Roy, Gabrielle

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The Tin Flute
Gabrielle Roy
Manufacturer: Reynal & Hitchcock
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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A most beautiful little novel

The Road Past Altamont
Gabrielle Roy
Manufacturer: University of Nebraska Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

French | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0803289480

Book Description

First published in French in 1966, The Road Past Altamont pierces to the heart of a child's world, craeting a delicate, yet substantial network of impressions, emotions, and relationships. In her writing, Gabrielle Roy allowed "nothing extraneous or false to stand," according to the translator, Joyce Marshall. The literary style of Roy, whose fiction reflects her childhood on the Canadian prairie, has often been compared to that of Willa Cather.

The Road Past Altamont takes a sensitive French-Canadian girl, Christine, from childhood innocence to maturity. Four connected stories reveal profound moments during her early years in the vastness of Manitoba. Christine's testament to Grandmother's creative power, her great adventure with an old gentleman at Lake Winnipeg and her clandestine one with a crude family of movers, her journey through time and space with aging Maman—all these characters and events convey Gabrielle Roy's preoccupation with childhood and old age, the passage of time and mystery of change, and the artist's relation to the world.

Customer Reviews:

A most beautiful little novel.......2001-01-13

Gabrielle Roy is one of my favorite authors and this book is just another example of how she is able, with few well chosen words, to reach deep into the human spirit. On the surface this is a simple story of a little girl growing up and her small adventures with her grand-mother, an older gentlemen in the neighborhood, and her own mother. And yet, it is so much more. It is about growing old. It is about memories. It is about what makes husband and wives stay together against all odds. It is about what makes life a special gift to each and every one of us. If you have not yet read Gabrielle Roy, you are in for a very unique and special treat!!

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La petite poule d'eau
Gabrielle Roy
Manufacturer: Boréal
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

French | Foreign Language Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

All French Books | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 2890525732

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canadian classic
The Tin Flute Soundtrack
Order of Canada
The Tin Flute
one of the best books I've ever read

The Tin Flute (New Canadian Library)
Gabrielle Roy
Manufacturer: New Canadian Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

French | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Mad Shadows (New Canadian Library)
Thirty Acres (New Canadian Library)
A Season in the Life of Emmanuel (New Canadian Library)
A Woman's Story
Les Belles Soeurs: (Revised)

ASIN: 077109860X
Release Date: 1989-10-01

Book Description

The Tin Flute, Gabrielle Roy’s first novel, is a classic of Canadian fiction. Imbued with Roy’s unique brand of compassion and compelling understanding, this moving story focuses on a family in the Saint-Henri slums of Montreal, its struggles to overcome poverty and ignorance, and its search for love.

An affecting story of familial tenderness, sacrifice, and survival during the Second World War, The Tin Flute won both the Governor General’s Award and the Prix Fémina of France. The novel was made into a critically acclaimed motion picture in 1983.

Customer Reviews:

canadian classic.......2006-03-02

It's really too bad that Canadian authors aren't publicized more in the U.S. I bought this book from amazon-canada because I wouldnt have known what to look for. It's won several literary prizes in Canada and is well deserving of them. The story of a French-Canadian family during the depression and early years of WWII in Montreal, it portrays a world that no longer exists. In this country, the people would have been Tom Brokaw's Greatest Generation. The differences between then and now were phenomenal. Men joined the Army to put food on the table. They looked everywhere for honest work, even part time or temporary or low-paying. They didn't join gangs or deal drugs. People weren't afraid of each other, even in the worst neighborhoods. Yet their lives were unbelievably hard. There was high infant mortality. A child with leukemia was doomed. Landlords put whole families out in the street when they got behind with the rent, often due to unemployment. The war ended the depression, but some of the characters ask themselves if it's worth the price, or if peace as they knew it was any better. The author wrote this book at the time it took place, in a city she knew. It could have easily been set in Detroit or Chicago, London or Dublin. There is a universal quality to this story, that gives a vivid picture of the times. The book isn't cheerful, but it's also not hopeless. At the end you don't know what will happen to these people, but they have a chance. A really moving story.

The Tin Flute Soundtrack.......2003-10-07

I haven't read the book but I 've seen a couple of series of
the movie. I like the story but I LOVE the soundtrack.
Does anybody know where can I find it??

