An interesting, touching short novel about an older writer and the young woman who translates his work. ( )

A delightful short tale about a novelist and his translator who find themselves involved in the life of a mysterious young girl who appears to be in trouble, through the intercession of a small black cat. If you crossed [Rear Window] with [Plainsong], dashed in a few drops of [Breakfast at Tiffany's], wrote it in French and then translated it into English, you might get something like this.
December, 2015 ( )

Marine is a translator working and living on an island, where she translates for the Quebecois author, Monsieur Waterman. When a black cat suddenly comes into her life with a mysterious message on the collar, Marine decides to figure out where he came from and if she can help his former mistress.

At only 144 pages this slight, deceptively simple story could be read in an afternoon, but I guarantee you'll be thinking of it long after. It's an exploration of all sorts of human relationships, as well as language and finding just the right word for describing something. It's lush and lyrical (and it was an odd experience reading about translation in translation since it was originally French) and lovely. On a blurb in the back, Alberto Manguel describes it as "the essence of our human condition: giving and taking, teaching and learning, experiencing and sharing experience, a love affair with our fellow human beings." And I can't really say it better than that. ( )

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: A quietly affecting modern fairy tale told with humor and warmth, Translation is a Love Affair is a slender volume of immense humanity. A Quebecois novelist with a bad back and his vivacious translator discover a stray cat with an SOS attached to its collar. They embark upon a search for its owner, and when they discover a young girl with bandaged wrists they are drawn into a mystery they don't dare neglect. The world Poulin creates is haunted by dark memories, isolation, and tragedy, yet it is one in which languageand love are the most immediate and vital forces, where one human being hearing a cry of distress of another is compelled to shed one's own inhibitions to respond.

My Review: What a joy it is to discover such a famous novelist, he said with irony dripping onto his keyboard. In a properly order world, Poulin would be as well known in the US as in Canada, and just as justly celebrated.

This tale was a joy to read from "Naked as a trout, I was stepping out of the pond..." to the last spoilery paragraph. I finished it in a few hours, and read about half of it a second time. I am a sucker for stories of made families, as opposed to birth families; I love the idea of the love affair consummated by the intimate connection and tender caring actions of both people despite the long lifetime's difference in their ages. (Well, I would, wouldn't I, being a single mumble fiver now?)

After work he often called me to talk about this and that, or because he'd forgotten a word or the title of a book, or to ask me a question, such as: 'How can I keep brown rice from tasting like shrimp shells?'

Simple and direct, no ornamentation, a short passage sums up the flavor of a deep and cherished connection. That is fine philosophizing as well as deep thinking. ( )

Jacques Poulin, ce québécois de Quebec City, possède une écriture dont la simplicité cache la profondeur de la réflexion sur l'humain. Comme Pierre Morency (lui aussi de Québec), ce poète de la nature, aviaire notamment, il traduit en quelques mots et en prases toute simples des sentiments complexes, mais non tourmentés. Que ce soit dans Volkswagen Blues ou dans La tournée d'automne, Poulin réussit à décrire un amour ou une amitié qui se développe lentement, à la vitesse des saisons qui passent. On ne retrouve pas dans La traduction est une histoire d'amour les kilomètres et les mouvements, le voyage et la route, mais son écriture demeure poétique tant elle est dépouillée.

Les protagonistes de ce roman (monsieur Waterman, un écrivain solitaire, Marine, une traductrice et Limoilou, une adolescente délaissée) se retrouvent dans la plus récente livraison de Jacques Poulin, L'anglais n'est pas une langue magique que j'espère lire sous peu pour retrouver l'atmosphère qu'il sait si bien peindre.

[http://rivesderives.blogspot.ca/2009/04/la-traduction-est-une-histoire-damour.html] ( )