May Our Joy Endure

Description

Finalist for the 2025 Governor Generals Literary Award in Translation AWalrusBest Book of Fall 2024 AGlobe100 Best Book of 2024 Winner of the 2023 Prix Mdicis, Prix Dcembre, and Prix RinguetCline Wachowski, internationally renowned architect and accidental digital-culture icon, unveils her plans for the Webuy Complex, her first megaproject in Montreal, her hometown. But instead of the triumph she anticipates in finally bringing her reputation to bear in her own city, the project is excoriated by critics, who accuse her of callously destroying the social fabric of neighborhoods, ushering in a new era of gentrification, and many even deadlier sins. When she is deposed as CEO of her firm, Cline must make sense of the charges against herself and the people in her elite circle. For the first time in danger of losing their footing, what fictions must they tell themselves to justify their privilege and maintain their position in the world that they themselves have built?Moving fluidly between Clines perspective and the perspectives of her critics, and revealing both the ruthlessness of her methods and the brilliance of her aesthetic vision,May Our Joy Endureis a shrewd examination of the microcosm of the ultra-privileged and a dazzling social novel that depicts with razor-sharp acuity the terrible beauty of wealth, influence, and art.Praise forMay Our Joy EndureBaroque and philosophical,May Our Joy Endurecaptures the sensibilities and excesses of the elite. A novel about the housing crisis told from the perspective of those causing it. Lambert captures how the ultra-wealthy justify their actions and sing their own praises while the population is crushed beneath their eloquent tapestry of lies. Lamberts writing is lyrical and rapturous. In this book, he proves himself a satirical and whimsical Robespierre, hailing from small town Quebec.Heather ONeill, author ofWhen We Lost Our HeadsAward-winning Canadian novelist Lambert weaves a hypnotic narrative, smoothly translated from French by Winkler, about greed and inequality, hypocrisy, and, not least, a dangerous notion of purity . . . An astute critique of entrenched power.Kirkus Reviews(starred review)[Lamberts] latest novela finalist for the Prix Goncourtis a social satire about an architect who faces extreme blowback for her plans for a major Montreal public works project.Globe and Mail,The Globe 100Febrile, provocative and incendiary are among the breathless adjectives used to describe the novels of this young writer from Chicoutimi . . . [May Our Joy Endure] (a Prix Goncourt finalist) is a social satire involving an architect who faces extreme unanticipated blowback for her plans for a major Montreal public works project.Emily Donaldson,Globe and MailAt a time when many fiction writers feel pressure to write socially useful literature, Lamberts refusal to deal in solutions feels like an invigorating slap in the face.Andr Forget,The WalrusAn icy, cerebral social novel that unfurls during the pandemic as the housing crisis in Montreal tips into catastrophe . . . Equal parts Proust, Woolf, andGossip Girl, the novels intimate perspective roves between Cline and her employees, confidantes, and antagonists like a canny eavesdropper at a party, showcasing Lamberts gimlet eye for the delusions and designer preferences of the one percent.Michelle Cyca,The WalrusWriting in the April issue of theLiterary Review of Canada, Amanda Perry called the award-winning original,Que notre joie demeure, stylistically adventurous. That also rings true for the seamless translation by Donald Winkler, who renders Lamberts shifting aesthetic modes and formal experimentation with verve.Emily Mernin,Literary Review of Canadas BookwormLike Bruegel and Blais, Lambert uses a large cast of characters to depict societys complexities. His gaze is oceanic, homing in on individuals and zooming out to the systems within which they operate.Marisa Grizenko,Montreal Review of BooksMay Our Joy Endureis a timely cultural interventiona scathing yet beautifully crafted critique of Qubecs elite and the forces of gentrification.Perspectives JournalFrom its opening pages, the novel offers a trenchant social critique in a chaotic unspooling of wordsLamberts prose is relentless as perspectives shift rapidly with scant stops for respite.Marcie McCauley,Rain Taxi ReviewLike his previous