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Le Christ obèse(The Party Wall)
328 pages | Novembre 2014
7500 copies sold!
Catherine Leroux’s The Party Wall shifts between and ties together stories about pairs joined in surprising ways. A woman learns that she may not be the biological mother of her own son despite having given birth to him; a brother and sister unite, as their mother dies, to search for their long-lost father; two young sisters take a detour home, unaware of the tragedy that awaits; and a political couple—when the husband accedes to power in a post-apocalyptic future state—is shaken by the revelation of their own shared, if equally unknown, history.
Lyrical, intelligent, and profound, The Party Wall is luminously human, a surreally unforgettable journey through the barriers that can both separate us and bring us together.
Optioned by audiovisual producer
English (World)
Biblioasis
France
Denoël
Publishers Weekly
‘…superbly crafted…Leroux skillfully reveals the inner worlds of her achingly human characters and the intricate bonds that connect them to each other. Images from this beautiful and moving book will haunt readers.’
Montreal Gazette
‘A revelation… an emotionally affecting, intellectually stimulating examination of separation and connection.’
‘Catherine Leroux writes with a startling grace. Her vision is clear-eyed and true, her heart is as big as sky and bay. The Party Wall’s mothers, orphans, Olympians and prime ministers seem like living, breathing people. And they reveal, beat by beat, that the things that divide us also knit us together’
The Globe and Mail
‘Initially, The Party Wall reads like a collection of linked stories; past the halfway mark, however, it reveals itself as something more intricate and cumulative… A surprising, carefully structured novel that for English readers will bring to mind David Mitchell, this feels much more expansive than its page count.’
Montreal Review of Books
‘…an intoxicating blend of the familiar and the uncanny, brilliantly executed…The Party Wall has the narrative force of a Hollywood film, while also offering richly executed portraits of the characters’ interior lives.’
Winnipeg Review
‘…full of insightful passages, dynamic characters and surprising situations. The Party Wall is a searching investigation of familial ties of biology and biography and the complex ways in which self-discovery affects our relationships.’
Flying Books
‘[T]his book’s sensibility is as unique as the situations Catherine Leroux creates for her characters … The pacing is so subtle, the leaps and links among the storylines so imaginative, it’s unlike anything I’ve read in a long time.’
Le Devoir
‘With this ambitious novel, both in its theme and in its architecture, Catherine Leroux once again demonstrates her strong and penetrating writing.’