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The Party Wall
The Party Wall | Catherine Leroux
8 posts | 5 read | 14 to read
Longlisted for the 2016 Giller Prize Selected for Indies Introduce Summer/Fall 2016 Catherine Leroux's first novel, translated into English brilliantly by Lazer Lederhendler, ties together stories about siblings joined in surprising ways. A woman learns that she absorbed her twin sister's body in the womb and that she has two sets of DNA; a girl in the deep South pushes her sister out of the way of a speeding train, losing her legs; and a political couple learn that they are non-identical twins separated at birth. The Party Wall establishes Leroux as one of North America's most intelligent and innovative young authors. Catherine Leroux was born in 1979 in Montreal, Quebec, where she continues to live and write.
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Lindy
The Party Wall | Catherine Leroux
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Interconnected short stories about pairs of siblings with surprising connections within & between each story. Dry humour, tragedy, & occasional fantastical elements. Set in a future North America, this novel focuses more on what ifs & cultural situations than in depth character development. I found the GG award winning translation by Lazer Lederhendler supremely satisfying. #CanadianAuthor

Lindy @LiteraryHoarderPenny Have you read this? I was late to the party. I was reminded of Heather O‘Neill‘s style. (edited) 3mo
LiteraryHoarderPenny @Lindy it sits on my shelf but unread! Sounds like I need to get to it soon!! 3mo
31 likes3 stack adds3 comments
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Lindy
The Party Wall | Catherine Leroux
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An island with too many bridges is no longer an island.

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review
CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian
The Party Wall | Catherine Leroux
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Mehso-so

Fascinating concepts (a pair of twins is adopted separately and unknowingly end up marrying each other; a mother discovers she doesn't have the same DNA as the son she gave birth to) but this never really grabbed me. I think the characterization is lacking. The voice felt cold and removed. The author has a background in journalism and it shows; this just didn't feel like *fiction*. Indeed her note says these situations are taken from real life.

CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian I also was puzzled by the choice to break up what are essentially short stories with tenuous connections to each other, intersperse them, and call them a novel instead of just presenting them whole and calling this what it is, a short story collection. It made for confusing reading for me and didn't add anything. 7y
29 likes1 comment
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CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian
The Party Wall | Catherine Leroux
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"The end of a life is never a redemption, because we die as we have lived. Absurdly and untruthfully." #CanLit

dixi_e I barely started this but never made it simply because .... books! There are so many. But I loved the concept of the first story and the writing was wonderful. 7y
Lindy Someday I hope to read this.... #toweringTBR 7y
27 likes2 comments
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CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian
The Party Wall | Catherine Leroux
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Same book, same cafe, different day, different drink. So far this book is intriguing... #CanLit #BooksInTranslation #BookAndABeverage #Riotgrams

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CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian
The Party Wall | Catherine Leroux
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Tea and a book before work! #CanLit #Riotgrams Day 10 #BookAndABeverage

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CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian
The Party Wall | Catherine Leroux
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Here's hoping next month's book club pick at the library where I work is better than the last one (ugh, Julian Barnes's Noise of Time)! I have higher hopes for this book since it's a) by a Quebecoise Francophone woman writer and b) it sounds delightfully weird. #CanLit

30 likes1 stack add
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shawnmooney
The Party Wall | Catherine Leroux
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Oh oh oh oh - a newly translated novel from Quebec that "has a continental scope: it touches down in Montreal, Ottawa, Tijuana, San Francisco, rural Saskatchewan and coastal New Brunswick, but arguably its linchpin is Savannah."

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/review-cather...

saresmoore Ooh, it sounds lovely! 8y
Sue Yes please! 8y
LeahBergen I can't wait for your quotes! 💗 8y
34 likes6 stack adds3 comments