Customer Reviews

Two Solitudes Large Print Edition (Large Print Library)

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Although it has been several years since I have read "Two Solitudes," the book remains quite vivid for me -- perhaps, in no small part, because I live only a few miles from the Quebec border, and listen quite attentively to Canadian news on the radio. Everything, and yet nothing has changed regarding Anglo-French relations over the sixty years that have passed since the conclusion of the action in the book. Of course, English shop clerks in Montreal no longer tell Francophone patrons to "speak white;" the Roman Catholic Church has lost virtually all of its influence over French Canadians; the notion of the French being "maitres chez nous" -- masters in our own house -- has triumphed to such an extent that the province came within a hair's breadth of voting for independence several years ago. Yet despite the all but de facto political autonomy of Quebec -- and in no small part because of it -- all of the old misunderstanding and mistrust so skillfully depicted in MacLennan's book persist. Two profoundly different cultures, heirs to profoundly different colonial pasts, still vie for the soul of the second largest nation on earth. For this reason alone, Americans (famously and shamefully ignorant of Canadian history) ought to read "Two Solitudes;" for Canadians, or course, it should be required reading. But "Two Solitudes" is not merely a sociopolitical tract. I found the love story quite engaging, with neither of the characters presented as a mere representation of ethnicity and class, and the resolution ennobling in a way one doesn't expect from a novel any more. The term "old-fashioned" comes to mind, but I'm afraid that will be terribly off-putting for many modern readers. Let's call the book solid, sure, and rewarding, then -- and evocative and informative as well. That's a lot to put into a package this tidily crafted, but MacLennan has done it well. Exclusive of the work of Robertson Davies, in a class by itself, "Two Solitudes" bids fair to be called the Great Canadian Novel.

I enjoyed this book mostly for its presentation of the recent history of Quebec. The novel presents a kind of snapshot of the English and French cultures at a turning point in their odd collective history. I found it helpful in understanding the roots of the ethnic and historical conflicts that remain largely unresolved in much of the province.

The writing is solid if unspectacular -- overall I found that the plot held my interest, although it moved a bit slowly. All in all it's a good read, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to understand the weird sociological experiment that is Quebec.

Two solitudes by Hugh MacLennan is a graet Canadian novel. it discusses all canadian themes, such as landscape, bilingulism, conflicts on identity etc.
I will ask every canadian to read this book. It's worth your time.

Slow at first, and not a lot of action, but the powerful descriptions of the land and the in-depth characters make up for it in a way. This book spans a time period of 1917 to 1939 and takes place primarily in Quebec, Canada. It tells the story of several french-canadians and english-canadians, and their struggle to get by and to find themselves amidst the bitterness between the french and the english in war-time Canada. It's not the most enlightening book i've read, but i gave the Canadian author credit- it wasn't a waste of time to read.

Two Solitudes, written by Hugh MacLennan, is a historical tragedy remembering the differences between the French and English Canadians. Beginning in 1917, passing through World War II, and finishing in 1939, the story is at the same time historical and sentimental. The reader can sense the dark side of the Church nourishing the rancour of the French Canadians against the English Canadians because of their importance. The book starts in the parish of Saint-Marc, with its priest, Father Beaubien, which almost rules the village except for a powerful man, Athanase Tallard that is trying to industrialise it for good. A failure in everything he enterprised, Athanase have even changed religion, almost a crime at that time, to be able to get away from the priest and make his son Paul go to a good English school. Even if I found the story die with this character, I found it very realistic and historical and it helped me to understand some very good facts about that time.

The first pages help the reader to know the characters of the story but there is no conflict. Its like reading Peter Pan without Captain Hooks: "Athanase Tallard was the only limit, under God and the law, to the priest's authority in Saint-Marc. Since the days of the early French colonization, the Tallard had been seigneurs."

When McQueen started to be present in the plot, the major conflict was established. That was almost the story, after that, they were only small and they weren't permanent: -"The details make no difference. Your trying to build a factory here." -"Is that against the law?" -Lawyer's arguments are useless with me. Are you, or are you not, planning to buy the Tremblay land for a factory?" -"And if I am?" -"I will tell Tremblay not to sell. I will tell every farmer you have already talked not to sell." After Athanase's death, the story turned from tragedical to romentical. It changed into roses when Heather and Paul met again and that will probably make the reader lose attention in the book: -"Have you ever been in love?" -"I'm not sure. I've thought I was several times."

