Novels that really make people laugh are rare. This new book by Suzanne Myre, which puts a smile on our face from the first 10 pages, comes as a blessing in this depressing autumn. The author brilliantly handles light irony, biting dialogues and witticisms in this quasi-thriller which skilfully mixes literary references and the codes of popular literature.
Posted at 8:00 a.m.
The writers’ sanatorium follows the journey of Christian, a soft and inconsistent boy who has just separated and who lives off his father’s inheritance. After having published a first novel in, let’s say, a certain indifference, he dreams of recognition and above all of writing a second, but faces a serious lack of inspiration.
Christian responds to a classified ad and goes on a retreat for writers, in a strange chalet cut off from everything. There he meets Gabrielle Roy and JD Salinger — the participants all bear the names of famous dead authors —, participates in creative workshops where knives fly low, is obsessed with David Foenkinos whose aura pursues him everywhere. Through all this, an investigation takes shape and a mystery deepens…
Between the arrows fired at the literary world and the innumerable allusions to books and authors — sometimes clear, sometimes hidden —, The writers’ sanatorium is above all a wonderful tribute to the imagination, a joyful and fanciful story full of love for the authors and autrices… and the people who let themselves be carried away with delight in their parallel world.
In her thanks, Suzanne Myre pays tribute to François Blais, who died six months ago. We can only see a relationship between her and the Mauritian writer, who also made us laugh out loud in his books, and who knew how to mix the tragic and the futile. Thanks to her for reminding us of it, and for offering us her gallery of quirky characters and her joyful outlook on the world.
The writers’ sanatorium
Suzanne Myre
the very moment
253 pages