What do you think?
Rate this book
La Rivière des morts
Dans un marécage hors du temps et de l'espace, deux êtres improbables, Valtar et Sirwala, s'aiment d'un amour éternel. Or, à Ville Mont-Royal, dans les années soixante, Laura Fraser, une adolescente solitaire qui s'est découvert des affinités avec H. P. Lovecraft, le fameux écrivain de fantastique de Providence, au Rhode Island, réussit à établir un éphémère contact avec eux.
Ce n'est qu'un demi-siècle plus tard, à l'aube du nouveau millénaire et alors qu'elle est retraitée depuis peu, que Laura reprendra contact bien malgré elle avec Valtar et Sirwala, ces êtres étranges qu'elle avait toujours crus issus de son imagination.
Mais c'est seulement à partir du moment où elle acceptera la réalité magique de leur existence que Laura découvrira sa réelle destinée, qui sera autrement exaltante que les rêveries de son enfance et le morne conformisme de sa vie active...
La Rivière des morts : une histoire comme vous n'en avez jamais lue, la réalité comme vous ne l'avez jamais perçue !
Ce n'est qu'un demi-siècle plus tard, à l'aube du nouveau millénaire et alors qu'elle est retraitée depuis peu, que Laura reprendra contact bien malgré elle avec Valtar et Sirwala, ces êtres étranges qu'elle avait toujours crus issus de son imagination.
Mais c'est seulement à partir du moment où elle acceptera la réalité magique de leur existence que Laura découvrira sa réelle destinée, qui sera autrement exaltante que les rêveries de son enfance et le morne conformisme de sa vie active...
La Rivière des morts : une histoire comme vous n'en avez jamais lue, la réalité comme vous ne l'avez jamais perçue !
366 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
10 people want to read
About the author
Esther Rochon
32 booksEsther Rochon est venue tôt à l'écriture puisqu'en 1964, âgée d'à peine seize ans, elle obtenait, ex aequo avec Michel Tremblay, le Premier Prix, section Contes, du concours des Jeunes Auteurs de Radio-Canada.
Depuis, elle a publié de nombreux ouvrages qui lui ont valu, entre autres, trois fois le Grand Prix de la science-fiction et du fantastique québécois.
Née à Québec, habitant Montréal depuis fort longtemps, Esther Rochon a fait des études supérieures en mathématiques tout en devenant une fervente adepte de la philosophie bouddhiste.
Depuis, elle a publié de nombreux ouvrages qui lui ont valu, entre autres, trois fois le Grand Prix de la science-fiction et du fantastique québécois.
Née à Québec, habitant Montréal depuis fort longtemps, Esther Rochon a fait des études supérieures en mathématiques tout en devenant une fervente adepte de la philosophie bouddhiste.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 1, 2015
It's tough for me to review this novel properly. My French isn't good enough yet to have truly understood the majority of what I read here--and it didn't help either that certain aspects of Mme. Rochon's style here made it difficult for me to follow the action.
One, I did at least figure out that the book's divided into a section involving protagonist Laura Fraser as a young girl, and a section involving her as an older woman (post-menopausal? Again, my French isn't that solid yet, so I wasn't able to nail that down for sure). It baffled me that the book changed tenses between these two sections, from first person in the earlier part to third in the latter. That was a baffling decision, one beyond my meager French to properly understand; it may well have made much more sense to Quebecois SF/F readers, I don't know.
Two, in both sections, there was a certain distinct detachment to the action. In the first part, Laura tells the reader a lot of her history, along the lines of "this happened to me" and "I felt such-and-such a way", with very little of what was going on actually played out directly. The same held true in the second part, although at least there, there were a few more scenes of direct interaction between Laura and other characters, notably Valtar and Sirwala. This made it a lot harder for me to feel engaged by any of the characters.
Three, instead of getting much in the way of action and character dialogue played out directly, we get a lot of lengthy paragraphs of Laura being introspective about assorted things that trouble her as a girl (mostly "the French speakers think I'm weird because I have an English name, and the English speakers think I'm weird because I speak with a French accent, and I HATE ALL OF THEM and I'm going to go dream about being a spider now"), and later, assorted things that trouble her as an adult. Later, when she does actually have direct interaction with other characters (mostly Valtar), each paragraph of dialogue is likewise very long. On the one hand, I regret that my French was not up to the task of following much of this, because I'm certain I'd have engaged with Laura as a character much more if I could actually understand most of what the text was saying. On the other hand, even as an Anglophone reader who's barely able to dip her toes into Quebecois SF/F so far, I kept feeling like the lengthy, expository nature of the dialogue was forced. I'd be really curious to know if it reads that way to Quebecois readers as well, or if this is just a matter of my being a beginner at French.
