Making Mayonnaise

JC Sutcliffe reviews Éric Plamondon's novel Mayonnaise. And what an insightful review it is. Mayonnaise (focusing on American cultural icon Richard Brautigan) is the second novel in the author's '1984' trilogy, following Hungary-Hollywood Express (based on Johnny Weismuller's life). The third (forthcoming) focuses on tech guru Steve Jobs. All three are narrated by the character Gabriel Rivages. All three translated by Dimitri Nasrallah.

Here is an excerpt from the recently-published CNQ 50th anniversary issue!

"Plamondon has a knack for taking an interesting but seemingly unrelated fact, bringing it round to some meaningful aspect of Brautigan (or Rivage's) life, and turning it into a polished narrative jewel."

"While Mayonnaise is emphatically not a realist novel, its grounding in life's minutiae, along with all its random, deeply pleasing connections, ends up feeling like a kind of alternative to realism. These diverse fragments might not emulsify in the manner of mayonnaise, but they do combine into a powerful and intelligent meditation on the meaning of existence."