I just finished Linebound. It is an extraordinary book, funny, sad, wise and important. It made me laugh frequently. The stories and language that only anglo québécoise can fully appreciate. It brought sadness into focus, but always portrayed it as a part of living. As Uncle Lloyd said, grief is the strongest emotion. And the grief was not just about living and dying but of the fading of a community and perhaps even a dream.
The sadness and joy and ribaldry of the characters and the situations they confront are telling of the many lines that must be crossed (or not) underlined for me the struggle we all share not to be linebound in one way or the other.
It is a Quebecois book first, but a Canadian book too, managing to defy gravity that tries to push us in only one way. The book shows that the ambiguity in which we live is what makes life interesting, challenging and worthwhile.