A Fine Ending was reviewed in last Sunday’s Halifax Daily News (click to see review). The paper also ran an interview with Louis Rastelli (available here). There is a longer version of this interview available on the journalist’s personal blog, right here.
From the review:
“Louis Rastelli’s debut novel, A Fine Ending, is a captivating tale of a compelling place at a unique time that takes readers on an intimate journey through the twists and turns of la vie boheme…
“Amidst this maniacal milieu, it is only Louis’ affection for two adopted kittens that keep him rooted in the reality of the heart. In fact, the tenderness of those short passages is filled with a melancholia that is not unlike J.D. Salinger’s uber-protagonist, Holden Caulfield. Alas, more Catcher in the Rye than On the Road, Rastelli’s book is over-flowing with the sombre tone of life at the end of the millennium, when some dreams die off as others are born.
“And this is perhaps the author’s greatest accomplishment with the novel; by touching upon the lives of those who inhabit the region - a generation with nothing to gain and nothing to lose - he has successfully painted a timeless portrait of the spirit of bohemia that not only permeates the vibrant and colourful Montreal neighbourhood in which he lives and loves, but would feel equally at home in Greenwich Village, Soho or along the left bank of Paris. And, like the Plateau itself, A Fine Ending shines with both substance and style”