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Asylum
Alexis’s long-awaited second novel follows his award-winning Childhood .
Set in Ottawa during the Mulroney years, Asylum is André Alexis’s sweeping, edged-in-satire, yet deeply serious tale of intertwined lives and fortunes, of politics and vain ambition, of the building of a magnificent prison, of human fallibility, of the search for refuge, of the impossibility of love, and of finding home. Whether he is taking us into the machinations of a government office or into the mysterious workings of the human heart, Alexis is always alert to the humour and the profound truth of any situation. His cast of characters is eccentric and unforgettable, all recognizable in one way or another as aspects of ourselves or people we know well. At the centre of the story, which covers almost a decade, is a visionary project to build an ideal prison, a perfect metaphor for the purest aspects of artistic ambition and for all that is great and flawed in the world.
André Alexis is a true original, one of the most talented and astute writers writing in Canada today. This dazzling novel is filled with tragedy, dry wit, intellectual grist. It is playful, linguistically accomplished, and psychologically profound. Its yearnings constitute the highest level of human concerns and pursuits. Alexis has written The Great Canadian Novel, with a twist.
Set in Ottawa during the Mulroney years, Asylum is André Alexis’s sweeping, edged-in-satire, yet deeply serious tale of intertwined lives and fortunes, of politics and vain ambition, of the building of a magnificent prison, of human fallibility, of the search for refuge, of the impossibility of love, and of finding home. Whether he is taking us into the machinations of a government office or into the mysterious workings of the human heart, Alexis is always alert to the humour and the profound truth of any situation. His cast of characters is eccentric and unforgettable, all recognizable in one way or another as aspects of ourselves or people we know well. At the centre of the story, which covers almost a decade, is a visionary project to build an ideal prison, a perfect metaphor for the purest aspects of artistic ambition and for all that is great and flawed in the world.
André Alexis is a true original, one of the most talented and astute writers writing in Canada today. This dazzling novel is filled with tragedy, dry wit, intellectual grist. It is playful, linguistically accomplished, and psychologically profound. Its yearnings constitute the highest level of human concerns and pursuits. Alexis has written The Great Canadian Novel, with a twist.
496 pages, Paperback
First published April 22, 2008
5 people are currently reading
185 people want to read
About the author
André Alexis
21 books618 followersAndré Alexis was born in Trinidad and grew up in Canada. His most recent novel, Fifteen Dogs, won the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His debut novel, Childhood, won the Books in Canada First Novel Award, the Trillium Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His other books include Pastoral (nominated for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize), Asylum, Beauty and Sadness, Ingrid & the Wolf, Despair and Other Stories of Ottawa and Lambton, Kent and Other Vistas: A Play.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 23, 2018
It takes a great writer to make me enjoy a 480-page novel about several characters in the same city who have a variety of relationships or encounters (I hate this sort of story), not to mention a novel about Ottawa that has a good bit to do with Canadian politics (it’s the most Canadian novel I’ve ever read), and a novel where violence is done to a dog of the breed I have (this is not, however, a violent novel). Fortunately André Alexis, originally from Trinidad, is a great writer and this is what makes this novel such a great discovery.
The novel is characterized by a cockily playful, omniscient first-person narration, a serious intelligence, and prose and approaches that keep surprising. I didn’t feel that the content mattered all that much. I found it a fresh reading experience accomplished without experiment or showiness. It amazes me that such an amazing Black writer is so little known in the U.S. Do we only care about foreign writers whose foreignness is interesting, and black writers who write about race (race is a minor issue here)?
The novel is characterized by a cockily playful, omniscient first-person narration, a serious intelligence, and prose and approaches that keep surprising. I didn’t feel that the content mattered all that much. I found it a fresh reading experience accomplished without experiment or showiness. It amazes me that such an amazing Black writer is so little known in the U.S. Do we only care about foreign writers whose foreignness is interesting, and black writers who write about race (race is a minor issue here)?
September 27, 2010
Asylum was the third book on my 2010 CanLit journey. I was unaware of Andre Alexis before reading this and I was delightedly impressed with the quality of the writing and the scope of the story. The writer Alexis most reminded me of here was Henry James, if James were to come back to write a story about the interconnected lives of characters living in Ottawa in the 1980s. The eight main characters circle through the book, their stories told by a classically unreliable narrator (telling the tale from Italy in 2004). Alexis also uses the city of Ottawa as a vivid backdrop to the story - which is adequately summarized in the GoodReads page for the book - Ottawa the beautiful city of rivers, Ottawa the fetid city of often base political ambitions - in an intense effect. For Canadian readers there are some barbed and well-aimed bon mots about Canadian political life in the nation's capital but for others the book will stand alone as a well-crafted and ultimately engrossing tale.
November 9, 2025
4.5 Stars
A colourful mosaic of Canadian life unfolds on the Hill in Ottawa, where politicians, civil servants, and commoners move against a backdrop of 80s intellectualism and Cold War conservatism. Asylum is intricately patterned with faith, synchronicity, ego, and elusive justice, as sumptuously drawn characters undertake profound pilgrimages to the soul, capturing what it means to be completely human amid fractured animals.
