Despair and Other Stories of Ottawa

by André Alexis

These eight stories reveal a world that's both recognizable and cities of anxiety and violence, where quiet inhabitants lead outwardly banal lives that conceal sinister interiors. The premises, both fantastic and surreal, are also eerily plausible; they often follow the logic of dreams where the real can appear in disguise. Though geographically rooted, the setting - from Ottawa to Toronto and the South of France - take on an ephemeral the geography is of the subconscious. With his darkly philosophical bent and sly humour, Alexis has fashioned an underworld and limned it with light. Despair quakes with life and sings with the imaginative brilliance of one of the most accomplished new talents writing today.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Canadian Literature, Canada

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

André Alexis was born in Trinidad and grew up in Canada. His most recent novel, Fifteen Dogs, won the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His debut novel, Childhood, won the Books in Canada First Novel Award, the Trillium Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His other books include Pastoral (nominated for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize), Asylum, Beauty and Sadness, Ingrid & the Wolf, Despair and Other Stories of Ottawa and Lambton, Kent and Other Vistas: A Play.

Reviews

[Kate McDougall Sackler · Rating 1 out of 5]

The best thing about this book is that it was over quickly. It is supposed to be depressing, since it is eight stories about despair, but I just didn’t get the point of any of them.
2021 reading challenge-a collection of short stories, essays, or poetry

[Matt Walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I found the first few stories amateurish, the rest of this collection impressed me with the confident and clear writing I loved in Other Worlds (2025). Alexis has such a strange, twisted mind that results in fables and fantasies that can't help but draw you in.

[David Rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eerie and affecting. There's something quite profound in these stories to meditate on.

[Melia Tessel · Rating 4 out of 5]

some of the stories are stronger than others but overall well done.

[Bram · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful collection of often dark and twisted stories.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this while I was sick and it was difficult to tell if the the shivers and the creeps came from my flu or the book. It was made even better by the fact that it took place in Ottawa, a city rarely mythologized, and even more rarely in such a horrific way.

[Sabrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

As one reviewer mentioned, it is very weird very dark...I didn't know what to expect. Took me awhile to read actually. But I'm glad I did. I wish more writers would take a chance and just go their as Mr. Alexis has done. He is an expert in his craft and I like how he doesn't draw a lot to attention to being a minority (being Black). It's refreshing. I look forward to reading more strangeness.

[Dessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reread 2026: teaching a story in my class this term so sat down for a reread. I remember it being a lot more chilling? I think is the word I want? But I still really like the weird and ugly and adoring kafkaesque shit he’s doing here. You can really see in hindsight that this was his early work, you know? Three stars this time instead of four.

2016: Kafkaesque.
(And wonderful, and nightmarish, and brilliantly Canadian.)

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of hilarious and insightful stories loosely centered on Ottawa. Andre Alexis covers a extremely wide range of themes and ideas in these stories. He deals a lot with death, maternal relationships, morality, love, desire, and self-loathing related especially to the body. It's at times dark and twisted, and maybe a little bit chaotic, but he never stops being funny in his stories.

[Candace Haroldsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very weird. Very dark.

[Brenna Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining, just as witty and amusing as it could be scary and mysterious. A very good read.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful