Synapses

(Paperback)

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Description

Formally inventive, Simon Brousseaus Synapses orchestrates a series of beautifully crafted literary snapshots, each involving a different character, eloquently presented using a sole, twisting and turning, stylistically accomplished sentence written in the second-person singular. Brousseau depicts a vast society of differing psyches and souls, all unique and idiosyncratic, yet interconnected, quasi neurologically, in a dialogic network of humanity. With Synapses, his first novel, Brousseau realizes the surprising feat of a pointillist literary masterpiece.

Reviews

"By situating the reader in a multitude of perspectives, [Brousseau] pushes the limits of human empathy in ways that a traditional novel cannot"
Montral Review of Books

"The mind searches for and finds pleasing dialogic connections between the snapshots."
Ian MacLean, The Malahat Review

Author Bio

Simon Brousseau was born in Quebec City in 1985. He lives in Montreal and teaches literature at Jean-de-Brbeuf College. In 2014 at Universit du Qubec Montral he defended his dissertation on the work of David Foster Wallace and the question of literary influence (to be published as an essay by ditions Nota Bene in 2019) . Synapses, his first novel (Cheval daot, 2016) was a finalist in the 2017 Grand Prix du livre de Montral, and will be published in English with Talonbooks in 2019, translated by Pablo Strauss. Les fins heureuses (Cheval daot, 2018) is a collection of short stories.