The girl who was Saturday night - The Library of the Uncommons

405 pages

English language

Published Nov. 10, 2014

ISBN:: 978-0-374-16266-5
OCLC Number:: 858731075

(2 reviews)

"Nineteen years old, free of prospects, and inescapably famous, the twins Nicholas and Nouschka Tremblay are trying to outrun the notoriety of their father, a French-Canadian Serge Gainsbourg with a genius for the absurd and for winding up in prison. "Back in the day, he could come home from a show with a paper bag filled with women's underwear. Outside of Québec nobody had even heard of him, naturally. Québec needed stars badly." Since the twins were little, Étienne has made them part of his unashamed seduction of the province, parading them on talk shows and then dumping them with their decrepit grandfather while he disappeared into some festive squalor. Now Étienne is washed up and the twins are making their own almost-grown-up messes, with every misstep landing on the front pages of the tabloid Allo Police. Nouschka not only needs to leave her childhood behind; she also has to …

"Nineteen years old, free of prospects, and inescapably famous, the twins Nicholas and Nouschka Tremblay are trying to outrun the notoriety of their father, a French-Canadian Serge Gainsbourg with a genius for the absurd and for winding up in prison. "Back in the day, he could come home from a show with a paper bag filled with women's underwear. Outside of Québec nobody had even heard of him, naturally. Québec needed stars badly." Since the twins were little, Étienne has made them part of his unashamed seduction of the province, parading them on talk shows and then dumping them with their decrepit grandfather while he disappeared into some festive squalor. Now Étienne is washed up and the twins are making their own almost-grown-up messes, with every misstep landing on the front pages of the tabloid Allo Police. Nouschka not only needs to leave her childhood behind; she also has to leave her brother, whose increasingly erratic decisions might take her down with him" --

5 editions

MaidMerry reviewed The girl who was Saturday night by Heather O'Neill

Review of 'The girl who was Saturday night' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I loved the writing but didn't give this 5 stars because I didn't love the story. Ms. O'Neill writes about people who live very difficult lives and struggle with homelessness, addiction, violence, mental illness, etc. I understand this was her own experience, and I know many people who have had this experience. They are important subjects to write about. However, the main character in this novel and her brother and husband were so off the wall, I found it hard to relate at times or understand their actions, even though I work with people in similar circumstances. Still, this book is definitely worth a read, and if I could have, I probably would have given it 4 1/2 stars instead of 4.

grey not grey

rated it

Dec. 26, 2014

Subjects

Children of celebrities
Twins
Brothers and sisters
Fiction

Places

Québec (Québec)