I must admit, I’m embarrassingly late to jump on the Rosie Thomas train. I consider myself an avid reader, yet I hadn’t even heard of this author until I was handed a free copy of her novel at Book Expo Canada this past June. Much to my surprise, Iris and Ruby is Thomas’ eighteenth book published in a career spanning 27 years. Although it was handed to me on the fly, I only had to read the first page to get completely enveloped and committed to this heartwarming story.

Iris is an 82-year-old woman, independent and strong-willed, desperately clinging to the memories of her long departed true love and Ruby is her equally headstrong estranged teenaged granddaughter who shows up unexpectantly on her doorstop in Cairo, Egypt, one hot summer morning. The obvious disruption quickly becomes endearing as Ruby offers to listen to Iris’ life story in an effort to preserve the memories that are fading away daily with age. We hear romantic and turbulent tales of Cairo during the Second World War contrasted with Ruby’s adventures coming of age in the present day. The reader is privy to the intimate narratives of three generations of women and the bonds that are formed as their stories of life, love, loss are revealed.

This was a great summer read and had me enthralled until the last word. I was pleasantly surprised by the unique and expertly interwoven narrative and depth of the characters. It is the perfect mix of romantic and realistic, bitter and sweet, travel and home, young and aged, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys such a blend in their reading. Although I am late to jump on the Rosie Thomas train, luckily with books you can never miss the train, and I am very excited for her newest novel being published this fall, entitled Constance, as well as delving into her extensive backlist of bestsellers.

Set in a small town on the Saskatchewan-Alberta border, Baker breathes life into its dusty farmlands and passion into an ordinary German community with layers upon layers of meaning — a pleasant surprise from a first-time novelist.

The Horseman’s Graves tells the story of Lathias, a half-breed farmhand, only a boy himself, who becomes the self-appointed guardian and protector of the Schoff’s only boy following a terrible farm accident that scarred him both physically and mentally. This is as complicated as their lives get until Leo, a historic a target of the town’s hatred and scorn, rolls into town with a new wife and fiery red-haired daughter, who will change their lives forever.

Pitting her characters against juxtaposing themes of good and evil, old and new, passion and fear, religion and superstition, Baker provides a vivid and enticing picture of the complexities of prairie living unknown to those who have never experienced it. It’s all about the shades of grey that lie between these oppositions and the reader is placed in a curious state as a result: the story thrilling, yet slow; the characters complex, yet plain; the message clear, yet dark.

Although expertly told, The Horseman’s Graves is not about stories and traditions passed throughout the generations, or the verifiable truth or fiction behind them, but rather the way they can float in that grey area between until it no longer matters what they are, but rather who is behind them and what they say about us. In Baker’s own words, this novel is “[a]bout Ghosts. And about blood. About trying to get at both of them. And about our inability to do so.”

I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Canadian literature, myth, and storytelling, and an appreciation for mysterious shades of grey.

Responsibility and Consequences

“I will not desert you! I will protect you by every means in my power, dearest love, whatever you may have done or not have done!” (p.386)

Oh Mr. Hardy, must the female protagonist always die?

In the case of Tess of the D’Urbervilles, the answer is a yes. But not before struggling for her life, falling in love, being rejected by her family… A weaker hearted woman would have shrunk with fear and long ago given up on hoping the gods would stop playing sport with her life. Was it not in King Lear that Gloucester stated, “As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods,-They kill us for their sport.” (act IV) Tess is alone in a world of cruel and malicious characters.

There appears to be very little goodness in old Wessex County. Tess herself comes from a family headed by a constantly drunk pater familias. Sent off to claim kin, Tess is thrown into a situation she is little prepared for. It is from this seemingly harmless errand, that begins the ball rolling and the downfall of poor Tess. In true Hardy style, we are then treated to a whole wad of social, political, religious, and moral critiques. Addressing everything from women’s moral worth, to the effect of urban industrialism on the agrarian life, Thomas Hardy created a novel that sent his readers into a frenzy over its sensational plot and characters. Within the first 100 pages, Tess is raped by her “kin” Alec. And it is from this rape that many parallels can be drawn. The rape of Tess is similar to the rape of the countryside. The destruction of all that is good, pure, and natural must occur so that modernity and urbanism can grown and spread. The violation of a beautiful young girl, mimics the ruin of the rural land.

