About the Author

Gil Courtemanche is a journalist in international and third-world politics, and an author of several non-fiction works. Un dimanche à la piscine à Kigali spent more than a year on Quebec bestseller lists. A film version directed by Robert Favreau was released in 2006.

Patricia Claxton is one of Canada’s foremost translators, who has worked with Gabrielle Roy, Nicole Brossard and Pierre Elliott Trudeau, among others.

Reviews

“Courtemanche has written a novel that contains the kind of social criticism that still . . . is sharp and pertinent. . . . The journalist in him has, thankfully, emptied himself, heart and all, into a love story full of real people that demand to be remembered.” —Quill & Quire

“A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali is in part a novel about futility. It suggests that when the worst of which humanity is capable is unleashed, as in Rwanda, good is powerless to stand in its way. But it is also an essay in anger. Gil Courtemanche’s fury lights up the book: his fury at how the reverberations of the massacre, which sounded as thunder in Rwanda, barely stirred the moral air in the West until it was too late; his fury at the Western newscasters who sanitized and downplayed what was happening; his fury at the Western public and governments, for their repeated refusals to see Africa as any of their business; and above all his fury at the United Nations, with its hand-wringing and its utter failure to intervene. . . . Courtemanche’s exceptional book reminds us how a novel can involve the reader imaginatively and morally in ways a work of history or journalism never could. By mixing the documentary and the fictional, Courtemanche has managed to make the massacre visceral, messy and traumatically emotional again.” —The Sunday Times

“An astonishing first novel. . . [Courtemanche’s] time in Rwanda, where he worked as a journalist, may have produced the first great novel of the catastrophe that befell that country.” —The Guardian

“A fresco with humanist accents which could easily find a place next to the works of Albert Camus and Graham Greene.” —La Presse

“Brilliant, anguished and righteous…. There are many unsettling qualities to Gil Courtemanche’s extraordinary novel. But above all, it is his insistence on love, and the right to live one’s life passionately and well, even in the face of AIDS and the genocide, this double helix of devastating African tragedies, that make this book great.” —National Post

“A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali is a Heart of Darkness for today…. I don’t know what reader will read this book without feeling in some way morally tested.” —Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi

“This novel is not only powerful and beautifully written. Corrosive, denunciatory, Un dimanche à la piscine à Kigali also evokes the powerlessness and the complicity that permitted the [Rwandan] massacre to take place.” —Le Devoir

“A voice that evokes humanity in all its depth and breadth, where executioner and victim are brother and sister, where death is a daily occurrence. A voice I implore you to listen to.... Through a felicitous mix of reportage and fiction, Courtemanche has powerfully portrayed a lucid character deeply engaged in a humanist quest…. The many facets of Bernard Valcourt’s eye constitute the richest prism of the book since he so ably expresses the complex malaise that can be the fate of a western white man faced with Rwandan culture in full decline.” —Le Journal de Montreal

“A strong, assured voice . . . speaking of present day and tragic realities: AIDS and the Rwandan genocide–sicknesses of body and spirit with which men and women live, love, die and triumph. . . . A novel stuck on reality that nevertheless transcends it. You will recognize places and characters. You will recognize the mugginess of the climate. But Courtemanche’s fiction transmits the depth of the real better than any objective documentation.” —Relations

“Those who read this novel—and I hope they will be numerous—are in for some astonishing pages on the subject of love and death.” —David Homel, Books in Canada

“Exceptional.” —Jean-Paul Dubois, Le Nouvel Observateur

“A captivating first novel...Gil Courtemanche’s fine writing and refined style... weave together a love story full of beauty and tenderness.” —Voir

“A first novel whose story hits hard, very hard.” —Le Droit

“A tremendous novel.” —René Homier-Roy, Radio Canada/C’est bien meilleur le matin

“A few pages are enough for you to be swept away into the terrifying madness of a country.” —Le Nouvel Observateur

“When your first novel is compared to the works of Albert Camus, André Malrauz and Graham Greene, it’s a pretty good start. The book is set in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, just before the genocide of the Tutsis at the hands of the Hutu-led government. There is a sense of disaster foretold as these men and women, white and black, play out their last days around a hotel swimming pool in a city that will soon become a graveyard. Courtemanche’s novel is guided by a strong moral presence: that of the author. He has an astringent personality, and he puts it to good use in this book.” —The Gazette (Montreal)

“Journalist Courtemanche follows in Graham Greene’s footsteps to create popular work that distinguishes itself on the literary scene." —David Homel, Enycyclopedia Britanica

“A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali is a blunt, vividly visual account of a human cataclysm that has left a scar on the psyche of us all. At the same time it is a testament to love, its durabilility and frailty in the face of annihilation. Do not expect it to leave you untouched.” —Jonathan Kaplan, author of The Dressing Station

“Riveting. . . . Courtemanche’s literary influences includeErnest Hemingway, Graham Greene and Joseph Conrad.Those influences show.” —Victoria Times Colonist

