Customer Reviews

St. Urbain's Horseman

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

The underappreciated novelist Modicai Richler was every bit the master of Jewish comedic fiction as Phillip Roth. When it came to describing the emerging Canadian middle class in the 1950 and 60s Richler got it just right and left one roaring with laughter to boot.

As a point of reference, I have read all of Richler's major works and a few of his early novellas. This was written after Richler's sexual obsession in his British phase and he tells an interesting story about a young film director from Montreal who has moved to Britain The novel follows from his wildly creative novel Cocksure which as story immersed in sexual obsession. This is a far tamer novel and it is longer and more substantial but less creative. Overall, it is among his best efforts.

Following on from the very liberated Cocksure, we see a much more conventional and down to earth Richler who has attempted to integrate British making with biographical elements from his own youth.

Modecai Richler (1931 to 2001) grew up in Montreal and that city is the setting for many of his stories - but not all. Many of his novels are about Jews living in Canada and Britain post WWII.

He is best known for his tales of life in and around St. Urbain Street. That is an area of three story buildings or walk up row houses located just east of the mountain in Montreal, and north of the commercial center of the city. At one time this was the center of Jewish immigrant life. Many Jews coming to Montreal started there but then moved on to Outrement, Hamstead, and other districts. His father was a scrap dealer and he graduated from a heavily Jewish high school, Baron Byng High School, which has other famous alumni including William Shatner of Star Trek fame. Some of the local establishments such as Schwartz's Deli on St. Laurent are still in business. He uses much of those biographical experiences in the book.

His break out novel is the present novel Duddy Kravitz which is still a great read whether you have seen the movie or not. Also, I like his last book, Barney's Vision, which is probably his most balanced and best written piece of work. That novel lacks the edge and drama of Duddy Kravitz. Along the way, he experimented with different themes and the use of sex in the plots, and usually he did that with a lot of humor as in Cocksure.

This book is among his best works and there must be a few parallels with Richter's own life. It is about a young and poorly educated Jewish boy (Richler never finished university himself and moved to Britain) who struggles in the Canadian TV business starting off as a stage hand and then eventually becoming a London based movie director. The protagonist, Jacob Hersh, is from the St. Urbain area of Montreal, and he has an unusual relation with his cousin Joey - who is the "horseman." Joey appears only once in the book when he visits Montreal, and spends most of his time traveling the world doing all sort of glamorous things from being a soldier, to actor, to baseball player. In reality, Joey is a bit of a con man but he is held in awe by Jacob.

This is an interesting story that gets better as we reach the end of the book.

Many of his critics claim that he re-cycles his characters and deals only with one topic, but in general his books are far from the predictable and this book is another example. That being said, Duddy Kravitz and even his father max appear in the novel, and Duddy more than once.

This is a good read which leaves the reader satisfied.

Mordecai Richler's novels are always a wild ride. In St. Urbain's Horseman we have the usual Richler pastiche of paranoid Jewish Montrealers struggling in a gentile world. As with his other novels, I sense that '..Horseman' has many biographical elements to it. Although teetering on being pretentious, '..Horseman' is easily salvaged by its fine characterizations and often hilarious prose.

'..Horseman' is a very rich, complex novel. It chronicles a young man who escapes squalor of Montreal and finds himself as a successful family man in swinging London, circa 1965. Unfortunately he finds himself tormented by the legend of his mysterious cousin (the "horseman") who seems to be larger than life (..a Nazi hunter in Paraguay?), and those with whom the cousin comes in contact with. It's all rather chaotic and often unbelievable. But thankfully the likes of Mordecai Richler pulls it all together somehow.


Bottom line: suspend your disbelief and enjoy this book.

This must be the greatest book by a Canadian author! I've lived on St. Urbain St. in Montreal for the last three years and this book was perfect! Smart, scathing, hillarious, satirical gritty, cynical, and entertaining are all words that describe this book! A must read! Funny as hell!

A remarkable book, clever, interesting, and so well written that I often stopped just to marvel at how entertained I was. You'll be glad you got it.

This was the first Richler book I've read and I enjoyed it very much.