Matters are made more complicated when Angel Clare is thrown into the mix. Working at the idyllic dairy, a setting of calm, undisturbed stability, Tess meets and at first resists falling in love with Angel. Angel is a man who rejects formal industry and blind religious belief. He understands things about Tess that she herself does not understand. Angel is the most “modern” thinker of the novel. Yet, his reaction to the truth about Tess and the rape and the resulting child is anything but modern. Angel cannot accept Tess’s confession, he cannot accept the real, true Tess. The ideal he built of her is broken.

Pagan versus Christian rituals, fleeting faith, salvation and baptism, parental influence over children…these are just some of the many themes and critiques found in Tess of the D’Urbervilles. It is a difficult book to read in that Tess is always being forced into the role of the sinner or victim. She can never just be herself. Everyone around her is constantly judging. But it is a necessary and worthwhile read, because it is important to meet characters like Angel, Tess, and Alec. It just happens that in Hardy’s Wessex county that the non-believers, victims, and hypocrites all fall together. In the end Angel comes back, and they are re-united, all the truth exposed, they understand each other and love each other for who they really are. But the ending cannot be a happy one. On the rocks of Stonehenge, Tess realizes she must pay for her sins. Tess of the D’Urbervilles is sacrificed in the end. But really, we all knew that was going to be her fate from page one right?

Where Angels Fear to Tread: Heaven’s Gate and the Sinking of United Artists

Final Cut: Art, Money, and Ego in the making of Heaven’s Gate, the film that sank United Artists

Looking to prevent your movie from becoming a runaway production? Read Final Cut by Steven Bach and you will learn a great many lessons on what not to do.  This book is a brilliant account of how a film becomes a runaway production and ultimately comes to resemble more The Money Pit than say what was promised in the original contract.  Final Cut is a book about a great many things.  Mainly it demonstrates how one film sank a production company (United Artists).  Woven within this story is dialogue about artistic integrity, money, loss of history, and corporate influence.

Heaven’s Gate was directed by Michael Cimino.  A temperamental artist of the most extreme kind, Cimino was well known for The Deer Hunter, a powerful film that examined the effects the Vietnam War had on small town U.S.A.  Heaven’s Gate was to be an ambitious project that took a massive production team to the wilds of Montana in an effort to accurately re-create the Johnson County War.  In the end of what seemed like a never-ending debacle, Cimino eventually delivered Heaven’s Gate a year and a half later.  It cost five times more than original budgeted for and the final cut of the movie was five and a half hours long, which was eventually cut down to two and a half.

Final Cut is thorough.  Bach guides the reader through every aspect, decision, and private meeting that involved the production of Heaven’s Gate.  The emotional stress suffered by Bach and his fellow United Artist co-workers makes the story almost a cautionary tale.  Bach wants the reader to see how big egos, poor management, and a lack of supervision can ruin the creation of a film and how the need for discipline may not be an altogether stifling action.  The author is very candid about how the making of Heaven’s Gate got out of hand.  As Bach documents his unpromising meeting with Transamerica’s stuffed suits the reader sees how his passion for filmmaking and maintaining history (of United Artists) is so articulate, yet in the Transamerica building way up on the twenty-sixth floor he can’t get the conglomerate to understand.  Bach becomes a very understandable and a very sympathetic character in this tale of woe.  A brilliant, if not frustrating read as one sees how everything falls apart; Final Cut is a perfect book for any film history buff. 

But I wasn’t born Republican.  It’s not genetic.  Believe me–I’m familiar with genetics.  I have McMurphy, the eight-hundred-pound gorilla I carry in my DNA, a total loose cannon rolling around my personality.

Born to Rock is Gordon Korman’s most recent creation and unleashes a relatively fast-paced coming-of-age adventure focusing on the Leo Caraway, a “to-be” graduate from high school and student of Harvard.  He’s a self-declared republican, Republican Club president, and quite content with life.  That is, until he is accused of cheating in a test and ends up losing his scholarship.  Things couldn’t be any worse when he finds out his real father is the lead punk band Purge, King Maggot, whose real name is really Marion X. McMurphy, who just so happens to be the idol of his best friend Melinda Rapaport (who is also anti-Republican).

This leads Leo to his so called biological father, keeping in mind that this biological father is the legendary King Maggot (McMurphy) who is worth millions and just may be able to pay his tuition to Harvard if he really is a McMurphy.  Upon meeting his biological father, they decide to run a DNA test and in the meantime to have Leo tag along on tour and work as a roadie.  This will be the ultimate test for Leo as he must not only find a way to get the money he needs for college, but also find out who he really is amongst his friends and family, both new and old.