The devout creative in me appreciated the parallels between Reinhart, the artist wrestling with an unlikely muse, alongside the soulless Paul Davis' evolutionary tussle to enlightenment. I also favoured the complimentary musical numbers peppered throughout, which I enjoyed in tandem, as I am compulsively wont to do.
Asylum was thought-provoking in a way I don’t often find in modern contemporary literature, which is a testament to Alexis’s prowess; a Canadian treasure. Quite the score for a book that has been waiting patiently for my attention since picking it up on clearance over a decade ago.
A colourful mosaic of Canadian life unfolds on the Hill in Ottawa, where politicians, civil servants, and commoners move against a backdrop of 80s intellectualism and Cold War conservatism. Asylum is intricately patterned with faith, synchronicity, ego, and elusive justice, as sumptuously drawn characters undertake profound pilgrimages to the soul, capturing what it means to be completely human amid fractured animals.
The devout creative in me appreciated the parallels between Reinhart, the artist wrestling with an unlikely muse, alongside the soulless Paul Davis' evolutionary tussle to enlightenment. I also favoured the complimentary musical numbers peppered throughout, which I enjoyed in tandem, as I am compulsively wont to do.
Asylum was thought-provoking in a way I don’t often find in modern contemporary literature, which is a testament to Alexis’s prowess; a Canadian treasure. Quite the score for a book that has been waiting patiently for my attention since picking it up on clearance over a decade ago.
May 12, 2024
Based on the description of this book (set in Ottawa during the Mulroney years) I thought this book would be a lot more politics based than it is. And while it certainly is political it reflects mostly on the morality of ordinary Ottawans during this time period even though yes, some of them are politicians and civil servants.
The book features 4 different and occasionally intersecting plotlines dealing with members of the so-called Fortnightly Club, men and women who gather once a fortnight to discuss serious books and themes and philosophy. Their individual plotlines reveal various moral issues.
Don't go into this expecting a huge plotty book. DO go in expecting Alexis' trademark reflections, loving descriptions of Ottawa, and wit.
The book features 4 different and occasionally intersecting plotlines dealing with members of the so-called Fortnightly Club, men and women who gather once a fortnight to discuss serious books and themes and philosophy. Their individual plotlines reveal various moral issues.
Don't go into this expecting a huge plotty book. DO go in expecting Alexis' trademark reflections, loving descriptions of Ottawa, and wit.
October 3, 2025
Similar to my experience reading Ishiguro’s The Unconsoled. Two extremely talented writers that tried to go big in novels which expanded on previously explored themes with mixed success.
Most of the hallmarks of Alexis’s work are here (minus his taste for the supernatural), but the narrative is just so sprawling I could never pin down exactly what I was reading. A richly tapestried, densely populated urban portrait a la Dickens? A philosophical statement about free will and fate? A series of love stories? And how to view the prison (Asylum) in relation to all this? At least Alexis is talented enough where I was never bored in 480 pages.
On a final note this was a beautiful love letter to Ottawa, a city I am now keen to visit.
Most of the hallmarks of Alexis’s work are here (minus his taste for the supernatural), but the narrative is just so sprawling I could never pin down exactly what I was reading. A richly tapestried, densely populated urban portrait a la Dickens? A philosophical statement about free will and fate? A series of love stories? And how to view the prison (Asylum) in relation to all this? At least Alexis is talented enough where I was never bored in 480 pages.
On a final note this was a beautiful love letter to Ottawa, a city I am now keen to visit.
March 22, 2018
I really liked this book. It is the third or fourth Alexis book I've read. I found it hard to get into the book at first, but realized that was due to the amount of personal issues it triggered in me. So I engaged with every aspect in which I wanted to respond. I underlined, wrote in margins, wrote notes and posted them to the pages. I just really embraced it. Made the read incredibly worth while.
April 13, 2018
I didn't know what to make of this book at first. It had been a while since I read a book that was driven purely by narrative rather than symbolism or intentional meaning. Since returning to Ottawa, I've spent a lot of time thinking about the character of this city and the narratives that we build about it and Asylum was such a good, insular, less-than-pure vision of the city of Ottawa that I hadn't seen before and, frankly, really thought was appropriate.
February 12, 2024
Picked this up because it was set in Ottawa. There were a variety of interesting story lines and characters, which made for fun reading. In the end I wasn't sure what it all amounted to... Had the feeling there were some deeper meanings/lessons that perhaps I wasn't picking up on or thinking carefully enough about.
September 21, 2017
It was really good writing, but I found the story did not engage me. I couldn't finish it.
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July 11, 2011I quite enjoyed this book. I enjoy books with characters whose lives seem to cross paths, and Andre Alexis did an excellent job with this book. It moved slowly enough so that one can remember who is who and their relationships with other, yet it moves fast enough so that you're not bored with it! I'd have to say my favourite storyline was Mary Stanley's. This was a wonderful summer read!
May 11, 2009
Witty read about politics and relationships.
September 28, 2015
It was boring for me, the only good thing about this book is the dry witty writing other than that I don't have anything positive to say about this book.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews