Un écrivain, un vrai (A True Writer)

It's ironic that the Plateau Mont-Royal library is so poor, in the most hipster and trendy neighborhood of Montreal. One thing is certain when you go there: you won't find what you're looking for. But, oh miracle, I found this little novel. It was on my list, I had gleaned the review from I don't know which magazine. I had no other reason to read it, no reason to continue. But the sentences came. After one page, I was already panting. Trying to stop would have been like trying to get out of a moving car: impossible. 

The writing profession is not what it used to be. Modern people are looking for immediacy, they want to interact, to share what they like, to influence the content: they want to have a relationship with what they read. So when Gary Montaigu won the International Book Prize, he decided to change the world. He's going to put his work on the screen, in a reality show: A True Writer. His novel will become a "participatory novel". Everyone will be able to see him writing, follow the progress of his novel, comment, share, "like" on social networks. A kind of litteraryLoft Story .

What a great idea. Convinced to revolutionize art, Gary opened his house to camera operators 24 hours a day. It becomes a battlefield. His wife Ruth, who manages his career, starts dressing up at all hours of the day. They try to forget about the cameras and go about their normal lives. The producers convince them to add an emotional young journalist to the set to create a little sexual tension.

Of course, his wife becomes a possessive and jealous monster. Her husband's success goes to her head, and she is convinced that she is the only one responsible for it. Her job is to manage her husband's career. She reads and comments on his texts over his shoulder. Their couple is nothing but hypocrisy, they wonder if they ever really loved each other.

Of course, Alana, the journalist placed in the casting, falls in love with the writer. When Gary goes along and kisses her, she is convinced that he loves her. She is torn and vulnerable.

And Gary goes crazy. Invaded in his head and in his vital space, he completely loses his reason to be. He plunges into a whirlwind of dark thoughts, closes himself off, writes worse and worse, until he hits rock bottom. He doesn't want to continue with the reality show, but he is trapped. The producers are after him, his wife is after him, the viewers are after him. He sees no other solution than to run too, in the street, drinking whisky, until he falls.

Yes, there was a moral in this tragic book. And it is repeated again and again by Gary Montague in his descent into hell. There is no more room for deep thought, writers are no longer heard, they have to adapt to the public, new ideas cannot arise, the world is too superficial...

That's not what moved me. But the twisted relationship was horribly realistic, the sense of suffocation grabbed me by the throat, all through sentences that sped by at 100 km/h. There is simply no time to breathe. And that's what kept me hooked, until the end.

As for whether it is worth going to the Plateau Mont-Royal library to find it...

—

Un écrivain, un vrai (A True Writer)

Pia Peterson

Actes Sud

215 p.