The setting was very good. The places and the time were very typical as the characters were to. The author was well informed about the time and history, you could imagine it through his writing.

Hugh MacLennan talked a lot about French Canadians rancour against the English Canadians. But he made the English neutral as if they had nothing against them.

In conclusion, with a lack of conflict, too much romantism and and a very good setting, this book, may be a very good one for readers whom interests are in history, but I wouldn't read it for the fun of it. Will you?

Two Solitudes by Hugh MacLennan, is a novel whose title has become significant of Canada's most troubling legacy: the relations between English and French Canadians. Using historical settings within a mythological framework, MacLennan explores the tensions in these relations from World War One to 1939. The French Canadian realities are set in the parish of Saint-Marc, which is dominated by its priest, Father Beaubien, and by Athanase Tallard, a powerful but tragic figure blamed by his church for trying to industrialize the village. Even if I didn't like the book, it does in fact describe how the French and English continued to dislike each other, and how the church was involved in the past.

Two Solitudes, in my opinion is a factual descriptive book, which holds a subject, which is very interesting. But, I find that the author, Hugh MacLennan doesn't make a very good job in setting a climax in the story. It takes a very long time to get some conflict and have some affection towards the characters.

The book started very slowly since there was nothing going on. No actions were taking place. It was only description was being said in the first few chapters so I lost interest in the story very quickly. Description remained constant throughout the entire book, which was a major reason why I got bored and didn't like this book.

I showed some interest in the book, about a quarter way down. At last, I saw some actions and a bit of conflict arising, which held my attention for a little while. But unfortunately, it didn't last for a very long time. Description took over the action and I got lost and bored. This, I found, was a major flaw of the book- not enough action and too much description.

A reader from Ontario Canada wrote a review on this book, and he says the exact same thing as I said. This is a quote from his review: "Slow at first, and not a lot of action, but the powerful descriptions of the land and the in-depth characters make up for it in a way. This book spans a time period of 1917 to 1939 and takes place primarily in Quebec, Canada. It tells the story of several French-Canadians and English-Canadians, and their struggle to get by and to find themselves amidst the bitterness between the French and the English in war time Canada. It's not the most enlightening book I've read, but I gave the Canadian author credit- it wasn't a waste of time to read."

I also had a great difficulty of understanding the book for many reasons. The main reason is because at certain points, the author suddenly switched scenes without telling us. For example: once the priest and Mr. Tallard were talking about Paul going to an English school, and in just a couple of seconds, two different people were talking about something which didn't even relate to Paul going to an English school. It got very confusing.

Another reason of confusion is inadequate information about the characters. Since there is a whole lot of people in the book, it is necessary to identify who each of them is related to. But the author didn't do this in the book. I didn't know which person was married to whom in the story, and which person was related to whom. Only till the end of the book that I was able to establish all of the characters and who they related to.

Though tough to understand, it shows that the author had very appropriate knowledge on how the people lived back in the early twentieth century. He appropriately covered all aspects on how people acted, lived and behaved during this period of time.

Hugh MacLennan knew exactly how and why the church was involved in everyone's daily life. He uses the church as a major conflict in Two Solitudes. For example: Mr. Tallard and the priest were arguing about Paul, Tallard's son, going to an English school. The priest insisted that he didn't because he thought that by going to an English school, it would ruin his religion since the English were Protestant and the French, including Paul, were Catholic. MacLennan knew how the church was involved in their lives, and he makes it a major conflict and a deal of discussion in Two Solitudes.

The main topic of the story is the conflict between the English and the French. I find that MacLennan does a great job of identifying their action towards each other. He describes a great deal of hate between them. He identifies this by name calling and making the characters feel hatred if someone practices a different religion from them or speaks a different language than them. As I did some research of how people acted in this period of time, I learned that there was a lot of disgrace between these two people.

The main conflict in the first part is the French rebelling against officers because they didn't want to go to war. MacLennan perfectly described how people reacted when they were forced to go to war. This was a big part of the rebellions, which happened, in the early twentieth century. I found this part, basically the most interesting since MacLennan describes the French attacking officers, and how the French felt to be forced to go to war.

Even if I got lost during reading the book, I still learned a lot about how the people felt and reacted during this period of time. If you like books, which happen during this period of this time, than this is probably your book. The only thing is that you must have patience, because the conflict doesn't happen right away. But if you need some conflict and some action, I don't suggest this book to you.