I have always been a big fan of Gordon Korman’s works.  Not only because they were fun to read, but because Gordon has a way of making reading fun for even those who really don’t read that often.  Born to Rock is no exception.  It starts off with an excellent introduction to the main character, Leo Caraway and delivers an adventure with plenty of crazy antics.

The jump between high school and university or college is a major period in life and I enjoyed Gordon’s take on the transition with the parallels on the identity search that I am sure many would identify with.  However these issues are not the only ones that Gordon decides to take on as Leo must face numerous ethical issues along the way that expose him to the reality of the world outside “Republican Club”.  These range from saving a free-roaming dog owned by a band member, coming to the aid of an aging band member in denial who decided to re-attempt the “splits” on stage.  Gradually Leo learns about himself, the friends that remained true to him, and his biological father.

One thing I have noticed in most of the recent books by Gordon Korman are the minute details that keep the book relevant to youth.  Whether it may be a cell phone, the internet forums or even the odd mention of Canadiana, these are great additions to the story and give it a depth that can be appreciated by today’s young adults.

Whether you may be looking for a fast read, or something for an identity-searching soul, Born to Rock will definitely give a different spin on life and the characters that Gordon has slipped throughout the book will keep you reading from cover to cover, providing you with some good laughs. 

Each time I put my weight on a fresh dagger, my heart went into my mouth.

I was in grade 8 when I first read Cue for Treason, which was assigned by my English teacher.  While I rarely put any effort into doing the homework, and on occasion not completing the work at all, I read the entire book within the first week and continued to read it over and over and over again throughout semester.  Since grade 8 (that was a pretty long time ago now), I have picked up the book again on occasion to enjoy the adventure again and enter the world that Geoffrey Trease created so well by merging a series of fictional characters in their youth with the backdrop of the actual closing years of the sixteenth century, when there is a plot against Queen Elizabeth.  Trease also weaves a magnificent storyline that incorporates historical figures such as Richard Burbage and William Shakespeare that play a rather major role in the lives of two of characters, Peter and Kit.

From the beginning, you are introduced to a young lad from Cumberland, Peter Brownrigg, who is involved with the rest of the male folk in his community to secretly resist the takeover of some “public” land by a noble by the name of Sir Philip Morton for his own.  Morton has put up a wall around the land and the community has now come together to take it down while Morton and his men are away.  Peter is assigned to be a lookout, and he succeeds in warning his family and neighbours, but succumbs to the irresistible urge to throw a rock at Morton.  This rapidly leads to Peter being declared a criminal and him running away from home to escape capture.  Through a series of twist and turns, a conspiracy plot unravels and thickens as Peter makes new friends and finds new enemies as he is determined to survive.  Peter finds himself amongst a band of actors, and later ends up acting as an official spy for her majesty.  The adventure is thrilling as well as entertaining at times while Trease leaks new information through the story to perhaps unveil how Peter will survive, escape capture and maybe even save the Queen.

I think Cue for Treason was probably one of the first historical fiction novels I read and to this day I continue to enjoy historical fiction.  Geoffrey Trease had done an excellent job of assembling a cast of characters young and old, fictional and real in a past era.  It doesn’t matter whether you’re a fan of Shakespeare and his works or not, because in this book … it’s all about the adventure!

Wasting Candles

"Thus, in the midst of the mud and at the heart of the fog, sits the Lord High Chancellor in his High Court of Chancery." (p.18)

Those with a penchant for reading about the dark underbelly of Victorian London need go no farther than Charles Dickens Bleak House. Bleak House is a political, romantic, moralistic novel, filled with criticisms, witticisms, and deeply affecting language. The size of the novel is impressive, one can only feel a sense of accomplishment upon finishing this tome. It is a novel held together by many threads that connect characters and situations that in the end become united. Awash in motifs, allegory, and metaphors, Dickens uses two narrative voices to move the stories along. Esther the self-deprecating female protagonist tells her own story by telling the lives of others. She reveals things about herself in the way she talks about the people around her. The second narrator is one who is impersonal, he does not illustrate the past or future, he describes only the present. Dickens includes strong critiques about the experience of the s women and their ability to express honest emotions; the relation between the law and private life; public institutions who undermine human generosity.

