350 replies to this topic

[Peppercorn1991]

Im really happy to hear this   Do you think we could get it for christmas

kev

[Alex_Incognito]

Bombardier is unknown in the anglophone world.  I wouldn't hold my breath for this book in English.

[Lou555]

Alex_Incognito, on Aug 16 2009, 07:45 PM, said:

Bombardier is unknown in the anglophone world.  I wouldn't hold my breath for this book in English.

I think you're missing the point here Alex imo cuz this book isn't at all about Bombardier as you know, so who cares really.  I knew nothing about Jenna Glatzer when I bought Céline's bio "Céline Dion Pour Toujours" translated by G.H. Germain.   "They just have to find a good publisher to translate it in the US and UK" like the actual publisher answered a member on this forum.

Edited by Lou555, 16 August 2009 - 06:02 PM.

[Alex_Incognito]

You've missed my point. I just don't think there's a market for this book outside the francophone world.

[scielle]

Interesting interview with Denise Bombardier on France 2 -

[nuts2you]

what does she say in this Video above, if anybody could translate this

[québecflower]

she says that she interviewed prime ministers, president, very important people, and Celine is one of the most intelligent person she met. Celine can analyse people right away, a place can be full of people and she is able to say who is for or against her. she is smart that way. When she decided to write her book, she asked René and Céline, and René said yes right away.   During the tour, sometimes she was invited to join Celine, her mother ans sisters at the hotel just to share fun.  She had diner with René and Celine many times. Denise's husband who is a teacher at Oxford was with her too during the tour and was real happy about it.  That's about the sum of it.

[celine4evauk]

Hope this comes out in English too.

[Angel2006]

québecflower, on 11 March 2016 - 02:28 PM, said:

she says that she interviewed prime ministers, president, very important people, and Celine is one of the most intelligent person she met. Celine can analyse people right away, a place can be full of people and she is able to say who is for or against her. she is smart that way. When she decided to write her book, she asked René and Céline, and René said yes right away.   During the tour, sometimes she was invited to join Celine, her mother ans sisters at the hotel just to share fun.  She had diner with René and Celine many times. Denise's husband who is a teacher at Oxford was with her too during the tour and was real happy about it.  That's about the sum of it.

I have always thought that Celine is a smart woman. I've often thought that one of the big reasons Celine married an older man was because she needed someone intelligent and worldly smart like herself.

It is very interesting to read that out of all those important and intelligent people this woman has interviewed, she considers Celine one of the smartest. That is a really big complement.

[scielle]

chocolatechip15, on 16 February 2016 - 08:50 PM, said:

Did you really like it a lot? I read it (what I could understand with my so-so French) and was a bit disappointed - I'd expected more from her.   There wasn't much new information or insight. A lot of it was from the A Coeur Ouvert interview, and a lot of times I felt like she was trying too hard to make things fit into her thesis, focusing too much on the serious/dark side of things. She did a fair amount of speculating . .things like "Must've been weird for Celine to become a stepmother to people about the same age as her."  Aaaand. . that was it. No new stories or insights about  the issue, just that it must have been hard.  (I'm glad, actually, that Celine keeps stuff like that private - it's no one else's business - but why even bring it up if you're not going to do anything with it?)

And I don't think Celine is enigmatic at all.  More complex and less of an open book than she initially appears? Absolutely. Enigmatic? Not really.  I was also disappointed by how short the book was. Huge margins with tons of white space on every page; not very long.  More novella-length than book length.

But there were a number of interesting anecdotes based on her personal experience being part of the tour, and I thought those were the best part. I recall her saying that the members of Celine's entourage use how close they are to Celine as a status kind of thing (Like "I spoke to Celine this morning." to kind of show how special they were). That kind of thing was interesting.

So I was intrigued by the discussion about this (in another thread, but thought it more appropriate to comment here), so decided to pick up the book after all (though initially dismissed it largely on account of the seemingly ill-fitting title!)  I must say I did quite enjoy it, though agree with you that all in all it's a bit disappointing.

I liked that it wasn't as blindly adulatory as the stuff from Georges-Hebert Germain or the various other books cobbled together from press clippings.  It's thoughtful and offers some analysis rather than just stating - and adorning - the facts.  And the length is really a function of it being an extended essay; an opinion piece more than anything else.  Hence the length and the speculation.  

That being said, I agree there isn't much there that we don't already know, or have guessed ourselves, if unspoken.  Maybe that's because it was written several years ago, and reading it now feels a bit dated.  Maybe it's because there's not much in it that's not already covered in Denise Bombardier's TV5 interview.  I'm surprised that, having followed Celine around (for the better part of a year?) she didn't have more quotes to include beyond what's in the interview (which, by the way, is one of the most intriguing interviews out there, so I give her that).

And I am a bit surprised we didn't at some point end up with an English edition of this. I'm fairly certain Denise Bombardier could do it herself without a 3rd party translator.  I know she's all about writing in French, but hey, she was a winner in the Canada Reads English debates several years back - debating against our now Prime Minister, no less! - so I'm sure she could do a solid job if there was demand / if she wanted to.  