Order of Canada.......2003-03-28

I purchased this novel for the purpose of completing my B.A. Degree. This book was required in a course for french canadian literture. I have read it in both in english and french. The works of Gabrielle Roy has won three Orders of Canada prior to her death. This book was also considered for the Noble Prize in Lit. on several occasions. It is a powerful novel of the multiple forces that work against people of poor socio-economic status. It descrbes, in detail, the lives of a poor working class family in the industrialized St. Henri district of Montreal at the onset of WWII. Although the characters are fictional, the situation and circumstances of their lives are quite real. The novel has been defined as an example of the realist genre and personifies the era very well. The most interesting aspect of the novel is not the obvious elements of poverty like crime, lack of education and illness but the mental and emotional suffering of its victims. One may judge the actions of the characters harsely but this would be unfair. One must appreciate their situation and thereby feel compassion for them. It is a good story.

The Tin Flute.......2002-12-10

Shortly after it was published, The Tin Flute surprised Canadian readers and was soon widely read and enjoyed internationally. Its author, Gabrielle Roy, reached out to an audience with eloquent, flowing prose, by describing the very depth of the human condition through the Lacasse family.

Briefly: the main character of the novel is the oldest Lacasse child, Florentine. Her poor family, residing in the slums of Saint Henri, Montreal, rely heavily on the wages she brings in as a waitress. Rose-Anna, her mother, struggles to care for her growing family and struggle through tragedy, while the father, Azarius, is unable to maintain a job. Florentine's life is turned upside down when she meets a handsome man named Jean, an affair that is doomed from the beginning. A crushed Florentine turns to Jean's friend, Emmanuel, for his love, although she cannot return it, as she is still torn over her feelings for Jean. In the original French, it was entitled, "Bonheure d'occasion" which cannot be perfectly translated. However, the English title of "The Tin Flute" is very suitable and expresses the message of the novel from the smallest Lacasse child, Daniel -- his only great desire was to have a shiny tin flute, a symbol of all that he would never be able to call his own, in a poverty-stricken existence.

With this groundwork, Roy paints a convincing and enthralling portrait of an impoverished family, troubled love, and mixed ideals in the midst of World War II. It is a novel well worth reading and will leave you with new insight into the human condition and the brutality of poverty. Although some phrases are lost in the translation to English from the original French, the translation is highly successful in being as nearly as effective as the original.

For related themes (although from very different perspectives & times) you may also wish to explore Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, and Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.

one of the best books I've ever read.......2002-02-01

If only more books were written like this! The Tin Flute is the poignant story of a young girl growing up in poverty in the slums of Montreal. It is the 1940's, war is brooding. And we are introduced to a French Canadian family faced with unemployment, too many children, and despair. We suffer as the mother, pregnant again, searches on foot for affordable housing. Her daughter works at the five-and-dime and is inlove with a man who holds contempt for her class and social background.
I have read this story three times. It is without a doubt, one the greatest books ever written of its genre. If you enjoyed "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" or "Angela's Ashes" you will no doubt love this story equally well. It is unforgettable.

Enchantment and sorrow : the autobiography of Gabrielle Roy

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Enchantment and sorrow : the autobiography of Gabrielle Roy
Gabrielle Roy
Manufacturer: Lester & Orpen Dennys
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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So so
Little Phrases
Les rue Deschambault

Rue Deschambault
Gabrielle Roy
Manufacturer: Boréal
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

French | Foreign Language Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Les Justes (Folio)

ASIN: 2890525775

Customer Reviews:

So so.......2003-12-11

Hey! I read this book for school (I'm french so we had to read it)
anyway...it's quite boring but there are some good moments in it
so...if you don't like to read a french book...well...don't start with this one 'cus you won't want to read any other after
but if it isn't the first french book you read...you might find it interesting...depending on what kind of book you like...

Little Phrases.......2003-03-01

The book is divided into several chapters, parts of Gabrielle's life. None of the stories are perticularly spectacular, but the little phrases, sometimes captured in the English translation, can be profound. I found it easier to read if I bookmarked these phrases.

Les rue Deschambault.......2000-06-26

horrible book. Had to read it for french class. It is one of the worlds most boring book, second only to As for me and My House. I only came her to see if there was any info on the book, becasue i have to write a composition on it. I definitely reccomend that you Not read this book. It would be a total waste of time. trust me. You will be sorry for wasting your precious time.

