St. Urbain's Horseman

St. Urbain's Horseman by Richler, Mordecai. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780140167696.

St. Urbainâ s Horseman is a complex, moving, and wonderfully comic evocation of a generation consumed with guilt â guilt at not joining every battle, at not healing every wound. Thirty-seven-year-old Jake Hersh is a film director of modest success, a faithful husband, and a man in disgrace. His alter ego is his cousin Joey, a legend in their childhood neighbourhood in Montreal. Nazi-hunter, adventurer, and hero of the Spanish Civil War, Joey is the avenging horseman of Jakeâ s impotent dreams. When Jake becomes embroiled in a scandalous trial in London, England, he puts his own unadventurous life on trial as well, finding it desperately wanting as he steadfastly longs for the Horsemanâ s glorious return. Irreverent, deeply felt, as scathing in its critique of social mores as it is uproariously funny, St. Urbainâ s Horseman confirms Mordecai Richlerâ s reputation as a pre-eminent observer of the hypocrisies and absurdities of modern life.