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The Douglas Notebooks
Roman was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. At 18, he leaves his family for a home in the forest, learning to live off the land rather than his family's wealth. Elena flees a house of blood and mayhem, taking refuge in a monastery and later in the rustic village of Riviere-aux-Oies. One day, while walking in the woods, Elena hears the melody of a clarinet and comes across Roman, who calls himself Starling and whom Elena later renames Douglas, for the strongest and most spectacular of trees. Later a child named Rose is born. Fade to black. When the story takes up again, Douglas has returned to the forest, Rose is in the village under the care of others, and Elena is gone. From these disparate threads, Christine Eddie tenderly weaves a fable for our time and for all times. As the years pass, the story broadens to capture others in its elegant web - a doctor with a bruised heart, a pharmacist who may be a witch, and a teacher with dark secrets. Together they raise this child with the mysterious heritage, transforming this story into an ode to friendship and family, a sonnet on our relationship with nature, and an elegy to love and passion. The Douglas Notebooks was originally published in French as Les carnets de Douglas. This edition was translated by Sheila Fischman.
180 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
January 17, 2016
4.5 stars. beautiful. much, much better on second reading. wonderful translation from sheila fischman, who recently translated kim thúy's Ru.
january 2013 -- re-reading for work, before finishing up my review. i have been thinking about this slip of a book a lot since finishing it just after christmas. it had to percolate for a while before i went through it again.
december 2012 -- this is an odd little book - part fairy tale, part novel. but,,,there's not quite enough magic/magical realism to transport the reader fully into the world eddie has created. another book oozing with potential that was (for me) not quite reached. there were too many dangling moments, or characters that never quite got fully developed.
january 2013 -- re-reading for work, before finishing up my review. i have been thinking about this slip of a book a lot since finishing it just after christmas. it had to percolate for a while before i went through it again.
december 2012 -- this is an odd little book - part fairy tale, part novel. but,,,there's not quite enough magic/magical realism to transport the reader fully into the world eddie has created. another book oozing with potential that was (for me) not quite reached. there were too many dangling moments, or characters that never quite got fully developed.
December 2, 2021
Les carnets de Douglas, une prose tristement sublime. Les mots de l’autrice m’ont bercée, puis secouée, me laissant toujours un frisson, un désir de poursuivre mais aussi de m’imprégner lentement du récit. J’ai aimé sa douceur jusqu’à la toute fin.
January 20, 2015
I've read a scant handful of English-translated French novels, especially French-Canadian novels, and they have all had a distinctly, how can I describe it, dreamlike? quality to them. They're less anchored by daily minutiae, somehow. It's a quality, a tone or atmosphere, that I can't quite put my Anglo finger on yet. Suffice it to say that, The Douglas Notebooks seems to me like a novel only a French person could write. Which is a compliment, trust me.
This is a fable, but in a loosely-defined sense. It seems to float, not tethered to any particular time or place, in order to tell a tale that is both strange and at the same time, perfectly ordinary. The writing itself is what gives it its fable-like quality, the sensation that you're reading something ancient yet contemporary. With a story such as this, in which the writing itself it like a living organism, both the writing and the story are impossible to separate, much like classical music and the piano.
In an undisclosed place in the world (but most likely Quebec) at an undisclosed time (but most likely post WWII and onwards), a rich and powerful businessman, Antoine Brady, and his wife Alexina, have a daughter, and then a son - Romain. Romain will inherit an empire, but he is different from his family, and made to feel constantly at fault.
At his eighteenth birthday, Romain announces that he is "leaving to live in the country for a while." No one believes him, and no one thinks he can look after himself. Mostly, no one knows anything about Romain or what he can or can't do. Even after he packs a simple bag and leaves, no one really understands that he's gone; they're still deciding what private university to send him too.
Meanwhile, Romain makes a home for himself in some woods, near a river, some seventy-six-days' walk from his parents' home. He builds himself a cabin, plants the seeds he's brought with him in a clearing, and catches fish in the river. With the money he saved up over the years, he makes small purchases in nearby villages, each trip an adventure. In one such village he encounters Éléna, the apothecary's assistant.
Éléna Tavernier came to the village of Rivière-aux-Oies by way of a convent, the Little Sisters of Saint Carmel, where she had fled to after her abusive father dies when their house catches fire. Éléna first encounters Romain's music - he took his clarinet with him, and plays it in the woods - when out gathering herbs and plants for making medicine. The pair fall in love, and soon Éléna is spending more time with Romain - who they rename Douglas, after the tree - than with Mercedes, the apothecary. And then comes the baby, and everything changes.
In simple terms, a fable is a very short story featuring anthropomorphised animals, plants or other natural phenomena, and a moral or message. The Douglas Notebooks doesn't fit that definition in a conventional sense, though it does feature a tamarack tree (Larix laricina), a deciduous conifer, which Douglas comes to believe is - well, I can't tell you who without spoiling things. But the tree is a recurring motif, certainly, and in some ways, Douglas himself is almost uncivilised to the point of being closer to nature than to anything human. As for a moral or message, it isn't readily apparent but is possibly to do with time, progress, love, change - themes like that. It's anti-development, pro-preservation of the forests seems pretty evident, as is the understanding that you can't stop it.
The sense of time being flexible, or not quite realistic, is best captured in medieval-like nature of Rivière-aux-Oies - before Antoine Brady comes and makes a deal to develop the land and build a big shopping centre; after that there's no turning back the tide. The novel is like a time-lapse video of modernity and progress, with several centuries collapsed into just a few short decades. It adds to the surreal, hazy, fable-like quality of the novel, and comes back to this idea that the writing and the story are inseparable.
It's quite a sad story, in some ways, yet certain characters have the chance at happiness and the outcome of tragedy leads to contentment. It's told in short segments, divided into parts named after cinematography directions: Location; Close-Up (and fade to white); Wide Shot; High-Angle Shot; Dissolves; Fast Motion; Music; and The End (followed by "Credits (in order of appearance)", which is like those brief summaries at the end of a movie telling you what happened to certain characters later). The headings work literally, but their cinematic meanings lend a grand scope to the story, a way of making it both an intimate, small tale and also a broader, global story with universal themes.
While I can't discuss it too much without giving away plot details (and in a short novel light on plot, I already feel like I've given too much away), it's a story that speaks to the heart and contains enough recognisable tropes within a less familiar style, to appeal to many readers. Fischman, an award-winning Canadian translator, has done a fine job of retaining the style and voice of Eddie's original, I'm sure - I feel it's safe to say this even without having read the original French novel, because the English version feels and sounds so very French. The Douglas Notebooks is a hauntingly beautiful story, poignant and steeped in layers of meaning, old-fashioned in style yet speckled with timely, modern images and messages. A quick read, it no doubt ripens upon re-reading, though like any fable or fairy tale, it's an enjoyable read on the surface, too.
My thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book.
This is a fable, but in a loosely-defined sense. It seems to float, not tethered to any particular time or place, in order to tell a tale that is both strange and at the same time, perfectly ordinary. The writing itself is what gives it its fable-like quality, the sensation that you're reading something ancient yet contemporary. With a story such as this, in which the writing itself it like a living organism, both the writing and the story are impossible to separate, much like classical music and the piano.
In an undisclosed place in the world (but most likely Quebec) at an undisclosed time (but most likely post WWII and onwards), a rich and powerful businessman, Antoine Brady, and his wife Alexina, have a daughter, and then a son - Romain. Romain will inherit an empire, but he is different from his family, and made to feel constantly at fault.
...their younger son, though perfectly normal, never knew exactly how to behave with his nouveau riche family who kept up relations only if they were public. To the questions Romain asked - naively, timidly like all children his age - they made no reply, or replied too quickly and off the point. Not now. How can you think such a thing? Will you please keep quiet! The little boy wandered the gleaming corridors of the manor house with its fake turrets; he hid in the folds of the curtains, hands stroking the heavy velvet; he curled up on the landing of the imitation marble stairs that was wide enough to hold two family trees. In the end, he did indeed keep quiet. [p.13]
Romain couldn't stand up straight. Romain waddled like a duck. Romain put his elbows on the table and, more often than not, started fights. Romain was too much this and not enough that. When a word dared to exit his mouth, it disconcerted. It wearied his mother, irritated his father. Awkwardness, foolishness, absent-mindedness. All was Romain's fault. Even the rain that rotted the crops. [p.15]
At his eighteenth birthday, Romain announces that he is "leaving to live in the country for a while." No one believes him, and no one thinks he can look after himself. Mostly, no one knows anything about Romain or what he can or can't do. Even after he packs a simple bag and leaves, no one really understands that he's gone; they're still deciding what private university to send him too.
