Jacques Poulin (1937–2025)

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: A quietly affecting modern fairy tale told with humor and warmth, Translation is a Love Affair is a slender volume of immense humanity. A Quebecois novelist with a bad back and his vivacious translator discover a stray cat with an SOS attached to its collar. They embark upon a search for its owner, and when they discover a young girl with bandaged wrists they are drawn into a mystery they don't dare neglect. The world Poulin creates is haunted by dark show more memories, isolation, and tragedy, yet it is one in which languageand love are the most immediate and vital forces, where one human being hearing a cry of distress of another is compelled to shed one's own inhibitions to respond.

My Review: What a joy it is to discover such a famous novelist, he said with irony dripping onto his keyboard. In a properly order world, Poulin would be as well known in the US as in Canada, and just as justly celebrated.

This tale was a joy to read from "Naked as a trout, I was stepping out of the pond..." to the last spoilery paragraph. I finished it in a few hours, and read about half of it a second time. I am a sucker for stories of made families, as opposed to birth families; I love the idea of the love affair consummated by the intimate connection and tender caring actions of both people despite the long lifetime's difference in their ages. (Well, I would, wouldn't I, being a single mumble fiver now?)

After work he often called me to talk about this and that, or because he'd forgotten a word or the title of a book, or to ask me a question, such as: 'How can I keep brown rice from tasting like shrimp shells?'

Simple and direct, no ornamentation, a short passage sums up the flavor of a deep and cherished connection. That is fine philosophizing as well as deep thinking. show less

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: By the Governor General Award and Quebec-Paris Prize-winning writer, a novel about a struggling writer and Mister Blue, his cat and sole companion until the day they discover a copy of The Arabian Nights in a cave along the beach. Tinged with melancholy, Mister Blue is at once playful, understated, and deeply human.

Jacques Poulin (1937-) is the author of twelve novels. Among his many honors are the 1978 Governor General’s Award, the 1990 and 2000 show more Molson Prize for the Arts, and the Gilles-Corbeil Prize in 2008. He lives in Québec City.

My Review: This book arrived in a surprise package from my sister, and we must be sharing some aetheric connection: Two days before I got the package, I was dithering between this Poulin title and Translation is a Love Affair to put in my Amazon cart for Money Day! Heh. Now I can read both!

'Books contain nothing, or almost nothing, that's important: everything is in the mind of the person reading them.'

If you were trying to find an idiotic remark, that one took the cake!

Thus speaks Jim, addressing an intimate audience, and self-talking his own, self-defined failure as a writer. You see, his (probably) imaginary love object won't show him her face, only leaving traces of herself in a riverside cave and a moored sailboat that slowly, steadily is repaired and painted and generally tarted up in the course of Jim's summer obsession.

By the end of the story, Jim's first novel-writing project has been abandoned, a love story that contains no lovers only friends. His second project, just begun as we leave the ramshackle house of Jim's youngest years, gains wind in its sails by his first, possibly first ever, emotional risk-taking act. It's not exactly a stunning shocking pearl-clutching shock, but it is amazing nonetheless. It is a pitch-perfect end to a beautiful chamber opera. I can't wait for the next one to arrive! show less

In the beginning he was alone on the island.

Thus begins a short novel loosely based on Genesis. We never learn our Adam's name, but he says his codename is Teddy Bear, short for TDB or Traducteur de Bandes Dessinees (translator of comic strips). He is working in a newspaper office doing translations when a new boss drops in and wants to know what would make Teddy Bear happy. "Would you have a desert island by any chance", he asks. As it happens, the boss does and transports him to Ile show more Madame.

Teddy Bear seems content on the island as caretaker of the two empty houses and the small grounds. He has his cat, whose name is a play on Methusaleh, and an automatic tennis ball machine, named Prince. But the boss, who visits weekly via helicopter, is unconvinced. So he brings a young woman to live on the island with Teddy Bear, and then slowly a few others, as the Boss tries to create a happy society.

This is my second book by Jacques Poulin; the first being the wonderfully poetic short novel, Translation is a Love Affair. Spring Tides shares some themes with Translation, namely the translator's strive for perfection and the relationships between small groups of people. For me, the difference is that Spring Tides has more complexity and Translation more poetry. Spring Tides challenges the readers with fun allusions and word plays, and was well worth the second reading I felt it deserved. Warmly recommended, and I shall continue looking for books by Jacques Poulin. show less

This charming and simple novel takes place in and around Québec City, and the primary character is an older man known as The Driver, who owns an old milk truck that he has converted to a bookmobile. During the autumn months he travels to nearby towns and hamlets, delivering books provided to him by the provincial government, and meeting old and new friends along the way. He enjoys what he does, but he lives alone in a fifth floor apartment, and loneliness is a constant companion that saps show more his life of satisfaction.

On one summery day he hears a band playing a marching tune, and he decides to go out and investigate this unusual occurrence. The music comes from a band accompanied by a troupe of jugglers, acrobats and singers from France, who are traveling from town to town. While there he meets the manager, a striking woman who resembles an older version of Katherine Hepburn in appearance and manner. The Driver and Marie immediately hit it off, and after spending time together she and the members of the troupe decide to rent an old bus and follow The Driver on his rounds to deliver books in the province, as they need to earn money to allow them to return to France.

The book is filled with rich descriptions of the Québec countryside, along with books and beloved singers of the past. The burgeoning love between The Driver and Marie is quite touching, and I was caught up in their relationship as if they were close friends of mine.

I’ve loved the two books I’ve read by Jacques Poulin, as he is a master storyteller whose books touch my heart. Autumn Rounds is right up there with Mister Blue and Translation Is a Love Affair, and it’s a novel that I’ll certainly read again in the near future. show less