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Ces Enfants De Ma Vie
Gabrielle Roy
Manufacturer: Schoenhofsforeign Books Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

French | Foreign Language Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 2890525740

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Street of Riches, a rich read!
Street of riches

Street of Riches
Gabrielle Roy
Manufacturer: University of Nebraska Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

French | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

The Tin Flute (New Canadian Library)

ASIN: 0803289472

Book Description

Semiautobiographical and universal in appeal, Street of Riches is about a young girl's growing up in a suburb of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Here is Christine, the perceptive narrator of The Road Past Altamont (also a Bison Book), awakening to natural and sometimes terrifying beauty, to family history, to the nuances of social life, to sexuality, to selfhood. A mother's romantic yearning for freedom, a father's roving career as an immigration officer, a beautiful sister's early demise, a host of other in very human situations—all contribute to the way Christine will view the world as a writer.

Customer Reviews:

Street of Riches, a rich read!.......2002-05-14

I found this collection of stories culturally intriguing and found it quite relevant as well to todays world. The sotries intertwine and a complex plot leaves the reader satisfied. If you need action, this may not suit you, but for drama and intrigue, be sure to pick this book up. An excellent example of the excellent Canadian authors from Manitoba!

Street of riches.......2000-05-24

Well, if you have alot of time to waste this book would be great for ya. it's pretty much memoires of Gabrielle Roy. Some of the little stories inside are interesting others you can easily skip.

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The Cashier
Gabrielle Roy
Manufacturer: McClelland & Stewart, New Canadian Library N 40,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Windflower
WindFlower

Windflower
Gabrielle Roy
Manufacturer: mcClelland and Stewart
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

French | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Set against the austere landscape of northern Labrador, Windflower is the poignant story of Elsa Kumachuk, a young Inuit woman torn between two worlds by the birth of her blond-haired, blue-eyed son. Unacknowledged by his father, an American GI, the child is welcomed into the Inuit community with astonishment and delight. Elsa, however, must come to terms with the conflicting values implied by her son’s dual heritage.

Gabrielle Roy’s last novel, Windflower is both a moving account of one woman’s tragic dilemma and a sensitive portrait of a society in transition.

Customer Reviews:

Windflower.......2005-09-10

Gabrielle Roy the author of the book called "Windflower" is an astonishing but violently and horrifying book about the problems which copes with the Inuit culture and the White dominant race. The American GI's who stationed in the Inuit landscape in northern Labrador during the Vietnam war. It is a novel with thoughtful characterizations, and Inuits have rich culture and hospitable land.
Elsa, the main character who was teenager at that time, likes one of the GI's. In an unexpected situation, rape occurs. A child is born but his appearances seem to be different from the Inuit culture. The child looks like his father, although the mother of the child does not seem to remember what the GI looks like.
She does not care about her heritage as a Inuit but wants to live differently. She wants her child to learn more about his father's society and culture.
In the end Jimmy fore sakes his mother, his home land and it turned out to be true what Elsa wanted for her child to grow up like, to live like the White society. I would say that it is an excellent novel but I think that people are warned to be more careful which ideas to take because we never know where we will end up.

WindFlower.......2001-03-17

Gabrielle Roy paints a portrait of a culture that has been interfered with by the materialist culture of America. The White dominant race has infiltrated the Innuit landscape, and the effects are portrayed at times as having devastating consequences. It is a novel with thoughtful characterizations, and the Innuit are depicted as having a rich culture, which is creative, insightful, and hospitable. However, there is a horrifying context as well. Rape, incest, and abandonment are regular instances in a novel that leans toward a tragic representation of a culture that has been violated in every way. American GI's stationed in this northern landscape during the Vietnam war take liberty with the women of the Innuit culture. Elsa, the main character, is raped by one such GI, a child is born from their violative union. Jimmy, appears as the Saviour of the people. In the end, he tragically forsakes his mother, his homeland, and opts instead for the White culture which ironically forsook him. It is a novel that celebrates purity, and the indictment of the violation of this purity; whether the purity be of a moral, natural, or spiritual order. The violation of such purity is met with a gentle rebuke, but the lasting consequences are tragic, and melancholy. Elsa's eventual abandonment by her son, and the abandonment of herself substantiates this theme. An excellent novel, but be forewarned, the tragic representations leave an indelible impression that is very difficult to release.

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