The heart of this story lies with the Chancery suit of Jarndyce v Jarndyce. The Court of Chancery is the central symbol/setting of Bleak House, a blind, abusive, and inefficient institution that survives simply because of its parasitic bureaucracy. The court is a place overrun in paper, legalities, and procedure. Chancery is a place that ruins lives. Parallels can then be drawn from this setting to that of the London slum - Tom All Alone’s - the second most important setting. Chaotic, disorderly, mired in filth, Tom All Alone’s is a disease infested place, located on the fringes of the working class, and inhabited by socially marginal characters, such as Jo the poor crossing-sweeper. Chancery is responsible for the state of this slum. And a society that leaves its slums unattended will most likely be dragged into the filth itself.

There are endless connections that can be drawn in this novel. The characters come fast and furious. Each one with a name that matches their personality (Lady Dedlock, Mr. Voles, Tulkinghorn etc.) Walking metaphors can be found on every page. Bleak House has tragedy, farce, murder, mystery, and even spontaneous combustion. Many moral lessons abound, and of course there is love. Death is a frequent visitor, yet in the end there is birth, renewal, understanding, and hope that maybe change, real positive change can occur to help the less fortunate.

“I sit at the bottom of sleep, As on the floor of the sea. And fanciful Citizens of the Deep Are graciously greeting me.” (68)

I always find short stories to be somewhat depressing.  They are short bursts of reality. A melancholic photograph of a life.  Despite the sadness that is always a constant in short stories, Alice Munro’s Friends of My Youth is a book filled with so much experience and insight into the human psyche. Sadly poetic, and so fundamentally Canadian this series of short stories covers many lives, different hometowns, and situations.  The only distraction I found when reading, was (and it is my own fault) that I was reading an American publication of the book.  Munro is so strongly tied to the Canadian literary world that reading a book with words spelled without "u" was strangely distracting.  Particularly entrancing stories within the book are Hold me Fast, Don’t let me Pass, Pictures of Ice, and Oh What Avails. The back cover copy states that Munro states the “unsayable”. This I think is true. Her ability to understand the human condition and then transform it into beautiful stories is uncanny.

Two summers ago I read Flannery O’Conner’s A Good Man is Hard to Find and while O’Conner is strongly associated with American Gothic, you can still see such a strong resemblance in the writing and the characterization and the situations people find themselves in.  Friends of My Youth is a book about the past and how people change, how the landscape changes, and how places you grew up in change.  In with the new, out with the old, and eventually in with the old again.  Munro prosaically shows us how a sleepy town grows into a modern suburbia and how people you felt you knew, become complete strangers.  Even more interestingly, she shows us how children become like their parents, in their thoughts, their mannerisms and speech.  All that was old is new again. 

"Wonderful music like this was the worst hurt there could be.  The whole world was this symphony, and there was not enough of her to listen." (p.143)

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is a book about people.  It is a book filled with characters that captivate and enchants the reader from the first page until the last. McCullers characters collide like different instrumental parts that unite to create a beautiful symphony.  From Dr. Copeland who desperately labours for his children and the betterment of his race to Mick Kelly, the gangly androgynous girl who feels, sees, and breathes music; we meet people who are raw and lonely.  Set in 30’s era America, a place where racism divides and poverty kills and newspaper headlines scream about war in Europe  and places far, far away, it is a world where human frailty is examined closely.

Throughout the book a constant feeling of impending doom - a sense of foreboding permeates the words on the page that create the atmosphere the characters live in.  Some characters live life as if they were dancing on the edge of a precipice, others simply stand back and watch life pass them by in helpless suspension.  And as we move through the book, there is no one simple climax.  Rather, there are a series of smaller ones that involve each character that we follow.  We see the good mixed with the bad, albeit the darkness does seem to weigh more heavily throughout this world.  Some people seem to strive endlessly for more knowledge and more truth; they aren’t satisfied with what they are supposed to be.  There are drifters and mutes, confused husbands, and wide-eyed dreamers.  Disillusionment shatters hopes (Mr. Singer and Mick) and settling into a safe way of life silences the music.  The writing is so accessible that the music that swells and quiets in Mick Kelly’s ears is audible in my own.  Carson McCullers words are so simple and straightforward yet they are like music, a sweet sad melody that lingers in your mind even after you have stopped reading.