The Alien House, by Élise Turcotte is an English translation of the original French version of the book which won the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction in 2003.
I can't remember the last time I read a book where I felt almost every sentence acutely. The pathos created is so strong that I related to pains I myself have never felt and I connected them to the various shades of emotions that I have experienced.
The narrative follows Élizabeth, a professor interested in love and representations of the body during the middle ages. Her boyfriend Jim has recently moved out and left her. The novel follows her as she grieves over the loss of him, alters her life and home in an attempt to move on, experiments with a new lover and is plagued by dreams both good and bad.
The writing style is rich, as is the way Élizabeth perceives the world around her. For Élizabeth smell is especially important. This passage is one of my favourites: "I know that our emotions have an odour. Fear for instance gives off a somewhat acrid smell. What does loneliness smell like then, and aging, and helplessness?"(113).
I understand fully why this book was awarded the most honourable literary award in the country. Turcotte has the ability to make the reader feel as though they too, like Élizabeth, are experiencing emotional turmoil.
(A warning to young readers and sensitive readers. This book contains sexually explicit scenes)
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