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Guano
It's 1862, and Spain is a little rueful about letting Peru have their independence. Or, more importantly, letting Peru have the guano—"white gold"—on the Chincha Islands. Simón is the ship's recorder on a scientific—okay, military—expedition when he meets, in Callao, the mysterious Montse. She asks of him only that he write her letters. Which he utterly fails to do. As military tensions escalate, so does Simón’s unabated lust for Montse — even if he can’t bring himself to do anything about it. Louis Carmain lives in Gatineau, Quebec. Guano , his first novel, received the prestigious Prix littéraire des collégiens. Rhonda Mullins 's translation of Jocelyne Saucier's And the Birds Rained Down was a 2015 CBC Canada Reads selection. She lives in Montreal, Quebec.
- GenresFiction
160 pages, Paperback
First published September 2, 2013
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55 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 2, 2025
d’une grande beauté, un romantisme empreint d’autodérision rafraichissant à lire 😙
October 11, 2021
French-Canadian author writes slim novel about Spanish navy in Peru in the 1860s. The historical fiction has a postmodern bent — when characters are introduced we might also learn, for example, the manner and timing of their future death. This playfulness extends to the “documentary” material being compiled or fabricated on the expedition. The prose is light, mildly witty, mildly droll. Most characters are buffoons.
My biggest complaint is this— if I pick up a novel with the teasing title Guano I want to wade through a big pile of bird poop! The back cover talked about guano more than the book did. I expected some natural history about the history of the guano (from penguins yes? And they dig their nest burrows in the deep layer of their own poop? And did the penguins then become endangered because their nesting sites were mined? And why was this stuff so valuable again? What was the guano used for?)
None of this material was mentioned.
The title was a small bit of misdirection, or else a metaphor which was then boldly underplayed. In any event, this reader was kept waiting for his big pile of precious guano, never met any chipper industrious penguins, and was very disappointed. So sad.
My biggest complaint is this— if I pick up a novel with the teasing title Guano I want to wade through a big pile of bird poop! The back cover talked about guano more than the book did. I expected some natural history about the history of the guano (from penguins yes? And they dig their nest burrows in the deep layer of their own poop? And did the penguins then become endangered because their nesting sites were mined? And why was this stuff so valuable again? What was the guano used for?)
None of this material was mentioned.
The title was a small bit of misdirection, or else a metaphor which was then boldly underplayed. In any event, this reader was kept waiting for his big pile of precious guano, never met any chipper industrious penguins, and was very disappointed. So sad.
August 1, 2020
I really enjoyed this novella. The prose, the tone, the rhythm, and the word choice play so well into how absurdly dramatic, existential, and indecisive the protagonist is. The writer and translator know how ridiculous he is and capture that feeling in flippant, dark humor. Overall an interesting read stylistically.
October 11, 2014
J'ai adoré le style, j'ai aimé le contexte historique; hélas, j'ai trouvé l'action ennuyante.
September 23, 2024
Two stars seems a little low, because this is really well written. On the line level, I really liked this book. On the whole, however, I cannot get behind it.
Our main character, Símon, is a man lost in his thoughts. He spends his time imagining him and his life to be more important than he is. He is in love with the idea of being in love. He is in love with the idea of being adventurous. But he is not even able to write a letter to Montse, the woman he is - in his mind - in love with.
Meanwhile Spain and Peru are at war - with Chile and America pitching in. These war parts were almost satirical in their style, which I did enjoy, but when the book delves into the realities of war - rapes and atrocities - it sounds almost flippant in a way I really hated. If maybe two scenes had been less graphic, I think I would have given this a 3-4 star rating, though by the end Símon was really getting on my nerves, so perhaps not.
Our main character, Símon, is a man lost in his thoughts. He spends his time imagining him and his life to be more important than he is. He is in love with the idea of being in love. He is in love with the idea of being adventurous. But he is not even able to write a letter to Montse, the woman he is - in his mind - in love with.
Meanwhile Spain and Peru are at war - with Chile and America pitching in. These war parts were almost satirical in their style, which I did enjoy, but when the book delves into the realities of war - rapes and atrocities - it sounds almost flippant in a way I really hated. If maybe two scenes had been less graphic, I think I would have given this a 3-4 star rating, though by the end Símon was really getting on my nerves, so perhaps not.
March 13, 2019
Un de mes plus grands souvenirs du cégep... :)
January 4, 2014
En introduction, cette citation de Julien Gracq:
«Car après tout, si la littérature n'est pas pour le lecteur un répertoire de femmes fatales, et de créatures de perdition, elle ne vaut pas qu'on s'en occupe.»
À laquelle je ne pourrais difficilement être plus en désaccord. J'ai tourné cette première page à reculons, et j'ai mis un bon tiers de livre à m'adapter au style d'écriture, à comprendre où s'en allait l'équipage espagnol. Puis, au moment où une histoire d'amour et de guerre prenait forme, paradoxalement mais de façon non ironique, je fus charmé. Peut-être par la maladresse absurde de tout un monde, oui, mais charmé et conquis, tout de même.
«Je crois que ce sont tous les mondes en nous qui font celui-ci.»
«Car après tout, si la littérature n'est pas pour le lecteur un répertoire de femmes fatales, et de créatures de perdition, elle ne vaut pas qu'on s'en occupe.»
À laquelle je ne pourrais difficilement être plus en désaccord. J'ai tourné cette première page à reculons, et j'ai mis un bon tiers de livre à m'adapter au style d'écriture, à comprendre où s'en allait l'équipage espagnol. Puis, au moment où une histoire d'amour et de guerre prenait forme, paradoxalement mais de façon non ironique, je fus charmé. Peut-être par la maladresse absurde de tout un monde, oui, mais charmé et conquis, tout de même.
«Je crois que ce sont tous les mondes en nous qui font celui-ci.»
March 14, 2014
J'ai l'impression qu'il me manque un certain bagage historique pour pleinement apprécier ce récit. J'ai bien aimé bien le style d'écriture de cet auteur. Ce n'est pas un mauvais roman, je n'ai juste pas accroché du tout.
January 6, 2014
En gros : Adoré le style de l'auteur, détesté l'histoire.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews