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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
This is the story of two very different families and how they collide. Firstly, the Waldvogels – from Germany. Fidelis Waldvogel was a former sniper for the Germans in WWI, and returns home to marry his dead best friend’s pregnant fiancee, Eva. He then moves to the United States and becomes a master butcher. His wife soon joins him, along with their four sons: Franz, Markus, Emil and Erich.
Delphine is the daughter of a drunk and a mysterious missing woman named Minnie. We meet her as she is out on the road, travelling with a professional “balancer” named Cyprian – a gay Ojibwe Indian who loves Delphine as a sister and wants her permanently in his life. Delphine’s father, Roy, is the Argus town drunk and Delphine returns to take care of him – only to find something horrifying down in the family basement. She also takes a job at the Waldvogel Butcher shop, and has her life forever altered upon meeting Eva, Fidelis, and Markus.
These families dance around each other, bringing others in and out of their orbits, influencing each other’s thoughts and beliefs with their own actions and reactions to events as they come along – whether death, near-death experiences – murders, jobs, and uncomfortable family secrets. The stories of these families are forever intertwined, as the two youngest Waldvogel boys are sent back to Germany with their embittered aunt and then WWII breaks out. We watch Franz fall in love, and we watch as Delphine must make decisions harder than she likes in order to capture her own happiness and meaning in her life.
From the west, later and later every night, flame reflected up into the bursting clouds. Skeins of fire over the vast black fields.
This is a book that speaks intelligently and beautifully about our struggles with death and what comes before it – the living towards death: death in its suddenness, and in its ability to drag itself slowly towards you. It looks at how this affects those who love you, and even you yourself and what the inevitability of death does to one who is alive.
Delphine is the daughter of a drunk and a mysterious missing woman named Minnie. We meet her as she is out on the road, travelling with a professional “balancer” named Cyprian – a gay Ojibwe Indian who loves Delphine as a sister and wants her permanently in his life. Delphine’s father, Roy, is the Argus town drunk and Delphine returns to take care of him – only to find something horrifying down in the family basement. She also takes a job at the Waldvogel Butcher shop, and has her life forever altered upon meeting Eva, Fidelis, and Markus.
These families dance around each other, bringing others in and out of their orbits, influencing each other’s thoughts and beliefs with their own actions and reactions to events as they come along – whether death, near-death experiences – murders, jobs, and uncomfortable family secrets. The stories of these families are forever intertwined, as the two youngest Waldvogel boys are sent back to Germany with their embittered aunt and then WWII breaks out. We watch Franz fall in love, and we watch as Delphine must make decisions harder than she likes in order to capture her own happiness and meaning in her life.
From the west, later and later every night, flame reflected up into the bursting clouds. Skeins of fire over the vast black fields.
This is a book that speaks intelligently and beautifully about our struggles with death and what comes before it – the living towards death: death in its suddenness, and in its ability to drag itself slowly towards you. It looks at how this affects those who love you, and even you yourself and what the inevitability of death does to one who is alive.
Quelle découverte que voilà ! Ce titre était dans ma LAL depuis des années, il n’est jamais trop tard pour s’y mettre ! Si vous aimez les sagas, les fresques socio-historiques, les petites histoires dans la grande Histoire, les personnages plus vrais que nature, La chorale des maîtres bouchers vous comblera. Équipé d’une valise pleine de saucisses, le jeune Fidelis Waldvogel débarque en Amérique. Il se paie son trajet en train en vendant ses saucisses, jusqu’à ce que son voyage le mène à Argus, où il posera sa valise, et ses couteaux. Sa jeune épouse Eva le rejoint avec leur bébé, le boucher gravit les échelons et ouvre sa propre boutique, se forgeant sa réputation peu à peu. La chorale dont il est question dans le titre est un hommage à sa jeunesse allemande, avant la guerre. De la chorale, nous n’en saurons pas beaucoup plus, il s’agit surtout d’un symbole, d’une métaphore sur sa vie passée, le temps qui passe, le retour aux choses. Si pour Fidelis tout est possible dans son nouveau pays, l’adaptation à une nouvelle culture, une nouvelle langue reste difficile, le déracinement est violent, d’autant plus que la communauté qu’il choisit porte le poids de son histoire, avec les massacres de tribus indiennes.
Nous faisons ensuite la connaissance de Delphine et Cyprian, jeune couple bien mal assorti. Delphine a fui son père, alcoolique notoire et incurable, tandis que Cyprian, qui a du sang indien et du sang français, exploite ses talents d’acrobates de villes en villes. Lorsque Delphine revient à Argus, accompagnée de Cyprian, elle retrouve son père, toujours aussi alcoolique, fait la connaissance des Waldvogel et de leurs enfants, et renoue avec une amie d’enfance. De petites histoires en véritables drames, les personnages vont évoluer au sein d’une communauté au lourd passé. La Première Guerre mondiale est également encore présente dans les esprits, malgré cela, la guerre suivante sera inévitable. Tandis que Fidelis traverse péniblement la crise, sa famille restée en Allemagne prospère et s’enrichit. Même si personne n’y croit vraiment, la guerre couve et le destin des Waldvogel sera encore une fois la proie de l’Histoire.
Les personnages sont d’une justesse implacable, le récit foisonne de détails importants, d’anecdotes cruciales, tout a un sens et rien n’est superflu. Tout contribue à construire un tableau complet d’une histoire familiale riche et dense. Un coup de cœur donc !
Nous faisons ensuite la connaissance de Delphine et Cyprian, jeune couple bien mal assorti. Delphine a fui son père, alcoolique notoire et incurable, tandis que Cyprian, qui a du sang indien et du sang français, exploite ses talents d’acrobates de villes en villes. Lorsque Delphine revient à Argus, accompagnée de Cyprian, elle retrouve son père, toujours aussi alcoolique, fait la connaissance des Waldvogel et de leurs enfants, et renoue avec une amie d’enfance. De petites histoires en véritables drames, les personnages vont évoluer au sein d’une communauté au lourd passé. La Première Guerre mondiale est également encore présente dans les esprits, malgré cela, la guerre suivante sera inévitable. Tandis que Fidelis traverse péniblement la crise, sa famille restée en Allemagne prospère et s’enrichit. Même si personne n’y croit vraiment, la guerre couve et le destin des Waldvogel sera encore une fois la proie de l’Histoire.
Les personnages sont d’une justesse implacable, le récit foisonne de détails importants, d’anecdotes cruciales, tout a un sens et rien n’est superflu. Tout contribue à construire un tableau complet d’une histoire familiale riche et dense. Un coup de cœur donc !
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Having just finished a series of classic books ('40s and '50s) with developed characters, complicated intertwined plots, a purpose, a meaning, I returned to the present and tried this book, which seemed from the title, to have potential. Others have reviewed it as having beautiful, lyrical writing, but I found none of that. Instead I endured shallow characters, an unfocussed plot, and, frankly, sub-par writing (although I find this common in current novels). Quite a disappointment.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book has a cast of lonely characters, much more so than in other Erdrich books I've read. So many secrets. So many people living parallel lives, never knowing the people around them.
The Master Butchers Singing Club (P.S.) by Louise Erdrich (2005)