Most inventively, Tremblay sets the same character, Albertine, at five distinc periods of her life. Thus, five actresses will each play Albertine at a certain age and react with one another. This idea alone is worth the price, but has genuine directions takes place and crafted acting moves-in, the hidden textual pearls of wisdom will remind you that the ones who think only Shakespear had genius are trully insignificant snobs. (and I taught they were all guillotined in 1789. Best of all, the text and ideas brought forward are as universal as can be. Glenn St-Yves

It was 1927; John Glassco was 17 when he left Montreal to go to Paris with the intention of becoming a famous writer. He kept a journal of his life there for the next five years. He was convinced he was a genius who would one day produce a masterpiece. The irony is that the masterpiece turned out to be these memoirs edited and published when he was 59.

John Glassco, in this memoir, shows a retrospective view of what his four-year life in Paris has been from a hospital room in Montreal, where he is convalescent with tuberculosis. The memoir begins in 1927 when Glassco decides to drop out of McGill University in Montreal, against his family's wish, to go to Paris and write Surrealist poetry. He is followed there by his great friend Graeme Taylor. Soon, he will give up the idea of writing poetry because the bohemian life he leads in Paris is far too interesting to not be told. The activity of the Parisian "rive gauche" is described in detail: the cafés, the social gatherings, the parties at the houses of intellectuals and artists, etc. This life reminds us of Hemingway's description of Paris in "The Sun also Rises". After several love-affairs in which his struggles with his sexual identity are latent, he ends up the island of Mallorca, in Spain, where he has followed Mrs. Quayle, the woman whom he believes to be in love with. But the greatest value of Glassco's memoir is the gallery of famous artists he talks about whom he actually met while he was in Paris. Hemingway himself, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Robert Desnos, Emma Goldman and Gertrude Stein, are all depicted in his memoirs. We get to know facts about their lives and personal characters and he manages to present them to us in a different light. We should also bare in mind that this memoir reveals an important factor in relation to the evolution of Canadian Literature. The 1920s were a time when young Canadian poets were struggling to leave behind the Victorian conventions of poetry. The themes which had prevailed up until then such as nature or national disctinctiveness were becoming obsolete because they wanted to let Canadian Literature enter the world of Modernism.

I first read this 25 years ago, and loved it. It is a classic. Probably the best memoir of Paris in the 20s.

I would rate the book slightly higher. Four and a half stars is closer to the actual mark I would give it, but between "perfect" (five stars) and "great" I would say the book is great (four stars). I just finished this book today in French class; each member of the class each read a different part. It is not a book I would pick for myself, but now that I have read it, I am glad it was in the itinerary. Tremblay's style of writing is keen and neat; he intersperses tragedy with comedy cleverly and without seeming to do so deliberately. He is able to make the characters sound real and each has their own manner of speaking. It seems like they are actually having a conversation that isn't scripted like a movie; the French the characters use is slangy and familiar, leaning toward the absurd at times. It is a humorous absurd though; it makes you laugh as well as think about the nuances of speech. Some people say that French books are boring; I've seen books in French that seem to have a more interesting story than this one. That is only at first glance. This story is deeper and more human, thus it is universal. I recommend this book to anyone who can read French, and I am surprised that I am the first to review this book. It is well-written and saturated with character and personality. It's a good example of what you should be looking for if you are broadening your horizons and are reading more French.

this is a novel which is a good example of how not to write one. it is about a dandy tanhauser who visits the goddess venus and and his exploits in her realm.

The story focuses on one Tannhauser's sexual frolics in the abode of the goddess Venus.The erotica is mostly implied or subtle which makes this book all the more fascinating,instead of repulsive as some works of erotica are.All in all,a must buy for collectors of erotica and a vintage literary gem.

This erotic fiction is a very fine piece of work.For the collector of erotica this book is a must buy.The story focuses on one Tannhauser's sexual frolics in the abode of the goddess Venus.The erotica is mostly implied or subtle, which makes the book all the more fascinating instead of disgusting as some works of erotica are.All in all,a vintage literary gem.