So far, the one other Quebecois SF/F novel I've successfully read was significantly different stylistically, and targeted for younger readers as well--so it was much easier for me to follow. This one, I'll straight-up admit, was a hard slog. So for now I'm going to have to give it two stars. But I'll want to try it again later, as my French improves, and see whether my reading experience is different.
One, I did at least figure out that the book's divided into a section involving protagonist Laura Fraser as a young girl, and a section involving her as an older woman (post-menopausal? Again, my French isn't that solid yet, so I wasn't able to nail that down for sure). It baffled me that the book changed tenses between these two sections, from first person in the earlier part to third in the latter. That was a baffling decision, one beyond my meager French to properly understand; it may well have made much more sense to Quebecois SF/F readers, I don't know.
Two, in both sections, there was a certain distinct detachment to the action. In the first part, Laura tells the reader a lot of her history, along the lines of "this happened to me" and "I felt such-and-such a way", with very little of what was going on actually played out directly. The same held true in the second part, although at least there, there were a few more scenes of direct interaction between Laura and other characters, notably Valtar and Sirwala. This made it a lot harder for me to feel engaged by any of the characters.
Three, instead of getting much in the way of action and character dialogue played out directly, we get a lot of lengthy paragraphs of Laura being introspective about assorted things that trouble her as a girl (mostly "the French speakers think I'm weird because I have an English name, and the English speakers think I'm weird because I speak with a French accent, and I HATE ALL OF THEM and I'm going to go dream about being a spider now"), and later, assorted things that trouble her as an adult. Later, when she does actually have direct interaction with other characters (mostly Valtar), each paragraph of dialogue is likewise very long. On the one hand, I regret that my French was not up to the task of following much of this, because I'm certain I'd have engaged with Laura as a character much more if I could actually understand most of what the text was saying. On the other hand, even as an Anglophone reader who's barely able to dip her toes into Quebecois SF/F so far, I kept feeling like the lengthy, expository nature of the dialogue was forced. I'd be really curious to know if it reads that way to Quebecois readers as well, or if this is just a matter of my being a beginner at French.
So far, the one other Quebecois SF/F novel I've successfully read was significantly different stylistically, and targeted for younger readers as well--so it was much easier for me to follow. This one, I'll straight-up admit, was a hard slog. So for now I'm going to have to give it two stars. But I'll want to try it again later, as my French improves, and see whether my reading experience is different.
April 1, 2010
Un livre qui fait découvrir un quartier de Cotes des Neige et Ville Mont-Royal. J'ai eu la chance de parcourir ces quartiers avec l'auteure!
Je suis probablement la seule lectrice à avoir *vu* les demeures où se déroulent l'histoire, et les lieux qui ont inspiré Esther Rochon dans sa grande quête de justesse.
Pour Esther, il n'y a pas de grand ou de laideur, l'universest plein de lieux négligés ou secrets, parcouru par la grande rivière de la conscience. Une rivière en danger...
À lire pour un coup de nostalgie, ou le bizarre, le sordide et le merveilleux se fondent en une "boue" régénératrice!
Je suis probablement la seule lectrice à avoir *vu* les demeures où se déroulent l'histoire, et les lieux qui ont inspiré Esther Rochon dans sa grande quête de justesse.
Pour Esther, il n'y a pas de grand ou de laideur, l'universest plein de lieux négligés ou secrets, parcouru par la grande rivière de la conscience. Une rivière en danger...
À lire pour un coup de nostalgie, ou le bizarre, le sordide et le merveilleux se fondent en une "boue" régénératrice!
December 31, 2013
I bought this in a second hand store in Montreal. It said "Lovecraft" on the cover, so it had to be good right? Well, as it turned out it was more of a teen angst novel, until it turned into an old-age angst novel. I didn't empathise with the characters, and I didn't worry about what was going to happen because I knew it would be nothing much anyway.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews