We cannot do otherwise. The meeting place given to Marie-Josie Gavin for this interview is self-evident: the corner of de Bleury and Sainte-Catherine Ovest in Montreal. Over the years, MusiquePlus VJs have performed live. Young Marie-Josie Gauvin dreamed of working one day.
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Fate decided otherwise. What can be heard weekday mornings on Rouge FM will never hold the microphone of a defunct TV station. MusiquePlus still traces the host’s life so much that she chose to name her first novel in honor of the channel.
“Are people going to expect it to be a documentary? », Marie-Josie Gauvin worried when it came time to choose a title, We are listening to MusiquePlus.
Because no, the book doesn’t take place in the glass studios that have housed all Ganta artists for over two decades. Instead, it transports readers to Lac-Saint-Jean in the early 2000s and follows four music-loving teenage girls who spend most of their time listening to — you guessed it — MusicPlus.
Without being autobiographical, the novel is inspired by the life of a host she has known since kindergarten and three childhood friends.
Ironically, the reason for this book is really to pay tribute to these three girls and our friendship.
Marie-Josie Gauvin
Like most teenage girls who went to high school when Britney Spears was at the top of the charts, the quartet exchanged very creative folded letters between classes. Nostalgic at heart, Marie-Josie Gauvin kept them all. Unfortunately, they were gutted in a fire a few years ago.
“As a birthday present, my friend Jade printed out everything I wrote for her. She told me: “It might not be the same, but it’s part of our story,” the 30-year-old says.
“When I read them again, I realized, ‘There’s something there.'”
Pop culture
This “something” morphed into the first volume of a trilogy that was acceptable to pop culture at the turn of the millennium. Think Brad Pitt Legends of FallTo Jennifer Love Hewitt Everything is allowed tonightat PS sensitivity On the airwaves of rock détente, with studded belts, tribal tattoos: if you’re 30 to 40 years old, memories will chase each other after reading this novel.
Do all these examples from the past require thorough investigation? On the contrary. “This culture is very important to my friends and me,” replied Marie-Josie Gavin. Even today, she often brings up topics from the 1990s and 2000s in her daily talks, which sometimes frustrates her radio colleagues, she revealed.
To immerse herself in her past, Marie-Josie Gauvin carried herself away through the songs of the time.
Smells bring back a lot of memories for some people. I mean, it’s really music. […] The musical memory is very clear to me. I can tell you how I dressed or how I felt when I heard a piece for the first time.
Marie-Josie Gauvin
Each chapter ofWe are listening to MusiquePlus Also associated with a song. of They are killing in the name From Rage Against the Machine Ironically From Alanis Morissette, by i miss you or from La Chicane Life is ugly By Jean Leloup, the playlist is varied (and available on Spotify for those interested).
Although nostalgia for the 2000s is very much present in the novel, Marie-Josie Gavin doesn’t believe she needs to live through the decade to identify with her quartet of friends, quite the contrary. “Irrespective of the era, the emotions of adolescence remain the same”, feels the man who is currently working on the second volume of the trilogy.
We are listening to MusiquePlus
Marie-Josie Gauvin
Opposite Editions du Parc
300 pages
Lana, the star dog
Marie-Josie Gauvin admits that she gets a lot of inspiration to write from those around her. If her friends show up We are listening to MusiquePlus, in Lananouille’s children’s albums, is the source of the story of his family and his dog. “This is a family project. With Josephine, my daughter, we fell into thought. […] It’s almost a canine autobiography, because Lana does all these things for real,” the author explains of the funny series, which features a clumsy animal, whose second title was published last summer.
Lananouille 2 – A dog that doesn’t see itself as a dog
Text by Marie-Josie Gauvin, illustrations by Agathe Bray-Bouret
Les Malins Editions
From the age of 3 years