Meanwhile, Romain makes a home for himself in some woods, near a river, some seventy-six-days' walk from his parents' home. He builds himself a cabin, plants the seeds he's brought with him in a clearing, and catches fish in the river. With the money he saved up over the years, he makes small purchases in nearby villages, each trip an adventure. In one such village he encounters Éléna, the apothecary's assistant.
Éléna Tavernier came to the village of Rivière-aux-Oies by way of a convent, the Little Sisters of Saint Carmel, where she had fled to after her abusive father dies when their house catches fire. Éléna first encounters Romain's music - he took his clarinet with him, and plays it in the woods - when out gathering herbs and plants for making medicine. The pair fall in love, and soon Éléna is spending more time with Romain - who they rename Douglas, after the tree - than with Mercedes, the apothecary. And then comes the baby, and everything changes.
In simple terms, a fable is a very short story featuring anthropomorphised animals, plants or other natural phenomena, and a moral or message. The Douglas Notebooks doesn't fit that definition in a conventional sense, though it does feature a tamarack tree (Larix laricina), a deciduous conifer, which Douglas comes to believe is - well, I can't tell you who without spoiling things. But the tree is a recurring motif, certainly, and in some ways, Douglas himself is almost uncivilised to the point of being closer to nature than to anything human. As for a moral or message, it isn't readily apparent but is possibly to do with time, progress, love, change - themes like that. It's anti-development, pro-preservation of the forests seems pretty evident, as is the understanding that you can't stop it.
The sense of time being flexible, or not quite realistic, is best captured in medieval-like nature of Rivière-aux-Oies - before Antoine Brady comes and makes a deal to develop the land and build a big shopping centre; after that there's no turning back the tide. The novel is like a time-lapse video of modernity and progress, with several centuries collapsed into just a few short decades. It adds to the surreal, hazy, fable-like quality of the novel, and comes back to this idea that the writing and the story are inseparable.
It's quite a sad story, in some ways, yet certain characters have the chance at happiness and the outcome of tragedy leads to contentment. It's told in short segments, divided into parts named after cinematography directions: Location; Close-Up (and fade to white); Wide Shot; High-Angle Shot; Dissolves; Fast Motion; Music; and The End (followed by "Credits (in order of appearance)", which is like those brief summaries at the end of a movie telling you what happened to certain characters later). The headings work literally, but their cinematic meanings lend a grand scope to the story, a way of making it both an intimate, small tale and also a broader, global story with universal themes.
While I can't discuss it too much without giving away plot details (and in a short novel light on plot, I already feel like I've given too much away), it's a story that speaks to the heart and contains enough recognisable tropes within a less familiar style, to appeal to many readers. Fischman, an award-winning Canadian translator, has done a fine job of retaining the style and voice of Eddie's original, I'm sure - I feel it's safe to say this even without having read the original French novel, because the English version feels and sounds so very French. The Douglas Notebooks is a hauntingly beautiful story, poignant and steeped in layers of meaning, old-fashioned in style yet speckled with timely, modern images and messages. A quick read, it no doubt ripens upon re-reading, though like any fable or fairy tale, it's an enjoyable read on the surface, too.
My thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book.
October 11, 2017
This little book carries the subtitle A Fable.
If there is a moral to this haunting and lyrical tale, it may be follow your star, or live your own life and let live others. It could also be reduced to one word, lovingkindness.
With the help of Mozart, Liszt, Schumann and Debussy, he gave her the gift of tenderness stamped with grace p55
Yet this is not a wimpy nor sentimental nor coy presentation. The contained passion and the universality of its themes place it immediately amongst the classics.
When a pool of sunlight passes through the forest, I sometimes wish I believed in God. p117
If there is a moral to this haunting and lyrical tale, it may be follow your star, or live your own life and let live others. It could also be reduced to one word, lovingkindness.
With the help of Mozart, Liszt, Schumann and Debussy, he gave her the gift of tenderness stamped with grace p55
Yet this is not a wimpy nor sentimental nor coy presentation. The contained passion and the universality of its themes place it immediately amongst the classics.