works, includingQuerelle of Roberval, Kevin Lamberts new novel has garnered acclaim and won multiple awards in the original French. A philosophical critique of the ultra-privileged, it tells of a famous architect who returns to her hometown and creates a furor with a widely condemned Montreal megaproject.Attila Berki,Quill & QuireAbrasive, funny, critical, spirited, and, above all, the show-stopping output of a unparalleled literary talent, its a challenging novel whose every page offers something to savour and value.Brett Josef Grubisic,The Miramichi Reader[A] translation . . . that masterfully captures the quality of the original text. As a reminder,May Our Joy Endurebrilliantly explores and satirizes the world of the ultra-rich, the galloping gentrification of neighborhoods, and the incestuous and parasitic links between political and economic circles.Benoit Migneault,Fugues[Lamberts] long and almost circular sentences spin and wrap around [their] characters while giving the book a stately, Proustian air.Ancillary Review of BooksA truly unique and contemporary literary contribution to an important issue.Thalia Stopa,Scout MagazineWinner of the Prix Mdicis, Lamberts sharp, provocative third novel embeds ever-timely themesgreed, hypocrisy and privilegein a narrative that blends satire and lyricism, whimsy and voyeurism.Hephzibah Anderson,The ObserverSupremely cunning . . . Between the cracks of its shifting perspective, the books darkness seeps through and creates a narrative landslide: the powerful, come what may, will remain in their ivory towers, untouchable. A novel that turns asphyxiation into a readers delight, as long as we are willing to take the plunge.Juliette Einhorn,Le Monde(Paris)Its a very Proustian novel set in the age of reality TV. Its a chilling portrait of our discourse around social justice today, and it points out that, sooner or later, we might find ourselves on the wrong side of it.lisabeth Philippe,Lobs(Paris)Kevin Lambert . . . give[s] us a pointillist painting of the ultra-rich and their world, even if they are rich and powerful, they are nonetheless human beings, with complexities, paradoxes, and contradictions, in which they pickle as if in their own brine.Laurence Houot, France Tlvision (Paris)[This book reminds us that] literature doesnt have to look for culprits, but that it should strive to point out the forces that weaken our solidarities.Dominic Tardif,La Presse(Montreal)Kevin Lamberts finely crafted literary edifice is intellectually brilliant, forcing us to think about the privilege of some and the suffering of others.Louise-Maude Rioux Soucy,Le Devoir(Montral)Were talking about an architect and the metaphor seems obvious:May Our Joy Endureis a multi-story novel, where we move from a balcony overlooking the world down to whats buried in the basement of our innermost thoughts.Jose Boileau,Journal de MontralKevin Lambert offers a nuanced, clear-sighted critique of the self-righteous elite in this dense novel that never falls into the trap of condemnation.Anne-Frdrique Hbert-Dolbec,Chtelaine(Montral)Praise forQuerelle of RobervalIt has finally arrived: the erotic Qubcois novel about labor conflict that weve all been waiting for . . . The book is written in an icy style. Try to find a surplus adjectiveI dare you. It is not for the squeamish but (or rather, and) is easily one of the best novels Ive read this year.Molly Young,New York TimesAs this off-putting yet attractively written novel explores both meanings of the word union, sex and domination are presented as conjoined compulsions that can lead to brutal forms of ecstasy.Sam Sacks,Wall Street JournalStructured as a reimagining of Greek tragedy,Querelle of Robervalis a book that reads like a swift, vivid dream. The language is direct and cuts straight to the bone, while dealing with passions both personal and professional . . . Brutal and beautiful by turns, this novel will grip readers from the first sentence all the way to its shocking conclusion.David Vogel,BuzzfeedLamberts fearless novel is a profane, funny, bleak, touching, playful, and outrageous satire of sexual politics, labour, and capitalism . . . The book is brash, beautiful, quasi-mythic, and tragic. Most improbably, for all its daring and provocation,Querelle of Robervalis lyrically, even tenderly written.Atwood Gibson Writers Trust Fiction Prize Judges Citation