Anyone else a fan of Mordecai Richler? He was a local author here in Montréal, and also a newspaper columnist who hilariously lampooned our ridiculous language laws, and the corruption of Québec politics. Also, he was almost killed by my brother.*
I think his absolute best novel was his last one, "Barney's Version". It was actually made into a film last year, which I haven't yet seen. A large part of the appeal is the narrative style of the book, which is in the form of Barney's diary, where he gives his version of an unsolved crime. As time goes on, he is coping with the onset of Alzheimer's, and at times the narrative is incoherent. A brilliant touch is the addition of footnotes by Barney's son, whom Barney evidently considers to be a pompous twit, and doesn't hold back in the narrative
By turns hilarious and poignant, Richler's last novel was, in my opinion, his very best. In the end, a lifetime of smoking and heavy drinking finally did what my brother failed to do.
So if you want to check out some great Canadian literature, "Barney's Version" by Mordecai Richler is where it's at.
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* Long story - he used to go around town in a sort of haze without really looking where he was going, and my brother had a student job driving a flower-delivery truck at the time, and one day, their paths crossed. Considering how incredibly bad Montréal drivers are, I'm quite sure that this was only one of Richler's many brushes with death.