Hélène Vachon

A Matter of Gravity (eBook, ePUB)

Übersetzer: Aronoff, Phyllis; Scott, Howard

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

A Matter of Gravity is about the forces that draw two men together. Hermann, an embalmer and doctor's son, devotes himself to the dead to mask his disappointment that, unlike his father, he cannot cure the living. Hu is an ailing pianist who dwells in memories of past glory. Hermann displaces his drive for perfection and order onto his elderly neighbours. Hu, ashamed of his lame, knobbed hands, rarely leaves his airless room. Hermann contends he is eternally separated from the world by a "permanent cushion of air" that keeps him wavering between two women and hovering above humanity. Hu is bound to a nightmarish reality, shuffling between emphysema, rheumatoid arthritis, and Parkinson's disease.

When a mysterious manuscript, possibly written by one of Hermann's centenarian neighbours, connects one man's routine with the other's, an extended afternoon at the park eventually leads back to Hu's piano. This marks the beginning of the men's tenuous relationship, which, while healing in nature, is made more fragile by the pianist's heightened mortality.

A Matter of Gravity is a sensitive, delicate, and humorous novel that unfolds in liminal spaces: between life and death, youth and age, earth and sky. By the end of the final, transformative meeting between Hermann and Hu, Vachon gently broaches the question that paralyzes each man and the people whom they love: When faced with terminal illness, how do we embrace the unsatisfactory life we leave behind?

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Talonbooks
• Erscheinungstermin: 15. April 2014
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780889228412
• Artikelnr.: 41046412

Autorenporträt

After studying French literature in Quebec and France, Hélène Vachon began working for the Quebec Ministry of Culture and Communications. Since 1995, she has published two novels, more than twenty works of children's literature, and a number of translations. Her books, most notably the Somerset series, have been nominated for many prizes. Vachon won both the Governor General's Literary Award and the Mr. Christie's Book Award in 2002 for L'oiseau de passage. She lives near Quebec City.