Métis Beach

Starred review from November 15, 2016
In 1962, Roman Carr, then Romain Carrier, grabbed $35 from his dresser drawer and took a Greyhound to New York City. The events preceding Roman's panicked flight from Metis Beach in Canada create implications for his lifetime. The impressive accomplishment of Montrealer-journalist Bourbonnais' debut novel is its comprehensive exploration of the large issues of the 1960sfeminism, abortion rights, Vietnam, counterculture, civil rights, art, the life of the mind, and socioeconomic classwhile making them deeply personal, reflected through Roman's intimate relationships. The cast of characters with whom he forms bonds structure the book's sections. For example, his first New York friend, Moise, drinks excessively to stave off his terror of the draft and shows Roman a street-level version of New York. In another section, Roman's friend Dana, a prominent author who worries that Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique is better than her own manifesto, brings Roman into wealthy literary circles. The novel is told in retrospect from Roman's late-in-life success writing In Gad We Trust, a television comedy that satirizes obsessive religion. This long view layers the events of Roman's life with textured meaning and gives readers the pleasure of following the ways essential historical movements shaped him.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)