Volkswagen Blues - Jacques Poulin (translated by Sheila Fischman)

Completed May 29 2007 4/5

This was a fun little road trip book. A guy from Montreal picks up a girl (and her cat Chop Suey) hitchhiking and they take off across the States trying to track down his brother who he lost touch with years earlier. They follow clues along the way, looking for his name in guest books at national parks among other things. Along the way they also mix in stories from the native legends of the area they are in, and along the Oregon Trail follow stories of an imaginary wagon train.
I originally heard of this book as it was a suggestion for a ‘translated to English’ book. It didn’t get picked (Perfume, bleh, got picked instead) but I decided to read it anyways and I’m really glad I did. This is not a book I would have stumbled upon by myself.
I read it on the way to and in LA which added to the road trip theme.

First Sentence - He was awakened by the meowing of a cat.
Last Sentence - He walked until the Volks had disappeared, and when he walked into the airport alone, he was smiling in spite of everything at the thought that somewhere in the vastness of America, there was a secret place where the gods of the Indians and the other gods were meeting together in order to watch over him and light his way.