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Loading... Not Everybody Lives the Same Way| 170 | 8 | 162,231 | 
(3.92) | 10 | THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER AND WINNER OF THE PRIX GONCOURT FOR FICTION Paul Hansen is in prison. He's been in this prison on the outskirts of Montreal for a couple of years now, sharing a cell with a murderous Hells Angel who often reminds Paul that he could kill him at any moment. What did Paul do to end up here? And why does he jeopardize his life and release by refusing to show remorse? Before prison, there were his parents. There were his friends at the Excelsior, the luxury apartment complex where Paul worked as caretaker as well as restorer of souls and comforter of the afflicted. And there was his partner, Winona, an intrepid seaplane pilot, and their beloved dog, Nouk. Many of those closest to him are gone now, but Paul still talks to them; they appear in his dreams and as ghosts in his cell. From France in the sixties to the asbestos mines of Québec, from the sand dunes of the peninsula where the Baltic connects to the North Sea to the wild lakes and mountains of Canada, Jean-Paul Dubois's extraordinary novel and winner of the Prix Goncourt Not Everybody Lives the Same Way, follows this man, Paul Hansen, as he reviews his life. A life of equilibrium, it has given Paul both tragedy and gifts--that is, until the moment when fate presents him with someone capable of breaking his balance. Not Everybody Lives the Same Way is a powerfully original and unusual novel. Masterfully translated by David Homel and brilliantly animated by Jean-Paul Dubois's keen feeling for humanity and intense revolt against all forms of injustice, it asks the question: What does it takes to live a dignified life?… (more) |
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Information from the French Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language. «Tout cela fait penser à la suite des jours à laquelle rien n’a donné forme ni direction, que rien n’habite ni n’anime et dans laquelle rien ne fait sens.»
Rosalind Krauss  «Fallait que j’oublie cette journée. Perdu dix dollars au champ de courses aujourd’hui. Quelle chose inutile. Ferais mieux de me fourrer la queue dans une crêpe au sirop d’érable.»
Charles Bukowski, Sur l’écriture | |
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Information from the French Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language. À Hélène,
À Tsubaki, Arthur et Louis.
À Vincent Landel, qui me manque.
À la mémoire de Jean Michel Tarascon et Michel Ramonet.
Mon attachement à Pascal, gentleman boréalien
et Guy, side-cariste transcanadien. | |
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Information from the French Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language. LA PRISON DE LA RIVIÈRE
Il neige depuis une semaine. Près de la fenêtre je regarde la nuit et j’écoute le froid. Ici il fait du bruit. Un bruit particulier, déplaisant, donnant à croire que le bâtiment, pris dans un étau de glace, émet une plainte angoissante comme s’il souffrait et craquait sous l’effet de la rétraction. [...] | |
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Information from the French Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language. | |
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▾References References to this work on external resources.  Wikipedia in English
None ▾Book descriptions THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER AND WINNER OF THE PRIX GONCOURT FOR FICTION Paul Hansen is in prison. He's been in this prison on the outskirts of Montreal for a couple of years now, sharing a cell with a murderous Hells Angel who often reminds Paul that he could kill him at any moment. What did Paul do to end up here? And why does he jeopardize his life and release by refusing to show remorse? Before prison, there were his parents. There were his friends at the Excelsior, the luxury apartment complex where Paul worked as caretaker as well as restorer of souls and comforter of the afflicted. And there was his partner, Winona, an intrepid seaplane pilot, and their beloved dog, Nouk. Many of those closest to him are gone now, but Paul still talks to them; they appear in his dreams and as ghosts in his cell. From France in the sixties to the asbestos mines of Québec, from the sand dunes of the peninsula where the Baltic connects to the North Sea to the wild lakes and mountains of Canada, Jean-Paul Dubois's extraordinary novel and winner of the Prix Goncourt Not Everybody Lives the Same Way, follows this man, Paul Hansen, as he reviews his life. A life of equilibrium, it has given Paul both tragedy and gifts--that is, until the moment when fate presents him with someone capable of breaking his balance. Not Everybody Lives the Same Way is a powerfully original and unusual novel. Masterfully translated by David Homel and brilliantly animated by Jean-Paul Dubois's keen feeling for humanity and intense revolt against all forms of injustice, it asks the question: What does it takes to live a dignified life? ▾Library descriptions No library descriptions found. ▾LibraryThing members' description |
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There's a lot of information here. We learn a good deal about French cinema of the fifties and sixties, Harley-Davidsons and eccentric European cars, about flying the DHC-2 Beaver, the maintenance of lawns and swimming-pools, prison food, asbestos mining, Skagen sand-dunes, organ music, casinos and race-courses, and much else. And it's not always easy to see what it all adds up to, or how it maps onto the inner lives of the characters. In the end, I think it was a kind of French/Canadian take on Nevil Shute's Trustee from the toolroom, a novel about a man who seems to be fully wrapped up in the mechanical world, but who turns out to have a limit to the amount of senseless destruction of human happiness he can tolerate. (