The Disappeared - Kim Echlin

As an intrepid traveller and a proud supporter or Canadian Lit, Kim Echlin's The Disappeared definitely appealed to me and it did not disappoint.

This is the story of Anne Greves, a Montrealer, who at sixteen, falls in love with Serey, an older Cambodian student who has been separated from his family because of Pol Pot. Eventually, Serey decides to return to Cambodia to try to find his family and Anne suffers the pain of losing her first lover. Although Anne tries to move on, she is unable to forget Serey and eventually goes to Cambodia and finds him. She finds more than just Serey -- she discovers not only the horror of Pol Pot's reign but also the indefatigable nature of the Cambodian people. Despite the terror they have been forced to endure, they guide Anne as she acclimatizes to this very different country.

One of the things that I liked about the novel, of course, were the settings in peaceful Canada as well as war ravaged Cambodia. I also liked the fact that the novel covered a significant part of the protagonist's life because we can see her as a young naive woman as well as a mature experienced woman who somehow has managed to preserve her love for her lover, Serey and her love for being in love.

Usually I am not very tolerant of what I perceive as a gratuitous and self-indulgent poetic style employed by some writers, however, perhaps because The Disappeared is not a seemingly unending piece of fiction, the poetic nature of Echlin's writing does not detract but actually effectively enriches the portrayal of the protagonist's sensitive and ingenuous nature. "I see your long silence as I see war, an urge to conquer. You used silence to guard your territory and told yourself you were protecting me. I was outside the wall, an intoxicating foreign land to occupy. I wondered what other secrets you guarded. Our disappeared were everywhere, irresistible, in waking, in sleeping, a reason for violence, a reason for forgiveness, destroying the peace we tried to possess, creeping between us as we dreamed, leaving us haunted by the knowledge that history is not redeemed by either peace or war but only fingered to shreds and left to our children. But I could not leave you, and I could not forget, and I did not know what to do, and always I loved you beyond love." p. 120


Would I read this again? Probably not. Did I enjoy it the first time? Definitely!

The Bishop's Man - Linden MacIntyre

I must confess that when I learned that The Bishop's Man won the Giller, I was disappointed. Further, I didn't want to read about the Catholic Church and the way it literally screwed up in Newfoundland.

Nonetheless, since I like to read the Giller Winners, I felt there was really no way I could avoid this book.

Despite my initial misgivings, I am very happy to have read it.

It is amazing!

I loved the way that MacIntyre really captures not only the exterior setting of a little town in Nova Scotia, but the more interesting interior "setting" of Father MacAskill's thoughts. Here is an excerpt from p. 317:
"My sacred vocation. My vows of service. A blur of sacramental encounters, in retrospect like one-night stands. Have I ever really paid attention to the mumbled evasions on the other side of the confessional screen? Have I ever really spoken my true feelings about the ignorant, intoxicated bliss of the marriage ritual? Or the phoney, infantile expectations of the sacraments? Did I ever really care about the right to birth? And what about the rights thereafter? After we impose life on the unborn, then what? If we have a right to the beginning of a life, what about the middle and the end? And do we have a right to risk or, finally reject the life we never asked for? To just like down and wait...for...what?" For me, throughout the novel, MacAskill's internal dialogue seemed to realistically voice the repressed thoughts of those who have honestly believed themselves to be part of something important, only to, later in life, begin to doubt its legitimacy.

The other important characters are complex, believable and in spite of everything, sympathetic. MacIntyre is actually able to evoke in his readers the same tolerant understanding that life is complicated, and people, their motivations and their reactions are the result of the shaping by million little events, not all of them benign.

I was pleasantly surprised by this novel and someday, hope to read it again.

The Sea Captain's Wife - Beth Powning

This is the story of Azuba Galloway, a young woman living in New Brunswick during the 1860's. In her fourth month of pregnancy, she loses the baby and the absence of her Sea Captain husband feels acute. She vows that when Nathaniel returns to her and Carrie, their four year old daughter, she will insist that they never be left behind again. While awaiting his return, she fills the emotional void with the company of the well-meaning Reverend Walton with whom she collects marine specimens. While on an excursion together, they fall asleep and are stranded overnight by the tide. The community spends the night fruitlessly searching for them. In the weeks that follow their return the following morning, the small town gossips refuse to believe their innocent explanation. When Nathaniel returns home, Azuba is hesitant to tell her husband of her misadventure and he hears only the gossip monger's version. Although Nathaniel has been vehemently opposed to bringing Azuba and Carrie on his seafaring voyages, he feels that under the circumstances, he has no choice. Furious with Azuba, once aboard ship, he treats her coldly. For her part, Azuba understands Nathaniel's rage and decides that she will lovingly wait for his forgiveness.

Beth Powning's portrayal of the 19th century is well researched and detailed. Her descriptions are filled with objects unfamiliar to many 21st century landlubber readers (a glossary is provided at the end of the novel).

Interwoven into the story of this sea journey filled with many hardships and disasters, is the personal journey of Azuba, who realizes the full impact of her choices not only for herself but for those whom she loves, who learns new truths about people and situations, who discovers the true complexity of human emotion, and who builds a personal inner strength and courage in the face of adversity.

Turtle Valley - Gail Anderson-Dargatz

This is the first novel I have read by Gail Anderson-Dargatz and I am sure it will not be the last. It is realistic in in its portrayal of characters and events and poetic in its style -- an absolutely delightful read. Finally, a novel with a female protagonist, set in Canada, written by a female Canadian writer -- a novel that doesn't drive you to the dark recesses of your mind.
This is the story of Kat, a woman at an emotional crossroad, who goes home to help her parents move their most precious possessions from their home which is threatened by a wildfire. Interwoven into this plot are the stories of her parents' and her grandparents' generations -- family secrets and skeletons are revealed --history repeats itself -- mysteries are unraveled and solved -- I absolutely loved it and am now off to the Chapter's website to see what else this writer has written.

The Flying Troutsman - Miriam Toews

I came to this novel with equal amounts of enthusiasm (because I had previously read and laughed my way through A Boy of Good Breeding) and trepidation (because I had previously read and cried my way through A Complicated Kindness). Both sentiments were experienced as I read, laughed and cried my way through The Flying Troutsman. You may think that it is only the characters in this novel who are on a road trip but as a reader I found that I too was (thankfully) firmly buckled into their white knuckle emotional adventure. Once again Toews' genius for deftly painting the intricate contradictions inherent in human nature and motivation captivate the reader's attention from the very first words.

All That Matters - Wayson Choy

In All That Matters, Wayson Choy expands on the story of the Chen family first introduced in The Jade Peony. This time, Choy makes use of a single narrator, the eldest son, who has recently arrived on the west coast with his grandmother and father. What I really like about Wayson Choy's work is not only his flowing style but also the content of the plot which, with a refreshing and sometimes brutal, frank voice describes the two solitudes experienced by most first generation Canadians.

The Jade Peony - Wayson Choy

The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy was an enlightening read granting a peak into Vancouver's Chinatown. I really enjoyed the use of multiple narrators as it provided different perspectives on the family members of Chen family. I also found that the choice of youthful narrators was clever because it allowed the author to use the mouth of babes to reveal "truths" that adults might chose to politely conceal. Their understanding of their "condition" and the events of their lives was both revealing and endearing.