Heartbreaks Along the Road

Roch Carrier's book is a big book, with a lot going on inside. I suppose it could be best called a satire of life in Quebec, probably just before the Quiet Revolution. The principal foci are social, political, and religious life, which, when I think about it, constitutes life in general in that era. The omnipresent corruption of "the Right Party", led by "Le Chef" touches pretty much every one of the myriad characters in the fictional village of Saint-Toussaint-des-Saints. Come election time, everyone who votes for the Right Party gets a "strippa road" or some other petty favour; anyone who votes for or otherwise supports the "communist Opposition" can expect to be a pariah from the electoral largesse. Tragedy abounds, comedy lurks in the oddest of places (a deep-fried saint, among others), and all through the tale reverberates with the spirit of the era.

The story is not as bleak as Last Days of Montreal, but ranges further and is more subtle in its critique. This book took me longer to read than normal, and I'm glad for it. A very good book.