When a pool of sunlight passes through the forest, I sometimes wish I believed in God. p117
December 7, 2021
A little fable with beautiful writing. It is about love, loss, and nature. It is one of the books that has been on my TBR list the longest.
July 18, 2013
"Ose ta vie" ... "Dare to live." ~ Simple, exquisite story ... has a feel of fable, allegory, elegy ... timeless. I read it in a day and wept at its end. Reminded somehow of *The Little Prince*. The first line:
"We exhaust ourselves travelling the earth, hunting for some treasure that will console..."
If I were wealthy, I would buy a copy of this book for everyone I love...
"We exhaust ourselves travelling the earth, hunting for some treasure that will console..."
If I were wealthy, I would buy a copy of this book for everyone I love...
July 25, 2013
Not my usual summer reading (or any season) fare, however this slim volume has emotion, depth, and is beautifully and lyrically written. I almost wish my French reading skills were better, because this is one fable I'd love to digest in it's original language, instead of a translation.
July 7, 2024
Short Version
A fairy tale that’s true. It’s well written, short and to the point, filled with thoughts to ponder on a myriad of subjects. It wasn’t meant to be published but was written as a gift to a friend, who thought it was so good, the manuscript was submitted. Originally written in French and set in the post war rural townships of Quebec, it was translated by a multi-award winner for translation. The story is short and will make you think. It’s about individuals and community, love and family, rural and agrarian living and supposed progress. It’s an easy, pleasurable read and you’ll be thinking about it long after you’re finished reading it.
Longer Version
The Douglas Notebooks was originally written in French by Christine Eddie and translated into English by the multi awarding winning translator Sheila Fischman. It was recommended by CBC Books – a Canadian Literature Discussion Group in a Bookish Advent Event – which provided daily suggestions in December for books leading up to Christmas. The recommended books were often wintery; sometimes feel good and all were touted as great choices to savour inside away from the harsh elements, with something to sip or a fire to warm you.
While many diverse titles were suggested, The Douglas Notebooks appealed to me because I’d been impressed with other books that Fischman has translated and the recommender described the novel as being “Beautifully written, full of heart, but never cloyingly sentimental, Eddie's book feels like one for the ages, relevant and lovely” – just what I was looking for.
The book didn’t disappoint. While the book’s introduction and publisher’s description calls it a fable, I wouldn’t categorize it as such. However, it does feature animals predominantly and there is definitely a pastoral element to the book. In fact, a major feature of the book is nature in all its wonder – the forest, the birds, the river etcetera all playing prominent roles. Eddie’s quality of writing about them was quite special – light, lyrical and lovely.
The story features a certain time (just after WW11) and a certain place (likely small town rural Quebec before major expansion and development). It was like stepping back in time into villages nestled into spaces where the forests had been cleared to make the perfect spot to build a homes and a village beside a river. All the villagers knew each other and each had a specialty or trade to offer so that the villagers could be self-sufficient without having any need to travel far. Effectively it was a simpler agrarian way of life where one was nourished emotionally and physically by the surrounding land and water.
The book is also a love story and a story of family, of friends and community, of commercial progress and the loss of the many of the old ways of living. The story touches upon loneliness and poor parenting; and demonstrates how fragile children are in their formative years and how they can be permanently damaged when constantly criticized, not supported or loved. This damage is heartbreaking but the story is equally uplifting in showing how just one heart and a bit of kindness can make a huge difference and create a great deal of joy and positivity, powerful enough to reverse years of negative impact. Despite some serious subjects, I found the book to be buoyant and hopeful.
I thought the review from B.A. Markus in mRB (Montreal Review of Books) that I read after the fact summarized the book quite well. “Eddie has written a modern fairy tale, full of magical moments and literary elegance, a veritable treasure for any reader who is hunting for a book that will console and inspire.”
Here is the full review if you’re interested. I thought it was a well written review with lots of pertinent information. http://mtlreviewofbooks.ca/v4/reviews...
While I knew that The Douglas Notebooks was a debut novel, I had no idea that Eddie had never intended to publish it. She had written it solely as a gift for a friend. At her friend’s urging Eddie submitted it to a publisher and it thankfully went to print.
