La vie comme une image

by Jocelyne Saucier

Que voilà un livre innocent. Une mère parfaite, une petite fille modèle, un père gentil, bon comme un petit pain d'épice. Une vie réglée comme du papier à musique. L'observance stricte des règles de la bienséance et le sentiment rassurant du devoir accompli. La vie comme une image.
Rien, décidément, pour donner matière à un roman... Pourtant, à travers la façade de ce bonheur sans failles, s'échappent de persistantes odeurs qui décapent le verni de la respectabilité et montrent, avec une cruauté déchirante, que cet éden est tout entier édifié sur le mensonge. Une souffrance immense, tue, niée, qui ira jusqu'au meurtre.
Le drame de l'insignifiant quotidien.

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Jocelyne Saucier (born 1948 in Clair, New Brunswick) is a Canadian novelist and journalist based in Quebec.

Educated in political science at the Université Laval, Saucier worked as a journalist in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec before publishing her debut novel, La Vie comme une image, in 1996. That book was a finalist for the Governor General's Award for French-language fiction at the 1996 Governor General's Awards. Her second novel, Les Héritiers de la mine, was a finalist for the Prix France-Québec in 2001, and her third novel, Jeanne sur les routes, was a finalist at the 2006 Governor General's Awards. Her fourth novel, Il pleuvait des oiseaux, won the Prix France-Québec, the Prix Ringuet, the Prix des cinq continents de la francophonie, the Prix des lecteurs de Radio-Canada and the Prix littéraire des collégiens, while And the Birds Rained Down (its English translation by Rhonda Mullins), was a finalist for the Governor General's Award for French to English translation at the 2013 Governor General's Awards.

Il pleuvait des oiseaux was selected for the 2013 edition of Le Combat des livres, where it was championed by dancer and broadcaster Geneviève Guérard. And the Birds Rained Down will be defended by Martha Wainwright in the 2015 edition of Canada Reads.

Reviews

[Greta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thankfully short, and somewhat surprising, Jocelyne Saucier's short novel is sincerely sad.

[Steve R · Rating 2 out of 5]

Contains spoilers.

Seemingly the most autobiographical of all of Saucier's novels, this work deals with the only child - a girl - of a couple whose marriage dissolves when the husband abruptly abandons his wife and daughter. Beginning with an extended description of the mother and daughter's menstrual cycles, it proceeds to the tragic life of her aunt who suffers from her 'dirty pig' of a husband, but they inexplicably falls apart when he dies. Problems are faced by the daughter upon her realizing that her parents actually had to have had sex in order to bring about her birth. Even more frightening, she must face the fact that since they have a double bed, they are still doing so despite the fact, which the mother has told her, that she cannot have any more children. She thus develops a serious psychological eating disorder which leads to severe weight loss until the eventual purchase of twin beds allays her discomfort and allows her to return to what passes for her as normalcy. About this time, the father's departure occurs for causes which are never explained. The daughter's propensity to daydream is extensively described, involving such fantasies as being a sidekick for Robin Hood or the true heir to the British throne. The mother's psyche devolves into a state in which she can no longer leave the house, forcing the now adult daughter - who has been semi-forced by her mother to get her own apartment, to do all her shopping and banking. The mother develops a serious cause of incontinence, which requires daily laundry operations and excessive use of air freshener sprays. The mother receives monthly money orders, presumably from the absconded husband. A mysterious male figure approaches the daughter while she sits on park benches, and describes his life as an assistant dog breeder. He also tells her how to deal with her mother, and mentions the money orders. Still, the daughter never acknowledges that this figure could be her father. One day, while he follows her, she leads him to a cliff and pushes him off the edge. The money orders then stop, but still no connection between her murderous action and this financial result is recognized. Neither the mother nor the daughter seem capable of discussing the new financial circumstances they now face. Wordlessly, a new system of leaving pertinent papers out to be dealt with by the other evolves, and this very strange couple seem to have found a manner to deal with the reality of their lives which at so many times seemed so capable of overwhelming them. Finally, at the very end, the possibility of a murder charge is alluded to by the daughter. Uniformly oppressive in atmosphere and tone, this novel describes a very disturbing sense of psychological pressure of those who feel that life is one of seemingly unrelenting challenges to be survived rather than an active, creative vista of individual expression. Acted upon more than actors i the plays of their own lives, the poor characters of both the mother and daughter seem unremittingly sad and pathetic. his work has none of the magical dynamism of the unique individuals who populate all her other novels, but does explain the rather negative impression one gets of father figures in all of them. Good, but disturbing.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a strange little book, narrated entirely in first person by a young woman who is either one of the most sheltered and dominated (by her mother) persons you could imagine, or a schizophrenic, or maybe both. For those who care to try to figure out what has really happened and is happening, there are bread crumbs aplenty, but to do so would either require re-readings or copious note-taking during the first go-round. Some of the passages, especially early on, are tough sledding because of the mother's obsessiveness and...well, weirdness. Caveat emptor.

[Caroline Gagnon · Rating 2 out of 5]

C’était un peu perturbant comme roman. J’ai l’impression que les personnages étaient dans une bulle complètement déconnectée de la réalité, mais que la narratrice présentait leur situation comme si c’était normal et attachant… Aussi, je n’ai pas tellement compris pourquoi le père était parti??

Pour moi le point positif de ce roman c’est la plume de Jocelyne Saucier qui, malgré le sujet bizarre, est fluide et élégante.

[France Lavoie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Franchement décue par ce livre d'une autrice connue pour le succès de "Il pleuvait des oiseaux". Une ambiance triste, morbide, déprimante et bizarre. Ca donne envie d'aller jouer au soleil et de s'éloigner de cette existence terne que vit la narratrice. Un peu moins de 100 pages à lire en espérant une fin plus positive.

[Madeleine LeBlanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 étoiles.

[Mélanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐
J'ai beaucoup aimé la première moitié du livre.

[Émilie Bellavance-Nadeau]

J'ai beaucoup aimé le style de l'autrice. L'histoire est troublante, mais captivante.
Les personnages sont très bien construits et nous donnent envie de connaître la solution à l'intrigue. Un roman très original !

[Marie-France Leclerc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked it, but not as much as the two others I’ve read. This is her first novel, you can see the potentially. Still like her as an author and can’t wait to read more of her books.