For Sure

by France Daigle, Robert Majzels (Translator)

For Sure is among other things a labyrinth, a maze, an exploration of the folly of numbers, a repository, a defense and an illustration of the Chiac language. Written in dazzling prose ― which is occasionally interrupted by surprising bits of information, biography, and definitions that appear on the page ― Daigle perfectly captures the essence of a place and offers us a reflection on minority cultures and their obsession with language. It is also the continuing story of Terry and Carmen, familiar to us from previous works, their children Etienne and Marianne, and all those who gravitate around the Babar, the local bar in Moncton ― the Zablonskis, Zed, Pomme ― artists and ordinary people who question their place in the world from a distinct point of view that is informed by their geography, and by their history, politics, and culture. Masterfully translated from French by award-winning translator Robert Majzels, For Sure is the moving story of a family and a surprising, staggeringly original work that represents a corner of our country.

Genres: Fiction, Canada

741 pages, Paperback

First published September 6, 2011

About the author

France Daigle est née à Moncton en 1953, où elle vit toujours. Auteur d’une dizaine de romans, elle a aussi coécrit plusieurs scénarios ainsi que quatre pièces de théâtre. Elle a remporté en 1991 le prix Pascal-Poirier d’excellence en littérature, décerné par le gouvernement du Nouveau-Brunswick. Elle a reçu le Prix du Lieutenant-gouverneur pour l’excellence dans les arts littéraires.

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls]

A Canadian epic with an ambitious mathematical structure, For Sure is a collage of fragments bearing literary and math trivia alongside snippets of chatter between residents of New Brunswick who speak in an Acadian-French patois known as Chiac. This patois, when rendered phonetically in English translation reads like an odd mixture of childlike Jamaican and French dialects, which makes the characters tricky to situate in terms of ethnicity or age or location, and the snippets themselves are frequently overly twee. How the trivia relates to these snippets of chatter isn’t particularly clear, making the novel something of an audacious yet hermetic formal exercise for the author, where the reader is relegated to the role of mere exasperated spectator. At 700+ pages, I found For Sure increasingly repetitive and infuriating. I managed 280-odd pages before consigning the beast to my charity shop bag.

[Nathan "N.R." Gaddis]

Translated by Robert Majzels, author of Apikoros Sleuth.

"In Conversation: Catherine Leclerc & Robert Majzels"
http://lemonhound.com/2013/09/27/in-c...

Thanks to Friend Jeff Bursey!!

[Gab · Rating 5 out of 5]

L'Acadie de mon coeur en 12 x 12 x 12 morceaux.

[Laurianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Je voulais lire une autrice acadienne durant mon roadtrip dans les maritimes. Je n’ai jamais lu un roman comme celui-ci. Pleins de petits fragments ponctués de statistiques, de fiction, de faits, de détails dont on ne comprend pas nécessairement l’utilité. Ma lecture a été plus agréable lorsque j’ai cessé de tenter de comprendre les liens entre les différents fragments. Le chiac est aussi bien présent. J’ai bien aimé suivre l’histoire de cette petite famille et les gens qui les entourent et leurs questionnements sur la famille, la langue et la politique, même si la forme unique rend tout de même la lecture parfois lente et difficile.

[Audrey Favre · Rating 1 out of 5]

Un fouillis incompréhensible sur le fond et la forme.

[Jacob Wren · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few short lines from For Sure:


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The rituals of obsessive neurosis are such that Freud compares this pathology to a “private religion.”


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Some books are written to be read, others only to have been written.


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Along the lines of thinking the glass is half full or half empty, some people who believe they’re in danger of dying are in fact in danger of living.


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Proverb for artists: when art fails, chance succeeds.


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Rumour is certainly related to fantasy, but it can also be related to tactics.


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To be the object of ridicule, but to put on a good show.


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[Nathaël Molaison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gargantuesque et ludique, le roman de France Daigle est un magnifique amalgame de réflexions sur le quotidien, de passages encyclopédiques, d'exercices de style et de tant d'autres choses.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Une histoire gentille mais aussi une formule mathématique. Quel effort !