Narrated with disarming candor by Jim, the self-described slowest writer in Quebec, Mister Blue unfolds in and around Jim's hodge-podge of a rebuilt house far out in the middle of the bay. Jim's sole companion is his cat, Mister Blue.
One day, Jim notices a set of footprints on the deserted beach near his isolated home that are exactly the same size as his own. They lead to a cave where Jim finds a copy of The Arabian Nights inscribed with the name Marie K. He concludes that Marika, as he calls her, is the owner of the dilapidated sailboat anchored just off the sandy inlet. Grieving over the loss of his wife to a rival referred to only as Superman, repeatedly finding the cave deserted but the bookmark in The Arabian Nights quickly moving forward, Jim becomes spellbound by a woman he can't even manage to meet, while he struggles to write a love story. Meanwhile, Jim becomes involved with the Girls' House, a shelter in Old Quebec for women in distress, and in particular with La Petite, a 16-year-old runaway. Poulin has perfected the art of making simplicity look artless.
This delicate tale is told with Hemingway-like sparseness and minimal melodrama. As usual in life, while our hero relentlessly pursues a woman who may not even exist, real love is happening to him without his knowing. Poulin earns his lump-in-the-throat ending. --Nick DiMartino, Nick's Picks, University Book Store, Seattle