Jean Rey

This book is a collection of photos taken by Jean Rey in 1967. He was here for a key period: namely the visit by Charles de Gaulle ("Vive le Québec libre!") and Expo 67. The photos cover both these famous events and general daily life in Montréal. The photos are accompanied by four essays. Jacques Godbout writes about de Gaulle’s visit and its repercussions for the Quebec independence movement; Marcel Jean shares his memories of Expo 67 and the emotions brought back by viewing Rey's show more photos; Robert Sarletti analyzes Rey's sports photos and how they differ from typical sports photos, and discusses the place of sports in Quebec society; and Michel Rivard writes a poem about Montréal life and the memories evoked by Rey's day-to-day photos.

All of the essays were effective, and the poem was especially effective. It had some narrative drive to it, which certainly helped this very prosy person appreciate it. The photos themselves are interesting and often strikingly composed — the one of the nuns at Expo was of particular note (and Marcel Jean mentions it too in his essay).

The only thing preventing this book from being a 4-star read was that it presupposes a knowledge of Montréal from the 1960s that not everyone has. None of the pictures have a caption indicating WHERE the picture was taken. A couple of photos had street signs, and I could hazard a guess about a couple of other streets (one was either René-Lévesque / Dorchester or de Maisonneuve, and another looked like Bleury or du Parc). But it would have been much more useful for those unfamiliar with the city to have some explanation of what they were looking at. show less

soooooo helpful! very clearly structured and comprehensive.

Ce livre est uniquement composé de listes thématiques de vocabulaire, pour ceux qui se lancent à fond dans le 'par coeur' pour acquérir rapidement du vocabulaire de base, des expressions et des contextes d'utilisations. Par contre, il n'y a pas d'exercices, donc il faut faire un apprentissage 'systématique', c'est-à-dire un chapitre chaque 2-3 semaines - je le recommande particulièrement aux étudiants de première année de LEA (Langues Etrangères Appliquées) ou de Licence show more d'Anglais, donc le manque de vocabulaire est flagrant par rapport au niveau attendu.
Si l'on se tient à du 'par coeur', le progrès est rapide, sans problème, et permet d'améliorer ses notes. show less