IN THE CITY OF PIGS

TITLE - IN THE CITY OF PIGS 

WRITTEN BY - ANDRE FORGET 

PUBLISHED BY - DUNDURN PRESS

PUBLICATION DATE - 12TH JULY 2022

Dundurn Press’ imprint Rare Machines has produced some impressive left-field novels in its short life, and André Forget’s “In the City of Pigs” joins that list with inscrutable aplomb. 

Forget has a succinct style that is a joy to read, and the novel has an air of clinical intellectualism. His descriptive writing is vivid and rich as he describes the sights and sounds of Toronto. A knowledge of Toronto would probably add another dimension to the story, as it is very much a love-letter to that city, it’s history and present, but non-residents can read the book and easily immerse themselves in a city so well described. 

As to the story itself, the book deals largely with an underground avant-garde music collective, complete with modern agitprop Twitter posts and anonymous videos in abandoned warehouses; an exciting premise which evokes the rave culture of the ‘90s with a postmodern sheen. But Fera Civitatem’s plans are more far-reaching than that, demanding a kind of reimagining of society itself. Forget’s depiction of one of their secret concerts is visceral and brutal, the atonal lovechild of a philharmonic orchestra and the Jim Rose Circus.

Undoubtedly the book is pretentious in parts, and in many ways cold and lacking emotion, but not in a way that I could take seriously. In fact, the pretentiousness seemed almost to be played for laughs. Readers with a love of classical musical will find much to enjoy (and, no doubt, hate) in the book. 

Characterisation is a little hit and miss, with only Alexander really standing out amongst a mostly indistinguishable supporting cast made up of unlikeable arty types. Chapters are generally short, maybe some a little too short, but it all seems just right, and the storytelling is brisk. 

Part contemporary fiction, part exposé of economic divisions, part musicological thriller; I would call the book intellectually absurdist, and despite its pretension, has a strong thread of irreverence and imagination running through it. While not precisely unputdownable, I did find myself picking up the book often for just one more chapter. It is definitely not for everyone, but I am comfortable with novels that are unconventional, and I enjoyed this one very much.