I highly recommend The Douglas Notebooks. It is sweet, lyrical and magical. It is small in terms of length but huge in terms of all that it encompasses. It is filled with simplicity, wisdom, imagination and love. It a tale of life and simpler times and frequently causes one to stop and reflect upon – what have we lost and why did we choose to lose it? In fact, did we even choose or did it just happen? How can we learn from this about creating a world we want to live in? In everyday life Eddie gives us a myriad of layered topics to think about and does so in a very charming and poetic way. The Douglas Notebooks is definitely worth a first read……and many, many more.
Second Reading
The Douglas Notebooks by Christine Eddie was such a delightful read for me the first time around that I wanted to re-read it again to see if I still thought it was as pleasurable, magical and still made me reflect and ponder a lot. And all this found in a first novel - a novel the author did not even think about publishing but rather gave it away as a gift to a friend.
Once again this book not only met but surpassed my expectations. It's a short book but packed full of wisdom and memories of a time and lifestyle that's disappearing. I'm soon to begin reading Beartown by Fredrik Backman which is also a book about a small community in the middle of the forest; so I thought I'd reread Eddy's book to see how the two books compared.
I also wanted to read a short, quick, feel good novel. Christine Eddie wrote a wonderful first novel and as usual, Sheila Fischman did a wonderful job translating from French into English. And after reading The Douglas Notebooks I am smiling both outside and from within. You will too. Recommended.
A fairy tale that’s true. It’s well written, short and to the point, filled with thoughts to ponder on a myriad of subjects. It wasn’t meant to be published but was written as a gift to a friend, who thought it was so good, the manuscript was submitted. Originally written in French and set in the post war rural townships of Quebec, it was translated by a multi-award winner for translation. The story is short and will make you think. It’s about individuals and community, love and family, rural and agrarian living and supposed progress. It’s an easy, pleasurable read and you’ll be thinking about it long after you’re finished reading it.
Longer Version
The Douglas Notebooks was originally written in French by Christine Eddie and translated into English by the multi awarding winning translator Sheila Fischman. It was recommended by CBC Books – a Canadian Literature Discussion Group in a Bookish Advent Event – which provided daily suggestions in December for books leading up to Christmas. The recommended books were often wintery; sometimes feel good and all were touted as great choices to savour inside away from the harsh elements, with something to sip or a fire to warm you.
While many diverse titles were suggested, The Douglas Notebooks appealed to me because I’d been impressed with other books that Fischman has translated and the recommender described the novel as being “Beautifully written, full of heart, but never cloyingly sentimental, Eddie's book feels like one for the ages, relevant and lovely” – just what I was looking for.
The book didn’t disappoint. While the book’s introduction and publisher’s description calls it a fable, I wouldn’t categorize it as such. However, it does feature animals predominantly and there is definitely a pastoral element to the book. In fact, a major feature of the book is nature in all its wonder – the forest, the birds, the river etcetera all playing prominent roles. Eddie’s quality of writing about them was quite special – light, lyrical and lovely.
The story features a certain time (just after WW11) and a certain place (likely small town rural Quebec before major expansion and development). It was like stepping back in time into villages nestled into spaces where the forests had been cleared to make the perfect spot to build a homes and a village beside a river. All the villagers knew each other and each had a specialty or trade to offer so that the villagers could be self-sufficient without having any need to travel far. Effectively it was a simpler agrarian way of life where one was nourished emotionally and physically by the surrounding land and water.
The book is also a love story and a story of family, of friends and community, of commercial progress and the loss of the many of the old ways of living. The story touches upon loneliness and poor parenting; and demonstrates how fragile children are in their formative years and how they can be permanently damaged when constantly criticized, not supported or loved. This damage is heartbreaking but the story is equally uplifting in showing how just one heart and a bit of kindness can make a huge difference and create a great deal of joy and positivity, powerful enough to reverse years of negative impact. Despite some serious subjects, I found the book to be buoyant and hopeful.
I thought the review from B.A. Markus in mRB (Montreal Review of Books) that I read after the fact summarized the book quite well. “Eddie has written a modern fairy tale, full of magical moments and literary elegance, a veritable treasure for any reader who is hunting for a book that will console and inspire.”
Here is the full review if you’re interested. I thought it was a well written review with lots of pertinent information. http://mtlreviewofbooks.ca/v4/reviews...
While I knew that The Douglas Notebooks was a debut novel, I had no idea that Eddie had never intended to publish it. She had written it solely as a gift for a friend. At her friend’s urging Eddie submitted it to a publisher and it thankfully went to print.
