[.ca] Black Bird (ISBN 0676975283)

Amazon.ca:
Black Bird, Michel Basilières's superb first novel, tries to be the One Hundred Years of Solitude of Quebec's October Crisis, and, by and large, it fulfills this lofty ambition. Basilières invites his readers into the home of Montreal's Desouche family, an eccentric household that harbours a terrorist, a handful of grave-robbers, two official languages, a crow, a ghost, and a matriarch in a coma. Once the story has settled comfortably into this little ménage, things begin to get weird. It begins with an explosion, when Marie Desouche inadvertently murders her Anglophone maternal grandfather by bombing a popular smoked-meat restaurant. This tragedy inaugurates a very bad year for the Desouches--these hapless and impoverished ne'er-do-wells become embroiled in all of Quebec's troubles, from the premier's drunk-driving mishap to the John Cross murder. Along the way, Basilières shoots sly winks at Voltaire, Stevenson, Mary Shelley, and Bulgakov (Woland from The Master and Margarita makes a cameo appearance as a theatrical impresario). This tale of Quebec's peoples and politics is a brutally harsh one; while Basilières occasionally allows himself to pity his characters, Black Bird has more in common with Marie-Claire Blais's scathing early novels (such as Dürer's Angel) than the love-redeemed Montreal of Michel Tremblay's The Fat Woman Next Door Is Pregnant. Aside from his habit of hectoring his readers with grave generalizations, Basilières is a fantastic storyteller, and his talent and chutzpah allow him to get away with a depiction of Montreal that will likely incense those who love the city best. While it isn't a perfect novel, Basilières's debut is a stronger, more original book than most novelists ever manage to write. Malicious, riotous, and moving, Black Bird is an anarchic Two Solitudes for the 21st century. --Jack Illingworth

The best debut novel of 2003:
Crafting a delightfully macabre comic novel incorporating nods to PQ premier/homicidal motorist Rene Levesque, faith healer Brother Andre, dastardly doctor Ewan Cameron (of "In the Sleep Room" fame) and the October Crisis is not an easy task, but Michel Basilieres pulls it off with great aplomb. It's hard to see how Basilieres will top this stunning first novel, but until he does "Black Bird" provides much to entertain the erudite reader, and should particularly amuse those familiar with Montreal's geography and history. Highly recommended.

Boring, clumsy, and hard to finish:
My title says it all. It looks promising at first, but it soon puts you to sleep.

Great Read:
An excellent read. Espeically for people who remember the past of Montreal. The book is full of great characters who will keep you entertained throughout. Recommended.

Good first novel, strong start, soft finish:
Basilieres' black comedy has a strong humorous start. The Grandfather, who is a career grave robber, hits the frost line while trying to dig up his latest corpse and proclaims the "season" (the grave robbing season) over. A visit to a funeral home to pay respects to his daughter-in-law's deceased father offers another brilliant comedic moment, on par with Stephen Leacock's famed visit to a bank. Unfortunately, the comedy gives way too often for Basilieres' personal exposition on separatism and French/English relations which seem artificially hammered into the narrative. In that, he offers little new in the debate. He also seems to play a bit too much with the history of the October Crisis and ends up confusing the reader familiar with Quebec history. The book starts off before the Laporte/Cross kidnappings. Basilieres' then introduces a PQ premier who you assume is Rene Levesque. Since Levesque took power during the late '70s, you assume the author has moved up the story in time. But apparently not. We're still back in 1970 although Robert Bourassa, leader of the Liberal party, was actually the premier at that time. Unfortunately, what started as a novel that promised a hard biting tact and a dark humor that holds nothing as sacred suddenly begins to look like an author pulling his punches. Kudos, however, to Basilieres' for working into the story the theft of Brother Andre's heart, which actually took place in 1973. Despite these short comings, it's a rather good read.

Better then some, not as good as others.:
I did not like Black Bird all that much. I found the characters to be a little underdeveloped which obviously effected the story line greatly. Even though there was some points in the book that were darkly humorous, I thought there needed to be more in order to compliment what the author was supposedly trying to communicate - if anything. I would personally not reccommend this book unless you have a few bucks to throw around and some time to loose. I am contimplating not even reading his second book in fear that it would be just like the first.