When the electricity inexplicably goes out nationwide, the mundanities of life gradually shift to the rigours of survival. In this post-apocalyptic setting, an unnamed mechanic jumps into his beat-up car and drives east, journeying 4,736 kilometres to reach his dying father.As the narrator’s journey becomes one of essentials  gasoline, water bottles, and gas-station food  and as the crisis engulfing his surroundings begins to weigh on him ever more, he seeks refuge in a woman, and later, with a fellow traveler he meets on the road. These two kindred souls join him on his path, though they seem to seek a different sort of redemption.As the road grows longer, and the narrator’s exhaustion grows in kind, parallels are drawn between his own journey through this labyrinth and Theseus’s journey through the primeval Labyrinth. However, the beast that our narrator seeks to slay might not be one of flesh and horn and blood, but instead of his own failing mental state, of his thirst for this apocalypse around him. In the end, the obsession with which he pursues this beast  which he will ultimately find  will be his undoing.Running on Fumes is a road novel that carries with it influences of the genre, with their storylines of redemption through distance travelled, often in a failing world that reflects the protagonist’s interior. The line that delineates whether the world is reflecting the narrator’s state or whether the narrator’s mindset is reflected by the world is hazy, and there remains a level of uncertainty on the truths the narrator speaks.

Running on Fumes

Literature & Fiction

Guay-Poliquin, Christian

Literary

Talonbooks

<p>A badly injured man. A nationwide power failure. A village buried in snow. A desperate struggle for survival. These are the ingredients of The Weight of Snow, Christian Guay-Poliquin’s riveting new novel. After surviving a major accident, the book’s protagonist is entrusted to Matthias, a taciturn old man who agrees to heal his wounds in exchange for supplies and a chance of escape. The two men become prisoners of the elements and of their own rough confrontation as the centimetres of snow accumulate relentlessly. Surrounded by a nature both hostile and sublime, their relationship oscillates between commiseration, mistrust, and mutual aid. Will they manage to hold out against external threats and intimate pitfalls?</p>

The Weight of Snow

<p>Dans la forêt, un homme seul marche en direction du camp de chasse où sa famille s’est réfugiée pour fuir les bouleversements provoqués par une panne électrique généralisée. Il se sait menacé et s’enfonce dans les montagnes en suivant les sentiers et les ruisseaux. Un jour qu’il s'est égaré, un mystérieux garçon l’interpelle. Il a une douzaine d’années, semble n’avoir peur de rien et se joint à l’homme comme s’il l’avait toujours connu. L’insolite duo devra affronter l’hostilité des contrées sauvages et déjouer les manigances des groupes offensifs qui peuplent désormais les bois.Après le succès international du Poids de la neige, traduit dans plus de quinze langues, Christian Guay-Poliquin revient avec un roman juste et astucieux. Incitant à l’aventure, Les ombres filantes questionnent le sens de la communauté et revisitent les classiques de la survie en nature.</p>

Les ombres filantes

La Peuplade

Le Poids de la neige

L'OBSERVATOIRE

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