Multi-talented artist, comedian Mariana Mazza proves she has a gift for writing too in her first book, Montreal North. In this crisp, funny, tender, sensitive, moving autobiographical story, she revisits her childhood memories in the Montreal-North district with her immigrant mother and her older brother. An authentic voice, a tribute to the universe where she grew up and to ordinary people… made extraordinary by their human qualities, their sense of community, their solidarity.
• Read also: Mariana Mazza launches her novel Montréal-Nord
Mariana Mazza, an energetic, audacious humorist known for her outspokenness, also shows her great sensitivity in Montreal North. The themes she addresses, such as identity, belonging, the strength of family ties and friendship, are both intimate and universal. There is no doubt that many people of her generation, who grew up in Montreal North, will find an echo in what she shares.
Mariana delivers with transparency. She shares her dreams, her fears, her aspirations, her observations, her questions. She describes her daily life with a single mother who combines jobs to make ends meet. She talks regarding her family, the neighborhood where she lived, the immigrant families she met, the teachers who supported and inspired her, the mythical places she frequented, such as the Argentinian Club and the Langelier cinema. She does it with so much talent that you want to know everything, read everything, all at once.
“I always wanted to tell what I lived because I always found that what I lived, it was not an ordinary life. It was a life all the same quite banal, but which is anything but banal, at the same time, ”she shares in an interview.
Reading Caroline Dawson’s book, Where I landgave him the impetus to get started.
His mother, a “Jedi”
Going back to his childhood, with hindsight, did him good.
“It’s a very honest look. I am very proud of where I come from. I am very happy with what I experienced. And when I think regarding it, I realize that I did very well because I might have escaped it, she confides. I realize that it was a beautiful childhood.
“By writing this book, I realize how much my mother is a fighter. I’ve always known this, but while writing it, I realized that it’s true that she wasn’t home much. But she wasn’t partying. She was working. My mother is a Jedi host.
“I realized how resourceful I was. I really wasn’t unhappy. It was chill.»
Despite the difficulties, despite a disadvantaged environment.
“I was not alone. And I was in the least worst.
She wrote the book with a lot of love… and hard work, under the guidance of her publisher, Stéphane Dompierre.
“A lot more people than you think have had that kind of childhood. And many people think they are the only ones to have experienced it. A lot of people say their mom wasn’t there, their mom was drunk, they were alone… but no. Not only were you not alone… but you weren’t the only ones who went through it.”
She speaks with pride of her roots, of her culture.
“I think it will make a lot of people who have never left here understand, or many Quebecers who live in Quebec and who have not had much contact with people of immigrant origin, at what point is so rich. We were poor… but so rich at the same time.”
- Quebec comedian of Lebanese-Uruguayan origin Mariana Mazza was born in Montreal North in 1990.
- Winner of the Olivier of the Year in 2017 and 2022, she is the only woman to have won this award.
- She is also an author, actress, animator and painter and expresses her creativity in many forms.
- There will be a sequel to this first volume.
EXTRACT
«Our rear balcony overlooked a garage descent and a quiet street. The garage belonged to the owner of the building and was not used by anyone. In winter, when the snow accumulated on the descent, we hit a small path with our boots and we slid with a crazy carpet towards the door of the unoccupied garage. It was quite steep. We took an impressive speed for the short distance and we had to brake very quickly with our feet at the risk of smashing our skulls on the wooden door.