I kinda feel we're due for an update in a few years.  I'm sure she'll have more to say, since a lot has happened since this came out.  Someone is eventually going to write a thoughtful, substantial book about the last few years for Celine -  I don't mean one of those opportunistic books pieced together from celebrity press, like the few that have been announced in recent weeks.  And if someone does write a new book, I wouldn't mind it being Denise Bombardier, provided it's more of a bio than an essay.  Someone is bound to "take over" for Georges-Hebert Germain on the official biography front, and Denise seems like a pretty reasonable choice.  Guess we'll see.

[scielle]

Maybe Celine's recent spurt of social activity is just a bid to prove Denise Bombardier wrong
You know, the Denise Bombardier who wrote "Celine has no friends".

On a serious note though, I wonder what Denise thinks of Celine 2.0
She had some unprecedented access and her book gave us one of the best insights into Celine so far. I'd be curious to read her thoughts.

[chocolatechip15]

scielle, on 26 July 2017 - 10:59 PM, said:

Maybe Celine's recent spurt of social activity is just a bid to prove Denise Bombardier wrong
You know, the Denise Bombardier who wrote "Celine has no friends".

On a serious note though, I wonder what Denise thinks of Celine 2.0
She had some unprecedented access and her book gave us one of the best insights into Celine so far. I'd be curious to read her thoughts.

Yes, and Denise also wrote about RC not spending time with other kids. Now he's pretty much always with his hockey buddies.

[scielle]

chocolatechip15, on 27 July 2017 - 12:38 PM, said:

Yes, and Denise also wrote about RC not spending time with other kids. Now he's pretty much always with his hockey buddies.

Well, to be fair, that was nearly a decade ago. He was a wee little thing. Aaaand she followed them on tour; presumably there were no other 7-year-olds around...

Edited by scielle, 27 July 2017 - 12:51 PM.

[RosieBarron]

scielle, on 27 July 2017 - 12:44 PM, said:

Well, to be fair, that was nearly a decade ago. He was a wee little thing. Aaaand she followed them on tour; presumably there were no other 7-year-olds around...

Apart from Elise's son...

[scielle]

Apparently Denise Bombardier has an autobiography out - https://montrealgaze...ne-tough-cookie

[manolo19]

I've been looking for an interview of her when she presents her book on a French tv show and the team made a little montage of Celine career and she says I'm disgusted by the video you made .. you can't always laugh about anything and I understand you can't stand that it's a woman from Quebec that succeeded the most… anyone remembers that

Edited by manolo19, 13 November 2018 - 01:15 PM.

[Critiaslux]

I have never read her essay on Céline ... shame

Just saw this video when she came in France 2 years ago to promote her book on gambling.



Interesting what she says about Céline: her emotional intelligence.

[scielle]

"Ce qui me touche chez Céline Dion, c'est qu'elle est arrivée au sommet de la gloire en partant de rien, d'une petite maison du côté de Charlemagne. Au Québec, elle est devenue une richesse naturelle, au même titre que l'électricité, le Saint-Laurent et nos forêts. L'engouement est incroyable, même parmi les intellos qui s'en cachent tel un vice : comme tu ne dis pas que tu vas jouer au casino, tu ne dis pas que tu aimes les chansons de Céline Dion. J'en ai écrit une pour elle, La Diva (complimentée par Luc Plamondon, quel bonheur !) et j'ai publié un livre sur elle après l'avoir suivie durant toute une tournée mondiale.  

C'était de la folie. En Chine, j'ai vu 60 000 personnes l'attendre avec des affiches en français, 'Céline, on t'aime'. Et à Dubaï, des femmes en tchador venues l'acclamer de Téhéran. Pour autant, elle reste pour moi une énigme. A la différence d'autres artistes isolés au sommet, elle n'a jamais perdu la tête. Jusqu'à il y a peu, en tout cas."

https://www.lexpress...er_2060944.html

[jpatdeleon09]

Another Rare Photo during A New Day

[Ajax]

scielle, on 09 February 2019 - 07:21 AM, said:

"Ce qui me touche chez Céline Dion, c'est qu'elle est arrivée au sommet de la gloire en partant de rien, d'une petite maison du côté de Charlemagne. Au Québec, elle est devenue une richesse naturelle, au même titre que l'électricité, le Saint-Laurent et nos forêts. L'engouement est incroyable, même parmi les intellos qui s'en cachent tel un vice : comme tu ne dis pas que tu vas jouer au casino, tu ne dis pas que tu aimes les chansons de Céline Dion. J'en ai écrit une pour elle, La Diva (complimentée par Luc Plamondon, quel bonheur !) et j'ai publié un livre sur elle après l'avoir suivie durant toute une tournée mondiale.  

C'était de la folie. En Chine, j'ai vu 60 000 personnes l'attendre avec des affiches en français, 'Céline, on t'aime'. Et à Dubaï, des femmes en tchador venues l'acclamer de Téhéran. Pour autant, elle reste pour moi une énigme. A la différence d'autres artistes isolés au sommet, elle n'a jamais perdu la tête. Jusqu'à il y a peu, en tout cas."

https://www.lexpress...er_2060944.html

Haha the last sentence : she never lost her mind. At least till recently.

🤔

[scielle]

Ajax, on 09 February 2019 - 10:17 AM, said:

Haha the last sentence : she never lost her mind. At least till recently.

��

LOL yeah, that's why I quoted it.
Sounds like Denise is in the market for one of them shirts - http://www.elle.fr/M...-moment-3754117

https://elevenparis.com/fr/liaj-issues

Edited by scielle, 09 February 2019 - 10:26 AM.