For a Canadian writer to name a novel I Hate Hockey is an act of national nose-thumbing. Barcelo’s narrator/antihero Antoine Vachon goes one better than the book’s title and calls our national game 'the most resounding expression of our national stupidity.' The gloves have well and truly been dropped.
I Hate Hockey
Antoine Vachon, divorcé et chômeur, déteste le hockey. Pourtant, quand le coach de l’équipe de son fils est retrouvé mort, il se retrouve malgré lui sur le banc des joueurs.
"I hate hockey!" is the first and last sentence in this novel that offers a great take on our love-hate relationship with hockey. Narrator Antoine Vachon blames the game for killing his marriage with his beautiful ex-wife (well, that and the power outage that brought her home unexpectedly to find him in bed with her intern). But hockey is a pretext for unlikely adventure in this sardonic roman noir that at times flirts with the outrageous.
Antoine is a total loser living in a pitiful bachelor apartment after he has lost his wife and his job as a car salesman. When his son's hockey coach is found dead, he is browbeaten into coaching the team for one night only. He makes it through the game (to great comic effect), but things take a turn for the worse when the team bus stops at a motel after the game. Who killed the former coach and why? Was Antoine's son involved? Or his ex-wife? The late coach was close to his players, perhaps too close... And why is Antoine unable to communicate with his son? François Barcelo's humour and brilliant story telling is finally available in English. I Hate Hockey reads quickly, but is meticulously stitched together. Though subtle signposts are present throughout, every development comes as a total surprise.
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Antoine is a total loser living in a pitiful bachelor apartment after he has lost his wife and his job as a car salesman. When his son's hockey coach is found dead, he is browbeaten into coaching the team for one night only. He makes it through the game (to great comic effect), but things take a turn for the worse when the team bus stops at a motel after the game. Who killed the former coach and why? Was Antoine's son involved? Or his ex-wife? The late coach was close to his players, perhaps too close... And why is Antoine unable to communicate with his son? François Barcelo's humour and brilliant story telling is finally available in English. I Hate Hockey reads quickly, but is meticulously stitched together. Though subtle signposts are present throughout, every development comes as a total surprise.
shield_question Frequently Asked Questions
I Hate Hockey est un roman court, nerveux et drôle, qui mêle suspense et satire sociale. François Barcelo y explore avec un humour noir et une ironie mordante les travers du hockey, sport roi au Québec, tout en tissant une intrigue policière pleine de rebondissements. L’histoire, centrée sur Antoine Vachon, un anti-héros attachant malgré ses défauts, offre une critique acerbe des relations humaines et des hypocrisies sociales.
Le roman aborde des thèmes variés : la trahison, l’échec, la solitude, et surtout, la relation complexe entre un père et son fils. Il questionne aussi le culte du hockey au Québec, les abus de pouvoir, et les non-dits familiaux. L’humour noir et le suspense sont omniprésents, servis par une écriture vive et sans concession.
Ce livre s’adresse aux amateurs de romans noirs, de satire sociale et d’histoires courtes mais percutantes. Il plaira aussi à ceux qui aiment les anti-héros et les récits où l’humour se mêle au drame. Les lecteurs québécois y trouveront une critique mordante d’un aspect central de leur culture, mais le roman dépasse largement ce cadre.
Vous pourrez interroger le smartbook sur les motivations des personnages, les symboles du hockey dans le roman, les choix narratifs de l’auteur, ou encore les thèmes de la trahison et de la rédemption. Posez-lui aussi des questions sur le contexte culturel québécois, l’évolution d’Antoine Vachon, ou les indices disséminés dans l’intrigue pour élucider le mystère du meurtre.
newsmode Revue de presse
Barcelo’s fortieth novel, and his first available in English, is the literary equivalent of a sudden-death shootout – tense, unpredictable, and over before you know it. It’s attention-grabbing title notwithstanding, Barcelo’s story isn’t about hockey, but he uses it as a bridge to lead us into a dark world; one populated with heinous acts and monsters, some of whom are hiding in plain sight.
Barcelo’s brief and provocative novel is no-doubt powerful. A self-acknowledged bigot who slept with his ex’s intern (ending his marriage) and contemplates the pros and cons of receiving oral sex from a teenage boy at a motel after the game, Vachon doesn’t endear himself to readers, but his constant over-thinking renders him a sympathetic character.
tag Keywords
françois barcelo
i hate hockey
j'haïs le hockey
roman noir
hockey
québec
satire sociale
humour noir
antoine vachon
anti-héros
suspense
meurtre
père et fils
trahison
culture québécoise
sport
littérature contemporaine
roman court
baraka books
polar
enquête
abus de pouvoir
divorce
chômage
petite ville
mystère
critique sociale
tradition
drame familial
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