the lives of his beloved characters, dramatized so brilliantly in his plays and remembered so poignantly in his memoirs.“The fat woman” both is and is not Michel Tremblay’s mother—her extended family and neighbours more than a symbol of a colonized people: abandoned and mocked by France; conquered and exploited by England; abused and terrorized by the Church; and forced into a war by Canada supporting the very powers that have crushed their spirit and twisted their souls since time immemorial. This is a “divine comedy” of the extraordinary triumphs and tragedies of ordinary people caught up by circumstances that span the range of the ridiculous to the sublime.
Rating About Books The Fat Woman Next Door Is Pregnant (Chroniques du Plateau Mont-Royal #1)
Ratings: 3.71 From 1054 Users | 85 ReviewsColumn About Books The Fat Woman Next Door Is Pregnant (Chroniques du Plateau Mont-Royal #1)
The first novel in Michel Tremblay's sexology, Chroniques de Plateau Mont-Royal, is one of his best. It recounts a day in the life of an extended working class Montreal family during World War II as the matriarch, Victoire, leaves the apartment for her first walk in months (and possibly her last), her grandchildren spend a day in the park, two streetwalker neighbors flee some sailors one of them robbed, and an aging streetwalker related to one of the younger prostitutes decides to end it all.The prose in this book was thick and full of fantastic descriptions. I felt like I was part of the neighborhood, dropped in like a familiar visitor to these families, and with the same sense of uncertainty about where all this was going.My favorite part of the book was getting an insight into the viewpoints of different people in Montreal in the 40s, particularly about the war that none of them wanted. The women having babies so that the men don't have to go to Europe, the negative feelings
I didn't love it as much as when I first read in in the 1980s, but it is still a remarkable book. Narrative point of view shifts frequently, even to a cat. Oh, and there are ghosts. And loud, raucous family squabbles. So very French Canadian and appears to be the only of Tremblay's novels translated into English.
I was very excited to get an insight into some of the history of Montreal from this book and the characters are amazing! I can't wait to sit down and write them all out to make since of their lineages. I loved this book. It was a nice 'first' into some of the political and cultural heritage of Quebec and Montreal.
I only pick this book up because it was for my book club. The title was intriguing but it stopped there. But the cover left me flat. It amazing how important a good cover is to a book. The writing was confusing. Conversations all jumbled up in one paragraph which didnt allow for an easy flow with reading. I found it difficult to follow who was speaking the way the book was formatted. I tried several times to pick it up and get into this book and even though it was for book club I just couldnt to
This deserves ALL the zero stars. I tried reading, skimming, jumping around and after 2 weeks of pretty much a non-start I'm packing it in. The only thing I took away from this was that Montreal had streetcars prior to the 1960's. Born and raised there I really had no idea (perhaps my Mom might have mentioned) but I obviously never took that in. I was hoping that the Montreal connection would make this enticing but nah. Far too many characters one of which is Duplessis a CAT. This was a bookclub
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