I highly recommend The Douglas Notebooks. It is sweet, lyrical and magical. It is small in terms of length but huge in terms of all that it encompasses. It is filled with simplicity, wisdom, imagination and love. It a tale of life and simpler times and frequently causes one to stop and reflect upon – what have we lost and why did we choose to lose it? In fact, did we even choose or did it just happen? How can we learn from this about creating a world we want to live in? In everyday life Eddie gives us a myriad of layered topics to think about and does so in a very charming and poetic way. The Douglas Notebooks is definitely worth a first read……and many, many more.
Second Reading
The Douglas Notebooks by Christine Eddie was such a delightful read for me the first time around that I wanted to re-read it again to see if I still thought it was as pleasurable, magical and still made me reflect and ponder a lot. And all this found in a first novel - a novel the author did not even think about publishing but rather gave it away as a gift to a friend.
Once again this book not only met but surpassed my expectations. It's a short book but packed full of wisdom and memories of a time and lifestyle that's disappearing. I'm soon to begin reading Beartown by Fredrik Backman which is also a book about a small community in the middle of the forest; so I thought I'd reread Eddy's book to see how the two books compared.
I also wanted to read a short, quick, feel good novel. Christine Eddie wrote a wonderful first novel and as usual, Sheila Fischman did a wonderful job translating from French into English. And after reading The Douglas Notebooks I am smiling both outside and from within. You will too. Recommended.
March 1, 2013
I think I'd actually give this book 4.5 stars.
I won this book from the giveaway first reads section and was so excited when I finally got it in the mail! I started reading right away and found it easy to get into with the story drawing me in. It had the feel of being in some fairy tail setting, only to have things mentioned that reminded me that it takes place between WWII and the present day.
I read through this book really quickly since it was an easy read, but I think it was best that way. It told a wonderful story of the characters through many years without drawing it out, while still making you want to keep reading. Even though it was short and easy to get through, I think it's one of those books that I will think of when I go into the forest or.... other things that I see and hear about.
I won this book from the giveaway first reads section and was so excited when I finally got it in the mail! I started reading right away and found it easy to get into with the story drawing me in. It had the feel of being in some fairy tail setting, only to have things mentioned that reminded me that it takes place between WWII and the present day.
I read through this book really quickly since it was an easy read, but I think it was best that way. It told a wonderful story of the characters through many years without drawing it out, while still making you want to keep reading. Even though it was short and easy to get through, I think it's one of those books that I will think of when I go into the forest or.... other things that I see and hear about.
December 20, 2008
Un texte simple, facile à lire; des chapitres courtes; lis comme la poésie... une histoire de deux jeunes qui parviennent à fuir un destin qui les aurait emmurés, qu'ils se rencontrent à Rivière-aux Oies à Québec et ....
A sad, joyful story that is almost like a fable... could not put it down.
The story of Douglas (Romain Brady) and Éléna Tavernier
A sad, joyful story that is almost like a fable... could not put it down.
The story of Douglas (Romain Brady) and Éléna Tavernier
December 29, 2016
What an achingly beautiful celebration of love in all its forms heightened, celebrated and captured in a child that forever linked four lives. Beautifully written with its focus on nature - flora, fauna and human. It was a wonderful way to finish a year-long reading challenge. A truly magical Canadian gem I believe I will revisit and cherish in the future.
April 1, 2008
Un petit livre qui se lit rapidement mais dont on garde des souvernirs longtemps. C'est l'histoire de Douglas, Éléna, Rose, Gabrielle et Léandre qui se passe à Rivière-aux-Oies.
June 13, 2023
Une oeuvre tout simplement magnifique, et ce, du début à la fin. C'était un véritable "daydream" et j'ai adoré mon expérience.
La prose de Christine Eddie est sublime. Je me suis souvent arrêtée pour souligner les passages qui m'interpellaient particulièrement. Ce roman était assez court, mais avait beaucoup de mordant. Une fois l'avoir commencé, il était très difficile de le déposer.
J'ai bien aimé le format choisi par l'auteure afin de conclure son récit. Sous forme de générique, on fait un retour sur tous les personnages qui sont apparus dans l'histoire et on en apprend davantage sur leurs avenirs. Certains vivent une fin heureuse tandis que d'autres sont misérables, ce qui est très réaliste.
