Paule Daveluy

When I read a bad work of fiction in translation, I always wonder how much of the badness is a function of the translator's ineptitude and how much can really be blamed on the author. I fear this one suffers from both. "The summer of her sixteenth year was beginning and she was ready for it: shapely, tall, her skin smooth as cream, her eyes two dancing tawny lights under unruly hair, her disposition that of still waters running deep." - the translator could have improved that, perhaps, but could not have redeemed it. The reference to the "hot dog days of July and August", however, is purely the translator's. HOT DOG days? Frankfurters on the grill? OH. Sweltering hot DOG DAYS. The plot is lame too. 16 year old Rosanne falls in love with young doctor. Doctor leads her on. Cousin Colette is horribly jealous and hurt. Doctor turns interest to yet another cousin. Colette gets over it. Rosanne gets over it. The end.

And incidentally, this is not historical fiction about Ville-Marie, the early name for Montreal. It's a rural community in Quebec in the mid-20th century. Sigh.… (more)