An excellent novelistic look at the October Crisis in Quebec. Hamelin has spent a lot of time with the accounts and research material around this historical event. He sees the novel as a hypothesis to explain certain holes, inconsistencies and lacunae in the historical record. His version of the story is highly plausible when you consider some of the manipulative political shenanigans that were going on around the world at that time. This book also links in with some of the other cultural figures from the 60s and 70s that I have been thinking about lately. Very well-written. Makes you want to go and look into that time period.
I wish I had read it in French - I tried to find it but the title is so unlike the English version: La Constellation du lynx. This title puts a completely different spin on the book. The English title focuses on the historical side of the novel. The French title puts the focus on a symbol, a metaphor, a trope that repeats throughout the book - the recurring presence of a lynx.
To reread in French later.
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