“… a vivid, funny, and touching record of a unique time and place.”— Ian McGillis, Montreal Review of Books

“(Rastelli) 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.” - Stephen Clare, Halifax Daily News

A Fine Ending

“… hovering overhead is a powerful metaphysical gravitas heightened by the narrator’s innocence. Evil and death surround him, lives are ruined by drugs and drink, clouds of violence and doom are gathering. Fittingly, the story ends on the last night of the 20th century in a melancholy scene heavy with foreshadowed nostalgia: Something sweet and good is going, gone.” - Marianne Ackerman, The Globe and Mail

“Although Louis Rastelli’s A Fine Ending is written in a smooth, flowing style reminiscent of J.D. Salinger or Jacques Poulin, that doesn’t fully explain the novel’s appeal, which is voyeuristic as well as literary… His unique, insider perspective and matter-of-fact voice are the real draws in this warm-hearted account of an artistic community’s defining years.” - Anne Chudobiak, Montreal Gazette

“Rastelli’s lamplight anecdotes really fulfilled the longtime hunger I’ve had for genuine Montreal affected prose. His pre-Y2K musings were hopeful for the future of a city where we continue to fight against entrenched cynicism.”- Matthew Fiorentino, Concordia Link

“A Fine Ending is exactly that, an untroubled immortalization of a bygone era in the Montreal underground. There is something undeniably compelling in the openness and innocence of the telling, in the largely non-subjective subjectivity.”- Jamie O’Meara, Hour (Montreal)

“A Fine Ending is about a community of friends that grows and changes shape through the years, but who remain loyal to one another and their bohemian way of life… Rastelli successfully re-creates the gritty world of his youth, peopled with earthy characters and exploits that shock and entertain.” - Carmen Klassen, Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Available on Amazon
On Insomniac Press

From Chapters-Indigo Online

From Textnet.ca

Also available in Montreal at Monastiraki (5478 St-Laurent), The Word (469 Milton), Concordia Co-Op Bookstore (2150 Bishop), Drawn & Quarterly Bookstore (211 Bernard) and most any normal bookstore.

Illustration by Jean-Pierre Chansigaud.