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The Perfect Circle
Winner of the 2004 Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction (French language) Shortlisted for the 2006 Scotiabank Giller Prize. Marianne, a young Montrealer, has come to live in Tuscany to draw and write and examine her life. Here she meets Marco, a temptingly seductive man who still lives in his mother's house in the village and who's not prepared to commit himself to anything resembling a shared life. Though he breaks her heart, again and again, Marianne can only avoid him by returning to Canada. This first novel by Pascale Quiviger is marked by its luminous language and its unstinting look at what makes Marianne, and Marco, and, indeed, an entire village and the world beyond it, tick.
220 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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About the author
Pascale Quiviger
18 books28 followersPascale Quiviger was born in Montreal and now divides her time between London, UK and Italy. Her first novel, The Perfect Circle, won the Governor General's Literary Award for French Fiction and was a Scotiabank Giller Prize finalist.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 18, 2009
This is not a quick read, it's not one for the subway or your lunch break, but it is one for delving and imagining and running off to Italy with.
It opens with a passage in the second person, never easy to read at the best of times but hang in there, it tells the unnamed narrator's story in a nutshell, a very sad, lonely nutshell, and sets the premise for the rest of the story: to tell the story with names changed, to create some distance perhaps, or to handle the emotions and learn from them. It has an autobiographical feel but that's simply the author's skill.
The rest of the novel tells the story as fiction, with Marianne meeting and falling in love with Marco, going back to Montreal and then borrowing money to fly to Italy again as soon as Marco invites her. He lives in a small village by a lake where two tourists drown every year, where everyone fishes. He owns the terrace house he grew up in but doesn't live there, leaving it empty while he eats and sleeps at his mother's house next door. The entire street is inhabited by his family, with aunts all around.
Marianne is not exactly welcomed. They like to talk about her, but not to her. She has the same conversation over and over again: "Are you German?" "No, I'm Canadian" "Oh, Marco's girlfriend." She wrestles with his mother for the right to cook for him, but can't please either of them. While Marco, a plumber, drives off early in the morning to do his thing, Marianne spends lonely days drawing or walking by the lake, until eventually she takes a horribly underpaid waitressing job at a busy restuarant.
This is one of those books that has to be read more than once to fully grasp, understand and appreciate every word. The writing style is like poetry and philosophy, not always easy to read or follow, but revealing so much in precise movements. It's a fine example of writing as art, or music, and you cannot help but be right there with Marianne as she experiences something so familiar yet so bitter. And it is a familiar story, sadly so, yet the ending justifies the whole ordeal as Marianne grows and faces the truth. Marco is a sad character, content with his life, not willing to change, unreachable in the most important ways. He too is familiar, as is his mother, never mind that they are Italian - it just shows how similiar we all can be.
It opens with a passage in the second person, never easy to read at the best of times but hang in there, it tells the unnamed narrator's story in a nutshell, a very sad, lonely nutshell, and sets the premise for the rest of the story: to tell the story with names changed, to create some distance perhaps, or to handle the emotions and learn from them. It has an autobiographical feel but that's simply the author's skill.
The rest of the novel tells the story as fiction, with Marianne meeting and falling in love with Marco, going back to Montreal and then borrowing money to fly to Italy again as soon as Marco invites her. He lives in a small village by a lake where two tourists drown every year, where everyone fishes. He owns the terrace house he grew up in but doesn't live there, leaving it empty while he eats and sleeps at his mother's house next door. The entire street is inhabited by his family, with aunts all around.
Marianne is not exactly welcomed. They like to talk about her, but not to her. She has the same conversation over and over again: "Are you German?" "No, I'm Canadian" "Oh, Marco's girlfriend." She wrestles with his mother for the right to cook for him, but can't please either of them. While Marco, a plumber, drives off early in the morning to do his thing, Marianne spends lonely days drawing or walking by the lake, until eventually she takes a horribly underpaid waitressing job at a busy restuarant.
This is one of those books that has to be read more than once to fully grasp, understand and appreciate every word. The writing style is like poetry and philosophy, not always easy to read or follow, but revealing so much in precise movements. It's a fine example of writing as art, or music, and you cannot help but be right there with Marianne as she experiences something so familiar yet so bitter. And it is a familiar story, sadly so, yet the ending justifies the whole ordeal as Marianne grows and faces the truth. Marco is a sad character, content with his life, not willing to change, unreachable in the most important ways. He too is familiar, as is his mother, never mind that they are Italian - it just shows how similiar we all can be.
November 14, 2013
This book was perfect. Perfect. Helped me understand someone in my own life as well. The prose was stunning, I was absolutely floored. I will definitely be reading the original french version as well to see if it's just the translation that has so much lyricism to it. I will definitely, definitely be reading more of Pascale Quivigier.
