For his sixth novel, the actor Patrice Godin draws on the same type of inkwell as that used previously (Boxing at night, Wild, baby), sketching characters broken by life, struggling to climb the steepest slopes, supported by providential human lifebuoys.
Here, it’s about fading writer Martin O’Connor, learning of his mother’s death while on a writing retreat in Maine. Valley of tears and sobs of sadness? Rather mixed feelings and a flood of painful memories returning to disturb the surface of his existence.
Had she done something wrong? Not exactly ; because it was his inaction that left an adolescent Martin with a bitter taste – that of blood.
Accompanied by Jane, a known free spirit at a crossroads, he will dive back into the past to face the ghost of his father-in-law. The author doesn’t beat around the bush, with spare, digestible and direct writing, delivered like a series of little jabs, and always imbued with sensitivity.
Even if it sometimes leads us on predictable paths or depicts somewhat conventional scenes, a few script uppercuts still emerge at the turn of a paragraph, particularly in the second part of the story, when the storm rises.
After the storms
Free expression
200 pages