St. Urbain's Horseman
by Mordecai Richler
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St. Urbain's Horseman is a complex, moving, and wonderfully comic evocation of a generation consumed with guilt - guilt at not joining every battle, at not healing every wound. Thirty-seven-year-old Jake Hersh is a film director of modest success, a faithful husband, and a man in disgrace. His alter ego is his cousin Joey, a legend in their childhood neighbourhood in Montreal. Nazi-hunter, adventurer, and hero of the Spanish Civil War, Joey is the avenging horseman of Jake's impotent dreams. show more When Jake becomes embroiled in a scandalous trial in London, England, he puts his own unadventurous life on trial as well, finding it desperately wanting as he steadfastly longs for the Horseman's glorious return. Irreverent, deeply felt, as scathing in its critique of social mores as it is uproariously funny, St. Urbain's Horseman confirms Mordecai Richler's reputation as a pre-eminent observer of the hypocrisies and absurdities of modern life. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
I'm giving this one four stars for its merits as a character-driven novel. Richler really buries us deep inside the head of Jake Hersh, an expat Canadian film director living in London, as he contemplates his life to date. When the story begins he is embroiled in a scandalous trial along with probably the scuzziest fellow I've read about in a while, and Jake looks back on everything that has happened to bring him to this point. A recurring figure in his thoughts is his cousin Joey, whom he dubs the "Horseman", avenging wrongs and living a life of derring-do, but whose exact whereabouts are unknown.
As I mentioned, the character of Jake is very well realized. He reminded me a bit of Barney Panofsky from Barney's Version, perhaps because show more both characters are prompted to take stock of their lives because of allegations made against them, and both have near-mythical figures haunting them from their pasts. Both novels also feature frank depictions of sex and aging (the sex depictions were a little *too* frank for me, personally, but that is what speed-reading is for). However, the humour in this one is not as overt as in Barney's Version. It's still there of course, but Jake is not as gleefully vindictive as Barney is.
Overall I would recommend this for people who like character-driven novels and those who have enjoyed previous works by Mordecai Richler, especially The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. (Duddy does make several appearances, at one point prompting me to wonder whether I'd picked up the wrong book.) show less
As I mentioned, the character of Jake is very well realized. He reminded me a bit of Barney Panofsky from Barney's Version, perhaps because show more both characters are prompted to take stock of their lives because of allegations made against them, and both have near-mythical figures haunting them from their pasts. Both novels also feature frank depictions of sex and aging (the sex depictions were a little *too* frank for me, personally, but that is what speed-reading is for). However, the humour in this one is not as overt as in Barney's Version. It's still there of course, but Jake is not as gleefully vindictive as Barney is.
Overall I would recommend this for people who like character-driven novels and those who have enjoyed previous works by Mordecai Richler, especially The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. (Duddy does make several appearances, at one point prompting me to wonder whether I'd picked up the wrong book.) show less
Tralla-lì, tralla-lero. Si balla di nuovo, con queste vite sgangherate di ebrei canadesi, dove i dialoghi sono dialoghi e non giustapposizioni di frasi, dove le tappezzerie odorano di cibo, e sciami di scapestrate picoole canaglie fanno vite di strada invidiabili. Nota a pedale, la guerra aldilà dell'Oceano, la consapevolezza e l'alterigia della propria 'diversità', un sogno di vita ancora tutto da costruire.
I enjoyed Richler's portrayal of the character and ideas, and the context of Montreal and London - all evocative and relatively familiar.
I thought it was alright. Not as good as Richler's other works. Same comedic themes mixed with coarseness and dark humor.
i like richler. couldn't believe he wrote this drivel and i finished it. too much sex. women characters are ridiculous. his infatuation with the horseman is beyond beyond. he thinks he loves his wife and has a good marriage but he can't tell her anything. i never laughed unless duddy was in it.
Although I got a good start on this novel by page 140 it was wearing thin. I decided to move on to a more entertaining read.
"המשך" לדודי קרביץ
Jan 30, 2012Hebrew
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Author Information
53+ Works 9,077 Members
Novelist, journalist and screenwriter Mordecai Richler was born on January 27, 1931 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He attended Sir George Williams College for two years. He lived in Paris, Spain and England, and while in England worked as a journalist and radio and television scriptwriter. His fourth novel, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz show more (1959), was received with far more enthusiasm than previous efforts. He has written a number of screenplays (including Fun with Dick and Jane and the script for The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz). His awards include the Governor-General Awards, the Commonwealth Writer's Prize and the Ruth Schwartz Children's Book Award. (Bowker Author Biography) Mordecai Richler, the author of such distinguished novels as "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz," "St. Urbain's Horseman," & "Solomon Gursky Was Here," was born in Montreal in 1931. He has won the Commonwealth Prize, the Paris Review Humour Prize, & was nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay of "Duddy Kravitz." Over the years he has contributed to "Atlantic Monthly," "GQ," "Esquire," "Harper's," "The New York Review of Books," "The New York Times Book Review," & "The New Yorker" (which will publish a portion of "On Snooker"). Richler is married & has five children; he now divides his time between winters in London & seven months at a cottage on Lake Memphremagog in Quebec. (Publisher Provided) show less
Awards and Honors
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
New Canadian Library (185)
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- St. Urbain's Horseman
- Original title
- St. Urbain's Horseman
- Original publication date
- 1971
- People/Characters
- Jacob Hersh; Duddy Kravitz
- Important places
- Montréal, Québec, Canada; Québec, Canada
- Epigraph
- Defenceless under the night
Our world in a stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.
W. H. Auden - Dedication
- For Florence,
and my other editors,
Bob Gottlieb and Tony Godwin - First words
- Sometimes Jake wondered if the Doktor, given his declining years, slept with his mouth open, slack, or was it (more characteristically, perhaps) always clamped shut?
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Then he returned to bed, and fell into a deep sleep, holding Nancy to him.
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- 47,381
- Reviews
- 7
- Rating
- (3.66)
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- English, French, German, Italian
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 31
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 19
