The Island of Books

 

The Island of Books / Dominique Fortier
trans. from the French by Rhonda Mullins
TO: Coach House, 2016, c2011.
176 p.

It's true that there is a right time for a book. I picked up this one a couple of years ago and just couldn't get into it. But then I picked it up again last weekend and spent the entire afternoon absorbed in it, start to finish. 

It's an unusual book -- partly fiction about a French portrait painter & Mont St. Michel in the 15th century, but interspersed with autobiographical chapters in the author's voice about her writer's block after becoming a mother. 

Although this may seem strange, the two are tied together both in tone and with the focus on words and the power of books & writing. In the author's case, reclaiming her role as a writer -- in the historical parts, about books, literacy, power in the era in which limited access to books created by scribes was being shaken by the arrival of the printing press. 

But there's also a love story. Our painter Eloi has lost his young lover but has no right to mourn for her since she was someone else's wife. In his despair he is rescued by his cousin Robert, who is an important member of the religious community at Mont St. Michel, and who brings Eloi there to recover. Their relationship is also based on their love for one another, and it is gentle and powerfully moving.

Although Eloi can't read, he's put to work using his artistic skills in the scriptorium to earn his keep. As he begins to understand how much books and learning mean to Robert and some of the other monks, his own view of life shifts. There are elements of philosophy, history, even gardening, in this story, which is pretty slow-paced and meandering in its plot. I found it thoughtful and full of ideas about all kinds of things, whether books, history or how to live life. If you are in the mood for a quiet book on a sunny Sunday afternoon you might also be as quickly drawn into this as I was.

The unusual structure might put some people off, but I suggest giving it a try. I felt that it worked well, and that both elements enriched one another. It was a satisfying reading experience, by a French Canadian author who has written other historical novels with the same reserved tone and deliberate pacing. If you like this feel to your books, you'll get along with this author in general.