Roch Carrier

A young Montreal boy must endure the indignity of wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs hockey sweater in this modern classic of Canadian children's literature. When his red, white and blue sweater - the uniform of the Montreal Canadiens, worn by his idol, Maurice Richard - becomes too small for him, the narrator's mother sends away for a new one from the Eaton's catalogue. When the wrong sweater arrives, the boy insists he will not wear it: all of his peers wear the Canadiens sweater, and so will show more he! His mother has other ideas however, and he finds himself wearing it after all. This leads to trouble at his first game thereafter, and a visit to church...

Originally published in French as "Une abominable feuille d'érable sur la glace" (literally: "An abominable maple leaf on the ice"), The Hockey Sweater was first translated into English in 1979 as part of the collection, The Hockey Sweater and Other Stories. It was made into a short film in 1980 ("The Sweater"), and presented in this picture-book form in 1984, with artwork by Sheldon Cohen, who also illustrated Carrier's The Flying Canoe. Set in 1946, the story is immensely engaging, and absolutely hilarious. I chuckled aloud on more than one occasion, while reading it. Carrier captures the centrality of ice hockey to the narrator's life (apparently the story is partially autobiographical) and to Canadian culture, and his narrative feels like it is told from an authentic boy's perspective. Cohen's artwork is colorful and entertaining, capturing the humor of the tale quite nicely. I enjoyed this so much that I think I will track down the larger collection of Carrier's stories, mentioned above. Recommended to anyone looking for children's stories featuring ice hockey and/or a French-Canadian cultural setting. show less

I still have enough little-kid primitive left-nationalism in me to warm in kneejerk fashion to this nexus of oldtimey hockey (Rocket Richard!), Canadian official culture (the CBC!) and the struggle for self-determination of our solitary-and-notionally equal cousins québecois (the Eaton's man sends him a Maple Leafs sweater instead of a Canadiens sweater and his mom makes him wear it! Tabernack!). Carrier and Cohen know their craft and this is a pleasant and sentimental tale, but what really show more struck me was how the hockey stuff seemed almost as atavistic as the pre–Quiet Revolution priest-ridden Québec stuff. I'm no hockey fan, but our country really is changing and losing its soul in some ways and god I hope the new nexus is not merely that between extractive industries and the TPP and a weak Canadian dollar. show less

The Second World War comes home to a village in rural Quebec when the village's first casualty is repatriated, accompanied by an Anglo honour guard. Here follows the obligatory wake, a comic romp through sex, death, and language politics, all in the overbearing presence of the Catholic church. The weight of history, the rural setting, and all that snow: it's the stereotypical stuff of Canlit, but La Guerre, Yes Sir! is short, and riotously funny.

Both swearing and prayers (which in a sense, show more amount to the same thing here) are left untranslated; the mangled prayers of the villagers are, unfortunately, an untranslateable joke. The villagers don't get a free ride here in favour of mocking the maudits Anglais; Carrier mocks the ignorance and religiosity of rural Quebec, circa 1944, much more savagely than he attacks the Anglos. In keeping with the attitudes of its day, the novel has no sympathy for the rural, the hick, or the traditional. In this sense it recalls Joyce in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man; both the mangled prayers and a clock ticking "always, never" over a sinner allude to Joyce. The language, however, is straightforward, and this book is an easy read.

Highly recommended.

(Review applies to the English translation.) show less

I was delighted to find out that I had been chosen as a lucky recipient to this great Canadian classic. In fact, the whole family rushed to grab the book and watch the movie. It was an opportunity for the adults to reconnect and the children to discover this classic. I realised that I had completely forgotten the ending: rather curt yet so perfect in the childish hope that the sweater would disappear.
The illustrations are fantastic. I love that there is a mix of English and French so that show more the reader doesn't lose sight of the fact that this was a typical French-Canadian environment - yet a quintessential Canadian experience regardless of language.
I was rather disappointed that the French version wasn't available on the DVD: what a perfect way to initiate Anglophones to the original story and to compare Carrier's narrations.

I usually give away my books, but this one will stay on our shelves for many readings to come. show less