Jimmy Trilogy Books In Order
- Jimmy (1969)
Novels
- Spring Tides (1978)
- Volkswagen Blues (1984)
- Mr. Blue (1989)
- Autumn Rounds (1993)
- Wild Cat (1998)
- My Sister’s Blue Eyes (2002)
- Translation is a Love Affair (2009)
- English is Not a Magic Language (2016)
Jimmy Trilogy Book Covers
Novels Book Covers
Jacques Poulin Books Overview
Spring Tides
Poulin is a master of imagery and dialogue: They rest like froth on top of something much more murky and morose: an underlying fear of emptiness. The Silhouette Peacefully employed on an uninhabited island, a translator of comic strips codename Teddy Bear lives in the company of his dictionaries, his marauding cat, Matousalem, and his tennis ball machine the Prince. Convinced that the translator’s happiness is in jeopardy, his boss helicopters in a few solitude seeking companions the beautiful and elusive Marie with her flirtatious cat Moustache; the seductive nudist, Featherhead; Professor Moccasin, the half deaf comic strip scholar; the moody and contradictory Author; the Ordinary Man; and the Organizer, sent to sensitize the population. As the Spring Tides drag ocean debris onto the shore, Teddy Bear and his companions seek out their own solitudes in this hilarious philosophical fable. Jacques Poulin s novels include Volkswagen Blues a finalist for Canada Reads 2005 and La tourn e d automne Autumn Rounds. Poulin received the 1978 Governor General s Award for Les Grandes Mar esSpring Tides and the Molson Prize for lifetime artistic contribution in 1990 and 2000. He lives in Qu bec.
Volkswagen Blues
A 2005 Canada Reads Selection In this classic road novel, Jacques Poulin tells the story of a man in search of his brother. The geographical journey through Detroit, into Chicago, on to St. Louis, along the Oregon Trail and into California becomes a metaphor for the exploration of the history of the French in North America.
Mr. Blue
Mr. Blue is Jim’s cat and his sole companion until the day they discover a copy of ‘The Arabian Nights’ in a cave along the beach. From then on, the novel Jim is writing develops in unexpected ways for words are independent like cats, and they don’t do what you want them to.
Autumn Rounds
A quiet man, living in an apartment in Quebec City, hears a marching band through his window. He looks out, sees the band and suddenly decides to join the crowd forming around them. So begins Autumn Rounds, a novel about love that unfolds late in life. The band turns out to be touring musicians, singers, and acrobats from France; among their number is a strangely familiar woman to whom the man feels very attracted. This is a bitter sweet novel. Because it is his last tour, the man is acutely aware of the details of his life on the road: the way cats in the towns are attracted to his van because it was once a milk truck, how certain reading networks will soon be needing new coordinators, how hauntingly beautiful he and the woman find the landscape of the North Shore of the St. Lawrence River.
My Sister’s Blue Eyes
Jack Waterman is a writer who owns a bookstore in Quebec City. Jimmy is an aspiring writer with no roots and no experience. When one day Jimmy wanders into Jack’s store, Jack becomes his mentor. Jimmy goes to Paris, but returns to Quebec when Jack takes a turn for the worse. Jack suffers from Eisenhower’s disease, his name for Alzheimer’s, and although it is progressing slowly, he is aware that at some point soon he is going to lose his faculties.
Translation is a Love Affair
One of my favorite writers in the world is Jacques Poulin. Rawi Hage A short novel set in contemporary Quebec that is brim*ming with satisfying tales of friendship, hope and love between two unlikely and enchanting characters. John McFarland for Shelf Awareness We fall under the spell of this heartwarming, human novel, penned by Jacques Poulin at the summit of his art. Mieux Vivre A vivacious novice translator, a novelist with a generous spirit and a bad back, and a stray cat with an ‘SOS’ tucked into its collar cross paths. The result is a humorous, moving, and mysterious tale of friendship and the human condition.
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