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Du ventre de la baleine

par Michael Crummey

Membres	Critiques	Popularité	Évaluation moyenne	Mentions
734	46	30,772	(3.94)	236
Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. HTML: Winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book, Caribbean & Canada and the Canadian Authors Association Literary Award; Finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction, the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Book Award, and the Winterset Award When a whale beaches itself on the shore of the remote coastal town of Paradise Deep, the last thing any of the townspeople expect to find inside it is a man, silent and reeking of fish, but remarkably alive. The discovery of this mysterious person, soon christened Judah, sets the town scrambling for answers as its most prominent citizens weigh in on whether he is man or beast, blessing or curse, miracle or demon. Though Judah is a shocking addition, the town of Paradise Deep is already full of unusual characters. King-me Sellers, self-appointed patriarch, has it in for an inscrutable woman known only as Devine's Widow, with whom he has a decades-old feud. Her granddaughter, Mary Tryphena, is just a child when Judah washes ashore, but finds herself tied to him all her life in ways she never expects. Galore is the story of the saga that develops between these families, full of bitterness and love, spanning two centuries. With Paradise Deep, award-winning novelist Michael Crummey imagines a realm where the line between the everyday and the otherworldly is impossible to discern. Sprawling and intimate, stark and fantastical, Galore is a novel about the power of stories to shape and sustain us. .… (plus d'informations)

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Historical fiction that covers the 19th and early 20th century Newfoundland cod fishing industry and the people trying to survive in this harsh environment. An enigmatic mute man is found in the belly of a beached whale. The Devine family takes him in and names him Judah. From there, we are introduced to the other families in the community and the source of an ongoing feud with the Sellers family. The plot covers what happens to these families and their descendants over multiple generations.

This is a unique book. The story contains a small portion of magical realism based upon the folklore and superstitions of the region. It includes lots of eccentric characters. The plot is filled with outlandish episodes. I enjoyed the first half more than the second, which covers union organizing around the time of WWI. If you enjoy books based on myths and folktales, give this one a try.
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Castlelass | Oct 30, 2022 |

Written with Michael Crummey's highly readable wit and insight, Galore is a rethinking of the story of Jonah and the whale, albeit without the Biblical admonition about destiny. In fact, one might say Crummey refutes the concept of preordination in this family saga rife with pig-headed vengeance, of conversations never opened, of secrets and shames. It is a raw tale, a ridiculous tale, and despite that element of the ridiculous, there is also the ring of truth to the lives Crummey reveals to us.

The language is clever, employing literary devices with a deft hand while keeping the Newfoundland dialect intact. The characters he sketches are fully-realized, and although their lives are beset with the incredible, they are also quite believable. It has always been an amazement to me how Crummey does that: creates extraordinary characters who are believable and accessible.

Definitely going on my shelves in hardcover. (

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fiverivers | Mar 3, 2022 |

A rural Newfoundland family saga lapping across two centuries like the waves across a beach. Compared to Gabriel Garcia Marquez's tales of magical realism or Victor Lavalle's horror stories, Galore is a world both remote and extreme. the people of Paradise Deep persist in a realm where the line between the everyday and the otherworldly is impossible to distinguish. This is third book of Michael Crummey's that I have read, and I was hooked from the first chapter on this fever dream of a novel. (

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kerryp | Jul 4, 2020 |

This is a sprawling multi-generational book of two families, the Devines and the Sellers, set in a the small Newfoundland fishing village, Paradise Deep, from the mid 19th c. through World War I. It begins with a miraculous "birth" of a naked, pale, white man rescued from the belly of a beached whale. But the history of the families goes back further to the mysterious feud between the Widow Devine and "King-me" Sellers the matriarch and patriarch of the two families. Crummey explores the hard-scrabble Newfoundland life through times of plenty and times of scarcity. The stories of the families are told through multiple viewpoints that work to keep the reader engaged in the lives and trials of a surprising variety of characters. A highly entertaining read. (

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janeajones | May 22, 2019 |

I liked this quite a bit, but it wasn't the transcendent read for me that it seems to have been for others. Its tone reminded me a lot of something else that I've read--a little Love in the Time of Cholera, but something else, too. I was never able to put my finger on it. The writing in this book is lovely, but I never quite connected with the story and characters the way I wanted to. I did love the ending, though. (

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GaylaBassham | May 27, 2018 |

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Newfoundland author Crummey’s award-winning third novel, published in Canada in 2009, affirms that our lives are always astonishing. It’s been justly compared to Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. It also calls to mind Graham Swift’s Waterland and Alexis Wright’s Carpentaria, as well as William Faulkner’s epic Compson novels, and will appeal to readers who enjoyed those works.

ajouté par sduff222 | modifierLibrary Journal, J. Greg Matthews (Feb 1, 2011)

Crummey lovingly carves out the privation and inner intricacies that mark his characters' lives with folkloric embellishments and the precision of the finest scrimshaw.

ajouté par Christa_Josh | modifierPublishers Weekly (Jan 3, 2011)

An intriguing read.

ajouté par Christa_Josh | modifierResource Links, Margaret Mackey (Oct 1, 2010)

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Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year (Fiction historique – 2011)

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100 novels that make you proud to be a Canadian

Canada Reads Top 40 Essential Canadian Novels of the Decade

Globe and Mail Top 100 Book (Canadian Fiction – 2009)

Reading the world in 196 books (Canada)

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Titre canonique

Du ventre de la baleine

Titre original

Galore

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Date de première publication

2009-08-11

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