Bref, je recommande fortement cet ouvrage aux gens qui veulent lire pour s'échapper de la réalité et voyager ailleurs.
La prose de Christine Eddie est sublime. Je me suis souvent arrêtée pour souligner les passages qui m'interpellaient particulièrement. Ce roman était assez court, mais avait beaucoup de mordant. Une fois l'avoir commencé, il était très difficile de le déposer.
J'ai bien aimé le format choisi par l'auteure afin de conclure son récit. Sous forme de générique, on fait un retour sur tous les personnages qui sont apparus dans l'histoire et on en apprend davantage sur leurs avenirs. Certains vivent une fin heureuse tandis que d'autres sont misérables, ce qui est très réaliste.
Bref, je recommande fortement cet ouvrage aux gens qui veulent lire pour s'échapper de la réalité et voyager ailleurs.
January 1, 2023
Entre la tendresse et les tempêtes, le destin de quelques personnes s'entrecroisent. Il y a tout d'abord Romain et Éléna, deux jeunes à l'aube de l'âge adulte, qui, chacun de leur côté, quitte le foyer familier pour aller à la rencontre du destin, mais surtout échapper à leur quotidien étouffant. Leur nouvelle vie et le drame leur emmène Léandre, un médecin dans leur village d'adoption et une enseignante nouvellement arrivée à Rivière-aux-Oies. Puis cette petite qui les relit tous.
Un roman plein de douceur et de bienveillance mais qui n'est pas dénué de larmes et de défis.
Un roman plein de douceur et de bienveillance mais qui n'est pas dénué de larmes et de défis.
January 23, 2022
Les histoires de Romain et d’Éléna, d’abord parallèles puis réunies, m’ont rapidement captivée dans cette fable de la forêt à l’univers et à l’imaginaire riches. Malgré les drames et les tempêtes, c’est doux, touchant, tendre, fin, sensible, poétique. ("Le deuil en bandoulière, il n’apprit pas à se refaire des souvenirs.") Les titres des chapitres empruntés à l’univers cinématographique trouvent leur écho dans le chapitre final.
June 28, 2018
Lecture légère et agréable avec de belles expressions. J'avais imaginé une fin plus "éternelle" pour l'arbre mais bon.
N.B. Peu importe à quel point vous êtes hippie, accoucher dans la forêt n'est JAMAIS une bonne idée.
N.B. Peu importe à quel point vous êtes hippie, accoucher dans la forêt n'est JAMAIS une bonne idée.
February 24, 2023
C’est doux. Petit livre pas compliqué, mais d’une grande beauté. Plus j’avançais dans ma lecture, plus le livre me plaisait. Les personnages sont attachants. J’ai bien l’intention de lire d’autres livres de Christine Eddie.
September 13, 2017
Belle histoire touchante, bien écrite, légère et poétique. Ce livre fut une très agréable surprise! :-)
October 12, 2018
An interesting little book, written as a fable. Being a translation, it may have lost some of the original impact.
January 7, 2020
Slow burning book, very heart warming, made me want to cry without knowing why, beautiful warm feeling
August 25, 2020
Read it in one setting - mostly because I couldn't put it down.
September 2, 2020
Pour connaître mes impressions sur ce roman : https://madamelit.ca/2020/09/02/madam...
Au plaisir de les partager avec vous!
Au plaisir de les partager avec vous!
January 3, 2022
The book is so slow-paced. I admit that i cried at least once while reading it, but i’m sensitive so i don’t feel like it’s accountable for something.
January 9, 2022
4.5
Déchirant et remplie d’amour. J’ai envi de pleurer
Déchirant et remplie d’amour. J’ai envi de pleurer
June 18, 2022
Wow!!! Une écrire sublime, intelligente et touchante du début à la fin. J'ai adoré!
August 17, 2022
Rafraîchissant comme style. Beaucoup aimé.
August 20, 2022
C'était une histoire très bonne. My French is not good enough to understand everything, but I definitely got the gist. It's a really nice little story.
August 31, 2022
Having known nothing about this book, it was a treasure of a gem. I think it is one of my all time favorite books.
It has such raw humanity in it, and in its many layers is ultimately about love.
It has such raw humanity in it, and in its many layers is ultimately about love.
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