"[An] astounding book . a mini epic of an ordinary man, and a time capsule of post-war Montreal with all its problems, economic, political, and environmental. I highly recommend it."-- The Miramichi Reader "One of the greatest Quebec novelists and short story writers of our time."-- Lettres Québécoises "Bock's language crackles with the energy of a Québécois folk song, impassioned and celebratory but also melancholy and cheekily ironic."-- The New Yorker "Bock creates an impressive diversity of voices."-- Times Literary Supplement " Morel is an enjoyable novel, one to savour over several sittings, featuring a charismatic protagonist with an incident-filled life, even if he never really ventures far beyond the city he grew up in. A tale of a working-class man, Bock's work tells the story of all those who made it possible for everyone else to enjoy convenient transportation and luxurious office buildings.

In effect, for those of us who've led a more sheltered life, it's a glimpse behind the scenes, and a chance to vicariously get our hands dirty. -- Tony's Reading List Review "Bock's hero--his unusual name nested in the name of his city--becomes a metonym for a generation of Montreal's working class. Haunted in old age by aches and pains, Morel is a 'grey, perpetually broken and patched body, left piece by piece to the city.' Some workers give their lives, falling down ventilation shafts or stairwells; others drown in hot asphalt or are killed by falling debris. Though their bodies form part of the new Montreal, they are only pawns, forced to 'compete with each other when they're equally together in this mess, ruin their bodies and souls for fistfuls of change when they made towers surge from the ground for multimillionaires." -- Full Stop Review.