Larry Volt

Norman P. Goldman is a retired Civil Law Notaire (Notary) who also
specializes in Montreal history and culture.

Larry Volt attempts to capture the rebellious mood of French-Canadian
youth during the period 1963–70, when a radical group known as the
Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) used terrorism to promote the
nondemocratic secession of Quebec from Canada.

The protagonist is 18-year-old Larry Tremblay, who calls himself Larry
Volt, “the perfect name for a black sheep, a raging ram.” The
cynical, angry Larry is anti-everything—including the establishment,
Anglophones, Americans, and educators—and although he loves women, he
seems to have very little respect for them. On the other hand, he is
also somewhat witty and loves to engage in wordplay, referring at one
point to his classical college as “Saint Suspicious” and the
teachers as the “Suspicians.” Larry is constantly involved in
various unsavory escapades that end in disaster. He kidnaps a
French-Canadian executive under the misconception that the victim is an
American executive of a Quebec company. On another occasion, a classmate
is killed in a car accident due to Larry’s diabolical plan to frame
the friend as a member of the FLQ.

The novel is at times annoying, particularly when the author keeps
repeating the trite expression “you got to do what you got to do” in
order to explain some of Larry’s behavior. Another weakness is the
corny and sometimes comical use of similes. For example, Larry describes
one of his girlfriends as having the beauty of a Walt Disney movie. This
flaw, of course, may lie in the translation.