- Paperback: 328 pages
- Publisher: Macfarlane Walter & Ross (April 24 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1551990814
- ISBN-13: 978-1551990811
- Product Dimensions: 15.6 x 2.3 x 23.4 cm
- Shipping Weight: 553 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #278,535 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
"…a thorough, thoroughly entertaining Ski-Doo ride through [Quebec's] economy, language, climate, and popular and spiritual culture."
–Quill & Quire
From the Hardcover edition.
–Quill & Quire
From the Hardcover edition.
Book Description
Winner of the 2000 Quebec Writers' Federation First Book Award and the Mavis Gallant Prize for Nonfiction
A hip, enlightening portrait of a place most Canadians find baffling: Quebec without the politics.
Why do three million Quebecers tune in the same absurd sitcom every week? How did they get the nickname "pepsis"? Why does Celine Dion put on a down-home accent when she returns to her home province?
For referendum-weary English Canadians, Quebec is an enigma wrapped in a yawn. Taras Grescoe treats the province as an exotic destination. He takes readers onto the shuffleboard courts of Florida, to a francophone country-and-western festival in rural Mauricie, to the café tables of expatriate Quebecers in Paris. He deconstructs a Montreal Canadiens hockey game, explores the stunning diversity of Quebec’s newspapers, and dismantles Bombardier snowmobiles. En route, he meets Mohawk Warriors, Yiddish-speaking French Canadians, and the UFO-obsessed followers of Raël.
Informed and incisive, Sacré Blues explores the heart of contemporary Quebec: its love-hate relationship with France and the United States; the dance, theatre, and literary productions celebrated in Europe but little known here; its fears about distinctness on an increasingly uniform continent. Along the way we meet such Quebec residents as the playwright Michel Tremblay and the novelist Neil Bissoondath, Teleglobe CEO Charles Sirois and the arctic explorer Bernard Voyer, the foul-mouthed columnist Pierre Foglia and the esteemed philosopher Charles Taylor.
Sacré Blues serves up a spicy, irreverent, inside view of this unique and little-known part of North America. With side orders of poutine, maple syrup, and Vachon snack cakes. And scarcely a mention of Lucien Bouchard.
From the Hardcover edition.
A hip, enlightening portrait of a place most Canadians find baffling: Quebec without the politics.
Why do three million Quebecers tune in the same absurd sitcom every week? How did they get the nickname "pepsis"? Why does Celine Dion put on a down-home accent when she returns to her home province?
For referendum-weary English Canadians, Quebec is an enigma wrapped in a yawn. Taras Grescoe treats the province as an exotic destination. He takes readers onto the shuffleboard courts of Florida, to a francophone country-and-western festival in rural Mauricie, to the café tables of expatriate Quebecers in Paris. He deconstructs a Montreal Canadiens hockey game, explores the stunning diversity of Quebec’s newspapers, and dismantles Bombardier snowmobiles. En route, he meets Mohawk Warriors, Yiddish-speaking French Canadians, and the UFO-obsessed followers of Raël.
Informed and incisive, Sacré Blues explores the heart of contemporary Quebec: its love-hate relationship with France and the United States; the dance, theatre, and literary productions celebrated in Europe but little known here; its fears about distinctness on an increasingly uniform continent. Along the way we meet such Quebec residents as the playwright Michel Tremblay and the novelist Neil Bissoondath, Teleglobe CEO Charles Sirois and the arctic explorer Bernard Voyer, the foul-mouthed columnist Pierre Foglia and the esteemed philosopher Charles Taylor.
Sacré Blues serves up a spicy, irreverent, inside view of this unique and little-known part of North America. With side orders of poutine, maple syrup, and Vachon snack cakes. And scarcely a mention of Lucien Bouchard.
From the Hardcover edition.
Inside This Book
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
The jacket is misleading,
By
This review is from: Sacre Blues: An Unsentimental Journey Through Quebec (Paperback)
The library had the book listed under "humour". That may be fine for those who do not live here, who did not go through through the worst of separatism, The FLQ (really fun bunch!) the language police who decided if your french was good enough to be employed. I went through this insane dance and had to laugh when Josh Freed discussed the topic of Quebec. This book is pedantic, detailed like any history book, informative but funny? My attention wandered after two chapters. Frustration set in as I checked the jacket once more for comments about the book. According to them, this is not the book I was holding! I brought it back to the library today, thankful that I had not bought it!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ah, so that's why...,
This review is from: Sacre Blues: An Unsentimental Journey Through Quebec (Paperback)
Don't you wish there were more books like these out there?! As an Ontarian, I was curious to know what the province of Quebec was all about (apart from all the stereotypes). We know that it has dished out poutine, Celine Dion and Cirque du Soleil, but there had to be more to it than that... Taras has brilliantly explained the nuances of what makes a Quebecker (and Quebec) tick, and it makes for a brilliant read- lots of "ah-ha! moments). From "Moving Day", to "joual", to bringing your own wine to dine out, this will be my handbook on my next trip to Quebec.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Sacre Blues: An Unsentimental Journey Through Quebec (Hardcover)
I've never lived in Quebec - only visited briefly several times. I've always believed Quebec is a very different province from the rest but could never quite explain it to my fellow anglophones any better than my superficial experiences there. The author does an amazing job in explaining the depth of Quebec's culture and what makes it truely unique within Canada. It's not excessively historical or political but offers enough background on most aspects of the Quebecois to help the rest of us gain a better understanding.
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