July 23, 2015
This book was translated from French and while I don't read or speak the language, I'm pretty impressed with how well the translator did. It's a beautiful love story, told in a very ethereal way.
June 18, 2019
I gave up. The language is so flowery that I can't follow the story. With so many good books out there waiting to be read, had to toss this one aside and pick up something new...
February 22, 2017
This book has a special literature, very different to what I have read over last weeks. At the end of the story I was disappointed how much an adult man can be influenced by his mum's ideas to end a relationship. We are living in modern era & I hope people can make their own decisions regardless of what their parents dictate them. Do not take me wrong, respect them but just get advice...do not detour your path if their instructions are detrimental. The Perfect Circle is a limited boundary just good for Marco. He is isolated in his world. (5 out of 15 goal achieved)
February 17, 2015
This book is so beautifully written that I refuse to criticize it. The fault is my own--I have so little patience for slow, ponderous, descriptive fiction these days. This reminds me of my experience of reading Anne Michaels, Kim Tuay, or Michael Helm--it's gorgeous but it just requires more attention than I'm capable of giving. Has plot based/thriller fiction destroyed my brain??
Perhaps this is the wrong time in my life to read such a book. I felt my eyes rolling quite a bit as I remembered my own dramatic ways of dealing with heartbreak when I was young. If I wrote even one tenth as beautifully as Pascale Quiviger writes, maybe I would have been able to express my heartbreak as well as she has in this novel. Her descriptions of Italians and the banality of what we so often romanticize were especially brilliant. However, I would have preferred to read this story as a memoir or as a book of poetry; I don't think it works as a novel.
Perhaps this is the wrong time in my life to read such a book. I felt my eyes rolling quite a bit as I remembered my own dramatic ways of dealing with heartbreak when I was young. If I wrote even one tenth as beautifully as Pascale Quiviger writes, maybe I would have been able to express my heartbreak as well as she has in this novel. Her descriptions of Italians and the banality of what we so often romanticize were especially brilliant. However, I would have preferred to read this story as a memoir or as a book of poetry; I don't think it works as a novel.
February 22, 2024
I was disappointed in this novel. It is long on flowery prose and pseudo-philosophical musings but very short on plot indeed. Young woman from Quebec falls in love and moves to Italy to be with love interest but is disillusioned by his attachment to his mother, his cousins, his village, his customary way of life, and so eventually she leaves to return to Quebec. The rest is embellishment. There are some nice descriptions here and there, but for the most part the book takes place inside the head of the narrator, and a very busy head it is, but not busy enough to make up for the lack of storyline. Not my cup of broth, I'm afraid.
April 16, 2022
This book is best served slowly and quietly. It was beautiful.
June 25, 2023
It’s an ok read for me. I was just curious with the overall love story which is a mediocre but easy to follow.
3.0/5 ⭐️
3.0/5 ⭐️
January 15, 2025
Uck. Not my kinda book. Far to flowery, romance short on plot.
February 4, 2015
L'auteure a reçue le Prix du gouverneur général pour ce livre. Je suis heureuse de lire un livre écrit au Canada. Ce livre raconte un peine d'amour et le retour vers la vie. Il est écrit en deux temps ou deux styles. Le "je" et la troisième personne. Elle alterne entre le présent et le passé. Le personnage est à la fois dévastée par l'amour et ... sauvée par l'amour. J'ai aimé les titres des chapitres. J'ai l'impression que cette auteure peint car on dirait qu'elle décrit des tableaux. Ses titres de chapitres sont comme des titres de tableaux. C'est une histoire cérébrale, poétique. "J'existe aujourd'hui comme un nombre premier, indivisible, seule, sur une patte, un rond.... . Tu n'as plus d'emprise sur le goût de la soupe. Bref, c'est chouette de voir qu'on peut sortir de la dépression.
August 19, 2008
One's self and the environment. To live in the world, or is the world where we live? I would give a bad thanks to translator Sheila Fischman. In English, the book's lyricism and rhythms are engaging. Tuscany as the glass dessert case in a Greek diner...those exotic pies and cakes look so visually engaging, but the taste can be pretty bland, once you get inside the chocolate shell. Many of us will see aspects of previous intense relationships that eventually disengaged....without regrets.
July 6, 2013
Found this in the apartment we are staying at in Paris. A very quick read but I didn't really care for the characters. They weren't really developed enough, and what we did learn of them didn't really make them likable in my opinion.
November 14, 2008
this tug of war between lovers just felt too familiar - is it possible that I am her? Perhaps the best example of the universality of human emotions.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews