Publisher: McArthur & Company
Page Count: 223 pp.
Released: English translation 2008
Fidelity Doesn’t Make the News
by Nadine Bismuth (translated by Susan Ouriou)
Nadine Bismuth takes her readers through the lives of middle-aged women, 10-year-old boys, maid of honors and princess rich girls in her collection of short stories, Fidelity Doesn’t Make the News. In each story, Bismuth conveys an emotion—whether it be insecurity, sadness, lust or anger—with understated ease and control. These are not stories that ride off the coat tails of lofty metaphors or drawn out descriptions of setting. Bismuth cuts the fat in her stories, leaving the reader fully immersed in the world she creates for us. Most of her characters chain smoke, just like the reader chain smokes through her intoxicating characters.
Her characters are fallible and often missing some piece of the big picture. In “Chinese Fondue,” married couple Murielle and Jean come over to share dinner at Normand and Lise’s house. Lise is a woman who has seemingly stopped the signs of aging by lathering her body with expensive lotions each night. But she has no idea that her husband is cheating on her with Murielle. When she finds out all she can do is sleep with Jean.
While some of her stories are snappy and cheeky, the title story “Fidelity Doesn’t Make the News” tells the story of a lonely woman with grown children thinking back on how happy she was. She makes pies, cabbage rolls and jars and jars of homemade ketchup so her children can take it all home when they come visit her. Unfortunately her children, a lawyer and a journalist, never visit her, despite her many pleas. Her homemade food only collects ice in her deep freeze.
Bismuth’s writing is fresh, spunky and articulate. She brings to life the rooms, restaurants, hotels and basements of Quebec. Her stories are ones that will not be easily forgotten.
Reviewed by Taryn Hubbard
