Fish Change Direction in Cold Weather - Softcover

Szalowski, Pierre

Softcover

ISBN 10: 085786162X ISBN 13: 9780857861627

Publisher: Canongate Books, 2013

Synopsis

Once upon a time in a frozen city . . . strangers fall in love, wishes come true, and lives will never be the same again

When his parents split up, and his dad leaves home, a ten-year-old boy begs the sky to help him. The next day an ice storm covers his city. When the power goes out and the temperature drops, people must turn to each other to survive.

But for one neighbourhood the catastrophe brings surprising new beginnings. Julie, the dancer who lives across the street, helps Boris, an eccentric Russian mathematician, save his fish from the cold weather. And the urbane Michel and Simon open their door to Alexis, their embittered neighbour, and his son. But will the ice storm bring the boy's parents back together?

Hilarious and heartwarming, Fish Change Direction in Cold Weather reminds us that happy endings might still be possible.

About this title

About the Author

Pierre Szalowski has been a press photographer, an artistic director in marketing and the vice-president of Ubisoft. These days he is a screenwriter and novelist. Fish Change Direction in Cold Weather is his first book. He lives in Montreal.

Reviews

In 1998, upon hearing the news that his parents plan to separate, a 10-year-old quietly slips off to his room, looks to the sky, and prays for help. The sky's response, or so this unnamed boy believes, is a historic ice storm—one that cripples his Montreal suburb and forces his fractured family, as well as a handful of his neighbors, to band together in order to stay warm. The trouble with Szalowski's debut novel is that its resolutions are never much in doubt. When the electricity goes out at the apartment of isolated scientist Boris Bogdanov, he and his fish (the subject of his Ph.D. dissertation) move across the street to stay with Julie, a beautiful stripper grown weary of men. Likewise, when Alexis, a misanthropic, borderline alcoholic, loses power in the apartment he shares with his troubled son Alex, they cross the street to stay with Michel and Simon, two gay men posing as brothers to avoid bigoted condemnation. As these strangers are forced together, the struggle to stay warm quickly turns into a struggle for understanding—of themselves and of each other. And in this tidy volume, none of these struggles are terribly difficult to overcome. The result is a sometimes sweet, sometimes funny story—one that is too relentless in its quest for happy endings and that ultimately disappoints. (Nov.)

Edition details

• Publisher: Canongate Books
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 085786162X
• ISBN 13: 9780857861627
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272