Rwanda in the 1990s is as daunting a setting for a novel as one could choose, but Canadian journalist Courtemanche uses his time there to craft a compelling examination of humanity's heart of darkness. Through the eyes of his alter ego, Bernard Valcourt, we are given tribal genocide, murder, rape, and intentional HIV infection in unsparing detail. Valcourt falls in love with a young Rwandan he meets at his hotel's swimming pool, and their troubled plight drives the plot through a landscape of chaos. Though this is fiction, Courtemanche sticks to the public record, depicting the Hutu-led brutality against the Tutsi in a simultaneously frenzied and mundane manner. Sex and death are so entwined that a dying man's mother encourages a young woman to gratify him sexually before he passes, and in another scene a man rejoices when he finds out he will be executed after having sex with his wife in front of his tormentors. Despite the horror, there are parallel, if less frequent, moments of camaraderie, compassion, and selfless love. Winner of Canada's Prix des libraires du Qu?bec in 2000, this book is recommended for all public and academic libraries.-Edward Keane, Long Island Univ. Lib., Brooklyn Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

"Courtemanche has written a novel that contains the kind of social criticism that still . . . is sharp and pertinent. . . . The journalist in him has, thankfully, emptied himself, heart and all, into a love story full of real people that demand to be remembered." -Quill & Quire

"A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali is in part a novel about futility. It suggests that when the worst of which humanity is capable is unleashed, as in Rwanda, good is powerless to stand in its way. But it is also an essay in anger. Gil Courtemanche's fury lights up the book: his fury at how the reverberations of the massacre, which sounded as thunder in Rwanda, barely stirred the moral air in the West until it was too late; his fury at the Western newscasters who sanitized and downplayed what was happening; his fury at the Western public and governments, for their repeated refusals to see Africa as any of their business; and above all his fury at the United Nations, with its hand-wringing and its utter failure to intervene. . . . Courtemanche's exceptional book reminds us how a novel can involve the reader imaginatively and morally in ways a work of history or journalism never could. By mixing the documentary and the fictional, Courtemanche has managed to make the massacre visceral, messy and traumatically emotional again." -The Sunday Times

"An astonishing first novel. . . [Courtemanche's] time in Rwanda, where he worked as a journalist, may have produced the first great novel of the catastrophe that befell that country." -The Guardian

"A fresco with humanist accents which could easily find a place next to the works of Albert Camus and Graham Greene." -La Presse

"Brilliant, anguished and righteous.... There are many unsettling qualities to Gil Courtemanche's extraordinary novel. But above all, it is his insistence on love, and the right to live one's life passionately and well, even in the face of AIDS and the genocide, this double helix of devastating African tragedies, that make this book great." -National Post

"A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali is a Heart of Darkness for today.... I don't know what reader will read this book without feeling in some way morally tested." -Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi

"This novel is not only powerful and beautifully written. Corrosive, denunciatory, Un dimanche a la piscine a Kigali also evokes the powerlessness and the complicity that permitted the [Rwandan] massacre to take place." -Le Devoir

"A voice that evokes humanity in all its depth and breadth, where executioner and victim are brother and sister, where death is a daily occurrence. A voice I implore you to listen to.... Through a felicitous mix of reportage and fiction, Courtemanche has powerfully portrayed a lucid character deeply engaged in a humanist quest.... The many facets of Bernard Valcourt's eye constitute the richest prism of the book since he so ably expresses the complex malaise that can be the fate of a western white man faced with Rwandan culture in full decline." -Le Journal de Montreal

"A strong, assured voice . . . speaking of present day and tragic realities: AIDS and the Rwandan genocide-sicknesses of body and spirit with which men and women live, love, die and triumph. . . . A novel stuck on reality that nevertheless transcends it. You will recognize places and characters. You will recognize the mugginess of the climate. But Courtemanche's fiction transmits the depth of the real better than any objective documentation." -Relations

"Those who read this novel-and I hope they will be numerous-are in for some astonishing pages on the subject of love and death." -David Homel, Books in Canada

"Exceptional." -Jean-Paul Dubois, Le Nouvel Observateur

"A captivating first novel...Gil Courtemanche's fine writing and refined style... weave together a love story full of beauty and tenderness." -Voir

"A first novel whose story hits hard, very hard." -Le Droit

"A tremendous novel." -Rene Homier-Roy, Radio Canada/C'est bien meilleur le matin

"A few pages are enough for you to be swept away into the terrifying madness of a country." -Le Nouvel Observateur

"When your first novel is compared to the works of Albert Camus, Andre Malrauz and Graham Greene, it's a pretty good start. The book is set in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, just before the genocide of the Tutsis at the hands of the Hutu-led government. There is a sense of disaster foretold as these men and women, white and black, play out their last days around a hotel swimming pool in a city that will soon become a graveyard. Courtemanche's novel is guided by a strong moral presence: that of the author. He has an astringent personality, and he puts it to good use in this book." -The Gazette (Montreal)

"Journalist Courtemanche follows in Graham Greene's footsteps to create popular work that distinguishes itself on the literary scene." -David Homel, Enycyclopedia Britanica

"A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali is a blunt, vividly visual account of a human cataclysm that has left a scar on the psyche of us all. At the same time it is a testament to love, its durabilility and frailty in the face of annihilation. Do not expect it to leave you untouched." -Jonathan Kaplan, author of The Dressing Station

"Riveting. . . . Courtemanche's literary influences includeErnest Hemingway, Graham Greene and Joseph Conrad.Those influences show." -Victoria Times Colonist