St. Urbain's Horseman [Hardcover]

Mordecai Richler (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0771074867 | ISBN-13: 978-0771074868 | Publication Date: January 1, 1971 | Edition: Second Printing

St. Urbain’s Horseman is a complex, moving, and wonderfully comic evocation of a generation consumed with guilt – guilt at not joining every battle, at not healing every wound. Thirty-seven-year-old Jake Hersh is a film director of modest success, a faithful husband, and a man in disgrace. His alter ego is his cousin Joey, a legend in their childhood neighbourhood in Montreal. Nazi-hunter, adventurer, and hero of the Spanish Civil War, Joey is the avenging horseman of Jake’s impotent dreams. When Jake becomes embroiled in a scandalous trial in London, England, he puts his own unadventurous life on trial as well, finding it desperately wanting as he steadfastly longs for the Horseman’s glorious return. Irreverent, deeply felt, as scathing in its critique of social mores as it is uproariously funny, St. Urbain’s Horseman confirms Mordecai Richler’s reputation as a pre-eminent observer of the hypocrisies and absurdities of modern life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The most brilliant and exciting new novel in years…Mordecai Richler has written a masterpiece.”
–The New Leader

From the Inside Flap

St. Urbain?s Horseman is a complex, moving, and wonderfully comic evocation of a generation consumed with guilt ? guilt at not joining every battle, at not healing every wound. Thirty-seven-year-old Jake Hersh is a film director of modest success, a faithful husband, and a man in disgrace. His alter ego is his cousin Joey, a legend in their childhood neighbourhood in Montreal. Nazi-hunter, adventurer, and hero of the Spanish Civil War, Joey is the avenging horseman of Jake?s impotent dreams. When Jake becomes embroiled in a scandalous trial in London, England, he puts his own unadventurous life on trial as well, finding it desperately wanting as he steadfastly longs for the Horseman?s glorious return. Irreverent, deeply felt, as scathing in its critique of social mores as it is uproariously funny, St. Urbain?s Horseman confirms Mordecai Richler?s reputation as a pre-eminent observer of the hypocrisies and absurdities of modern life.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 467 pages
• Publisher: McClelland & Stewart; Second Printing edition (January 1, 1971)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0771074867
• ISBN-13: 978-0771074868
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,407,966 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love Mordecai Richler, August 26, 2003

By 

Kate Smart "Private" (Private) - See all my reviews

This review is from: St. Urbain's horseman;: A novel (Hardcover)

People of my parent's generation will always remember where they were when JFK was assasinated. Likewise, I'll always remember the day when I learned that Mordecai Richler had died. I was standing in the kitchen, making dinner, when it was announced on the CBC. I fell apart, and it's the only time I have ever cried over someone I didn't even know.
When people tell me that they've never heard of, or read, Mordecai Richler, I want to rail at the universe. He's simply the best there is - a novelist who was intelligent, comical, introspective, cynical, perceptive, heartfelt, brutally honest, and ultimately, unforgettable. Reading St.Urbain's Horseman saved me from a dismal semester in university. I was taking existentialist philosophy and sinking into gloom when I escaped into a story that was impossible to put down. I laughed out loud - so hard that I couldn't read. I could go on all day. Just read this book - I guarantee that you'll read it again. And then you'll have to read everything else Mordecai Richler wrote.
I wish there were more stories to look forward to.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not fully developed, July 10, 2006

By 

Patrick Cameron (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: St. Urbain's Horseman

I guess everyone has to start somewhere. This novel used much of the same material as, but is much weaker than, Richler's later excellent novel Solomon Gursky Was Here. St Urbain's Horseman is too long, the characters are too weak, and the story too muddled to justify it's 450 pages. The Montreal sections are much, much stronger than the parts set in London, which I suppose helps explain why Richler moved back to his native city.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Richler, March 16, 2000

By 

Drew Gadoury - See all my reviews

This review is from: St. Urbain's Horseman (Paperback)

If you've had the pleasure of reading Barney's Version (also by Mordecai), read this novel, too. In it, you will find many of the very same comic characters and general situations that made Barney's version a Canadian prize winner.

Bonus suggestion: His son, Daniel Richler, has written an excellent novel, as well: Kicking It.