I’ve posted these elsewhere on social media, but I wanted to update the main blog posts on the site, and, to follow my long overdue Festival America recap, I’ve decided to put up some of major reviews that Dans la Cage received this fall/winter.
The first, above is, from French Rolling Stone, which is kind of ridiculous to think about, given that we don’t really have a pop culture, or arts magazine of that level of popularity in Canada. This is a snippit of it in French, and the magnificent auto-translation…
“Un roman noir bouleversant, violent et tragique. Un magistral coup de poing.”
“A black novel upsetting, violent and tragic. A masterful punch.”
– Phillipe Blanchet
The next one is from Le Monde, one of the major newspapers in France, and with a readership that also dwarfs just about everything we’ve ever had over here. This one was even more in-depth and positive, though, of course, all I’ve read is the robot-translated version. Which goes like this in French and then English…
“Un premier roman tout en cruauté et humanité. Kevin Hardcastle s’impose comme un écrivain des nerfs usés et de la chair abîmée, un pugiliste doublé d’un styliste et un peintre flamboyant du prolétariat rural.”
“A first novel all in cruelty and humanity. Kevin Hardcastle imposes itself as a writer of worn nerves and damaged flesh, a pugilist doubled from a stylist and a flamboyant painter of the rural proletariat.”
– Macha Séry
I would, of course, like to get somebody who is actually bilingual to read these and give me a proper translation that I can use for such things as this. Which I’ll get to, and should be able to figure out, considering that I know more than a few in this land that could quite easy do so.
This last one is from La Librairie Forum Besançon, a bookstore in France, where they take bookselling very seriously, and a lot of the tastemakers are actually booksellers who read widely and give visitors their take on what to get into next. It is the approach that North American publishers are started to come around to as well, to some extent, but it the way it’s done for a lot of emerging writers and lesser known books in France.
I had another of these early on from PAGE des libraires & Madeline Roth of Librairie L’Eau Vive (also very postive), so that’s nice. Here’s the Librarie Forum take…
“Un premier roman tout en subtilité, captivant et vraiment touchant. Une belle découverte.”
“A first novel all in subtlety, captivating and really touching. A beautiful discovery.”
– La Librairie Forum Besançon Staff
And you can find that whole review on their Facebook post, which I’ve linked to this line.
It’s been a little while now since I’ve heard any other news on Dans la Cage, but I’ll report back if anything else shows up. Thanks go to Carol Menville, one of my editors at Editions Albin Michel, for sending these reviews over, and a real live copy of the French Rolling Stone, with David Bowie on the cover, and a bunch of other fancy people in the same mag. Megathanks to the whole team there, and to main editor, and the dude who acquired this book and Debris (which is to be published next – date TBA), Francis Geffard. I’m sure his clout over there led to the novel getting up on anyone’s radar.
More to come, all. Take care and have a good one. KH
Kevin Hardcastle 