Mordecai Richler Livres

“(…) c'est mon histoire, la seule que j'aie, alors je la raconterai comme il me plaît, et pas autrement(…) je suis parfaitement en droit de divaguer”. Et il ne s'en prive pas, Barney Panofsky. À 67 ans, aux prises avec une mémoire défaillante et un corps délabré, il plonge “dans cette pagaille” que fut sa vie pour répondre “aux venimeuses calomnies” colportées dans l'autobiographie d'un ami de jeunesse. “Baroudeur aigri”, Barney, né dans le quartier juif et pauvre de Montréal – comme Mordecai Richler – est devenu riche en produisant de la “bouillabaisse télévisuelle”. Au cours de ses insomnies, il se rappelle ses années de jeunesse à Paris, son premier mariage avec une poétesse devenue, après son suicide, une icône féministe, son retour à Montréal où il épouse une “princesse juive”, sa rencontre avec Miriam qui sera la femme de sa vie, la mère de ses trois enfants et qu'il perdra par sa très grande faute. Sans oublier l'énigme qui plane sur tout le roman, soit la disparition de son meilleur ami dans des circonstances troubles. Dans cet ultime roman, qui a remporté le prix Giller, Mordecai Richler, disparu en 2001, ressasse ses obsessions de toujours : le nationalisme québécois, l'arrivisme de certains de ses coreligionnaires, la rectitude politique des Wasps. Il exalte aussi la littérature, le hockey, les virées avec les copains, l'amour fou et l'émerveillement devant ses enfants. Cynique, démuni devant le déclin annoncé, le “vieux grincheux” manie l'autodérision avec un art consommé et crée un personnage aussi insupportable qu'attachant Il n'est malheureusement pas venu à l'esprit du traducteur parisien qu'en français, street se dit rue et story , histoire. La traduction, truffée de “Crescent Street”, “Sherbrooke Street West” et autres incongruités, frôle par moments le ridicule. -- Monique Roy

Even Barney Panofsky's friends tend to agree that he is 'a wife-abuser, an intellectual fraud, a purveyor of pap, a drunk with a penchant for violence and probably a murderer'.

From his youthful days as a poolroom hustler, playing truant from Baron Byng High School, Mordecai Richler remained a snooker devotee. Here, in his inimitable style, he delves into that eccentric world with pith and perception. Outrageously funny, passionate and thoroughly researched on snooker tables from Montreal to Dublin, On Snooker takes us on an entertaining journey through the story and world of snooker, and introduces us to the game’s great players and bad boy champions. It is a book that lovers of great sports writing will cherish, from a masterful storyteller.

Since the age of 11 Moses Berger has been obsessed withthe Gursky clan, and insanely wealthy, profoundly seductive family of Jewish-Canadian descent. Now a 52-year-old alcoholic biographer, Berger is desperately trying to chronicle the stories of their lives, especially that of the mysterious Solomon Gursky, who may or may not have died in a plane crash.

"Among the wonders of St. Urbain, our St. Urbain, there was a man who ran for alderman on a one-plank platform - provincial speed cops were anti-Semites. There was a semi-pro whore, Cross-Eyed Yetta, and a gifted cripple, Pomerantz, who had a poem published in "transition" before he shriveled and died at the age of twenty-seven. A boxer who once made the "Ring" magazine ratings. Lazar of Best Grade Fruit who raked in twenty-five hundred dollars for being knocked down by a No. 43 streetcar. A woman who actually called herself a divorcee. A man, A.D.'s father, who was bad luck to have in your house. And more, many more."

At just six years old, Jacob Two-Two finds himself imprisoned by The Hooded Fang for the grave offense of insulting an adult. This whimsical tale explores themes of childhood innocence, the absurdity of adult authority, and the power of imagination as Jacob navigates his bizarre predicament. His adventure unfolds in a fantastical world where he must confront challenges and outsmart his captor, ultimately highlighting the resilience and creativity of a young mind facing unjust punishment.

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz is the novel that established Mordecai Richler as one of the world’s best comic writers. Growing up in the heart of Montreal’s Jewish ghetto, Duddy Kravitz is obsessed with his grandfather’s saying, “A man without land is nothing.” In his relentless pursuit of property and his drive to become a somebody, he will wheel and deal, he will swindle and forge, he will even try making movies. And in spite of the setbacks he suffers, the sacrifices he must make along the way, Duddy never loses faith that his dream is worth the price he must pay. This blistering satire traces the eventful coming-of-age of a cynical dreamer. Amoral, inventive, ruthless, and scheming, Duddy Kravitz is one of the most magnetic anti-heroes in literature, a man who learns the hard way that dreams are never exactly what they seem, even when they do come true. From the Trade Paperback edition.

A humorous look at Quebec's movement toward independence from Canada, remarking upon the Draconian language laws imposed on English-speaking Quebecois, the economic problems posed by the movement, and the troubles with blind nationalism.