The Body's Place

by Élise Turcotte, Sheila Fischman (translator)

Helene, 15, lives with her younger sister and brother and their parents in a house near a river with an island. School is out for the summer, it's hard to find things to do to ward off boredom, but Helene finds work in a garage. A girl her age has gone missing and, eventually, her murdered body is found on the island, l'ile de la merci. In this atmosphere of violence and fear, Helene tries to understand the silences in her house, the sexual yearnings she's beginning to experience, the eloquent lure of nothingness ― of death. This summer will mark the end of a certain innocence and the beginning of a journey of discovery of the body and its place.

Genres: Canada

1 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Élise Turcotte is a Canadian writer. She completed her BA and MA in literary studies at the University of Quebec and later received her doctorate at the Université de Sherbrooke.

Her writing has won much praise, and among other things she has won the Grand Prix de Poésie, as well as the 2003 Governor General's Award for her novel La Maison étrangère and the Prix Émile-Nelligan for La voix de Carla in 1987, and for La terre pst idi in 1989. Her novel The Alien House was shortlisted for the 2004 Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation.

Élise Turcotte lives in Montreal, where she has taught at the CEGEP de Vieux-Montréal since 1986.


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Élise Turcotte a obtenu un baccalauréat en arts et une maîtrise en études littéraires à l'Université du Québec à Montréal. Elle a ensuite obtenu son doctorat à l'Université de Sherbrooke. Après la publication de recueils de poésie, elle aborde le roman, la nouvelle et fait paraître plusieurs livres pour enfants, tout en conservant un intérêt constant pour l'écriture poétique.

Elle enseigne la littérature au Cégep du Vieux-Montréal.

Le fonds d'archives d'Élise Turcotte est conservé au centre d'archives de Montréal de Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.

Reviews

[anne larouche · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ambiance au top, écriture très atmosphérique et qui laisse à réfléchir. Par contre je trouve que certains éléments de l’intrigue étaient un peu trop nébuleux voir inéclaircis en fin de roman alors ça enlève de la frappe à la forme pourtant excellente. Le dénouement d’ailleurs prévisible était un peu underwhelming. Bien hâte de voir l’analyse que j’en ferai en cours toutefois ; je finis souvent par plus aimer ma lecture ainsi. Mais en tant que roman lu pour le divertissement, j’ai passé un bon moment sans pour autant m’en souvenir avec éclat!

[Karena · Rating 3 out of 5]

The summer after a girl is murdered and found on a nearby island, three children spend their days trying to emotionally cope with their family’s apparent isolation (from each other and the world outside).

I found myself having a hard time connecting to Hélène, the main character, in the beginning when starting this book. I refused to give up on her, as is fitting for this novel...in a way.

[Ark of Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a school read, but it has moved me in a way that is really hard to explain. Helene's story was interesting. She is a 14 year old who believes that her world is ending. Her parents are divorcing in a very difficult way and her little sister and brother have a lot of difficulties to adapt to the changes.