Karine Glorieux, author of several best-selling novels for both adults and young readers, has explored the issue of exhaustion—the Burn out – in his new novel. Next to the track, a bittersweet comedy, tells the story of a thirty-year-old woman with a “perfect” life who collapses under the pressure. She will go in search of herself and meet characters that will help her understand herself better.
Photo courtesy of Editions Québec Amérique
Manu’s story is similar to that of many women: juggling the demands of work, family commitments, life as a couple, everyday life and the unexpected.
With the desire to master all of these areas of life perfectly, Manu exhausts himself in the end. When she leaves the airport for a business trip, she finds herself in the restroom crying about her life and unable to move on.
She realizes that she no longer knows what she loves, what she is worth, what she wants and understands that she has given up on herself.
A visit to the doctor confirms the situation: depression.
Manu will have no choice; It must step aside and take the time to recharge its batteries to regain its energy before it is able to realign itself.
sensitive strings
Karine Glorieux touches sensitive chords in her novel and isn’t afraid to talk about mental health. A hot topic. “I see it often in young people. I am a teacher. You can see that the pandemic has left its mark,” she comments in an interview.
Several elements served as triggers for writing his novel.
“Nevertheless, it’s a novel connected to an experience that I’ve had… and that many people around me have experienced. I burned out seven years ago. »
“It was a time in my life when I was surrounded by a lot of career wives and mothers – and I still am. Smart, dedicated, motivated women…who found themselves in a situation where things didn’t go exactly as planned. »
“There were divisions all around me. job dissatisfaction. Growing up children that required a lot of time and energy. There was a kind of general tiredness. »
She then saw this tiredness in the following years.
“I’m not the only one talking about this. It’s a phenomenon we see in women who have accumulated many roles and wanted to be a bit of a superwoman. We talk about it a lot these days: in the end it might be an untenable position. »
A preventive role
Karine Glorieux thinks it’s important to talk about breakdown, that moment when you can’t stretch the rubber band and it breaks.
“You have to try, ideally, to find ways to prevent that. Impede. It’s not a psychology book, but for me it’s a book that has a preventive function. »
“It’s nice to want to do everything, to be super independent, to be able to amass roles without asking for help … but there are limits to what you can persevere with.” And you have to be careful. »
“Sometimes you feel like you’re above it all and that you can make it another day, another day…
But sometimes we are so busy with the action and the tasks, with the mental load, so busy with our brain that we don’t even realize we are exhausting ourselves. »
♦ Karine Glorieux is the author of several novels for adults and young people.
♦ She wrote kill the henseries Miss Tic Tacseries mutants, The Ghost from The Nightmare Before Christmas. and many others.
♦ She teaches literature at the Collège de Maisonneuve.