Catch of the Day

The White Bone

By: Barbara Gowdy

I'd picked this book up off the shelf at the library a dozen times and put it back. I even checked it out twice. But I never got past the fact it was about elephants. How could a book told from the point of view of elephants possible enter my realm of interest?

I did finally open the book. I went with it. It is brilliant. Not just because it is a fairly original concept-it tells the story of the elephants' fight to survive a drought, and death from vicious poachers, from the point of view of the elephants. It is one of a kind, with a map and a glossary to guide you through the lives and language of the descendants of the great She. But it doesn't take long until you can feel heat on your skin and the spray of dirt that cools it. Your mouth will crave just a drop of water in the arid desert. You will feel the loss of mothers and children to poachers as deeply as the elephants do.

Gowdy evokes as much sadness from a story of elephants' unrequited love as any human-based story I have ever read. I knew she had me when the descriptions of bull elephants in musth and cows entering their "delerium" had me rooting for consummation-these are animals for Pete's sake!

The story is a journey, to find water, to find shade, yes, but to find family, to reach safety, too.

I never really wondered what elephants or cheetahs or eagles thought before, but Gowdy has created a completely believable world where these animals are just like us. She has taught a lesson, that we need to be more aware of our actions, not just toward four-legged creatures, but also to the creatures-humans-that live across the street from us. This book exposes cruelty in all forms.

If you have read any of Barbara Gowdy's books, you know she is an original. When you are done The White Bone, read The Romantic, or We So Seldom Look on Love. Be forewarned. Much of her writing is not for the faint of heart (Helpless is about the stalking and abduction of a child) but she has a wicked talent for taking those uncomfortable moments we turn away from and waving them in our faces, stamping her foot, daring us to face the ugly parts of our society, of ourselves.

Catch and Release - a drive-by review

Here is a review I did of a novel written for 9-12 year olds. I had to be overly positive about the book, it is more of a blurb. So, addendum...I thought that men interested in 1960's hockey would read this book. The descriptions went on way too long for a kid to stay engaged. I have taught long enough to know that to go into detail about the 1960's is going to bore the average reader. Just my .02.

“The Adventures of Caraway Kim…Right Wing”

by Don Truckey

Published by Thistledown Press

Review by Kim McCullough

$10.95 ISBN 978-1-897235-43-0

Set in the dead of a 1960’s Alberta winter, “The Adventures of Caraway Kim…Right Wing” is the story of eleven-year-old Kim and his race to become Top Scorer of the Caraway hockey team. To win, he has to beat Brad Rooks, the local troublemaker. The boys’ rivalry continues off-ice, forcing Kim to confront his own sense of right and wrong, as well as stand up for himself against Brad’s overbearing ways. In Kim, Truckey has created a likeable young hero who makes realistic choices.

Truckey’s clear rendering of a time he calls “before now” makes life in the 1960’s come alive. Young hockey fans interested in the old days of the Original Six will be thrilled with the detailed descriptions of the difficulties players faced back in those days: the rough ice; the biting cold; and the thin, not-so-protective equipment that left heads, knees and throats vulnerable to injury. The play-by-play action of the hockey games will keep young readers engaged and interested.

“The Adventures of Caraway Kim…Right Wing” is more than just a sentimental journey back to “the good old days” before indoor rinks and Zambonis. Truckey weaves the weightier issues of bullying and shoplifting into the story, challenges that are still relevant to today’s youth. He does not whitewash Kim’s struggles with Brad, but allows him to work through and resolve them in a way that is both satisfying and believable.

THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR VISIT WWW.SKBOOKS.COM

Catch of the Day

The Peep Diariesr

by Hal Niedzevicki

I have always had a little crush on Hal, founder of Broken Pencil. I like the way he takes risks when choosing fiction. I always laugh out loud at the stories posted on the website, and wish I could be that fresh and original.

So when I heard Oprah say that The Peep Diaries made it on to her Top 25 Must-read Books of the Year I knew I had to support the independent Canadian writer...and the subject matter sounded interesting and au courant.

The Peep Diaries is compelling. Like the proverbial accident scene, you cannot look away from this trip down the rabbit hole. People want to be watched. We are always performing, and as Hal points out, some people can take it to the extreme. The part that is cringe-inducing is how similar the everyday's mom's motivation is to the everyday-mom-who-likes-her-daily-spanking's motivation.

The intrepid Hal decides to enter this Peep culture via various networking sites (facebook, Twitter), he starts a blog, and he chases down reality-show alumni to get their take on why we are so fascinated by the car crash that plays out in front of our eyes.

It is uncomfortable in a way , because we are all rightfully painted with the same brush-some just lightly shaded, others with the gloppiness slopped on. It is interesting though, how those who are glopped, can see that they are, but don't care.

It is an extension of EGAM-everyone gets a medal. Or, as your mom told you, you can do whatever you set your mind to... The Peep Diaries explores the concept of oversharing, because we think people actually give a shit. When really, they are just waiting for us to release a titillating tidbit, to fall flat on our faces.

Throughout the book, you get the feeling that Hal is lamenting this whole culture...but go to his blog, he is still "researching"...

Hal will be at Wordfest in Calgary and Banff the week of October 13th. www.wordfest.com

Catch and Release - a drive-by review

Salamander by Thomas Wharton

I am only 90 pages in, but so far, Salamander promises to be one of the most original books I've read. It is a bit philosophical (Like a Lite Sophie's World) but the satisfying in its use of riddles and inside jokes in a way that I have not seen since Stephen King's Dark Tower Series.

It is original, and engaging, maybe not so much (so far) as the incredible The Gargoyle, but it is enough that I want to recommend it to all you "fishers of books"out there. Interesting characters, yes, but even more fantastic is the reference to The Battle of the Plains of Abraham. We all want to see a bit of ourselves in what we read, and that is one story that has not been used as the basis for any novel I have read.

Give it a try...see if you like it.

Catch of the Day

Advice for Italian Boys - Anne Giardini

It is so easy to get lost in a story that is, above all, authentic. Advice for Italian Boys by Vancouver's Anne Giardini glows with authenticity - her characters ring true, even to someone without a drop of Italian blood in her body. The characters are the story: Nicolo, a young man battling through the travails of self-discovery; his nonna, who, even while trying to figure out her own place in this family, this country, this story, dispenses the proverbi that are the signposts on Nicolo's journey to becoming his own man. Every character in Nicolo's story, whether minor or major, is exquisitely and completely drawn.

Giardini is able to take the minutiae of the daily life of an Italian man, and make it relevant to the reader. His clients at the gym are so cleverly rendered that the reader knows exactly what type of people they are - we all know someone like the divorcee, Monica, who hires Nicolo to help her get back into shape so she can attend her ex-husband's second wedding. We may also have come in contact with someone like Patrick- frenetic, driven and hyperkinetic.

We even recognize the woman who is in line in front of Nicolo's brother Enzo at the bakery. How many times have we stood in that line, waiting to do something for that unappreciative someone and think to ourselves, "My life is passing me by? This is not what I want for me."

Nicolo is an introspective hero. He looks to others when he needs advice. When his clients ask for advice, he often passes on the aphorisms of his nonna, unwilling to offer any personal thoughts. When his friend announces he is getting married, there is a moment where Nicolo wishes he could ask if his friend thinks it is right, but he stays silent. It is a poignant moment, one where Nicolo wonders if perhaps punching his friend on the shoulder as a gesture of solidarity would be appropriate, but in the end, he does nothing but walk away.

Throughout the book, we see Nicolo gaining strength, though. Every so often, he breaks out a bit of advice and a few opinions. He meets Zoe, who steadfastly refuses to offer her opinion on anything, saying that choices are personal. Nicolo admires her for not judging others, and she corrects him, saying that she is undoubtedly judgmental, she just doesn't say anything.

In a way this is a book about a young man from an insular family that has always done the same things, the same way. Tradition is important. As Nicolo, and his brother Enzo, come more in contact with those around them, they see that their are opportunities for them that are so much more far-reaching than what has gone before.

P.S.The sub-story of Nonna and Paola, Nicolo's mother, is brilliant as well. It is not only the men who are shucking off the old world and changing. This subplot alone is worth the price of the book.

Catch of the Day

Deafening - by Frances Itani

Frances Itani's Deafening was recommended to me a few years ago by my short story instructor at the Fernie Writers' Conference.  It had been chosen the year before as one of the contenders in the Canada Reads competition (losing out to another great book, Miriam Toews' A Complicated Kindness). 

Deafening is the story of Grania, a girl struck deaf by a life-threatening bout of scarlet fever. In the first part of the book, we are taken on a journey inside her head as she struggles to make sense of this new silent world and her place in it. Not only does she have to cope with the changes in the way she communicates, but also in the way her family and the people in her small town treat her.  

The second part of the book takes place at the beginning of World War 1.  It recounts Grania's life as a young hospital worker. She meets a young doctor's assistant named Jim, and they marry.  They spend two weeks cocooned together, getting to know one another, before he is shipped off to England to become a stretcher bearer in the war. 

The second part of the book also interjects Jim's point of view as he experiences war.  He writes letters in his mind to Grania - letters he will never send - of the horrors he experiences on the front lines.  

While the narrative itself is poetic and lovely,  the true strength of this book is the amount of detail Itani imparts to the characters and the setting.  Every writing teacher says "Show, don't tell", and Itani accomplishes this with depth and compassion.  The reader truly feels the frustration and isolation Grania feels in her deafness, but also at times, her relief in that isolation.  The relationship between Grania and her sister, or Grania and her grandmother is depicted with so much realism it is nearly tangible.  The emptiness between Grania and her mother is weighted and fraught with regret.

Grania's relationship with Jim was for me, however, a little harder to plug into. Perhaps I was more intrigued with living Grania's deafness vicariously than with living her love life.  That said, the moments where she explained to Jim how she took the world in as a deaf woman, and the way he explained the way he did, as a hearing man, were touching and original.  The way he took what he learned from her into the noise and confusion of war was also beautifully thought-out and written.

I found myself rushing through the battle scenes, wanting to get back to Grania -  which upon further consideration, could be exactly what Itani wanted to impart-that urge to get back to someone I cared about, loved-as Jim wanted to.  I had to force myself to read those sections, which could also have been difficult because of the exquisitely painful detail of what Jim saw and felt.  It was so well-written and horrifying that I wanted to avoid it, to look away.

 

Deafening took Itani years to write due to the amount of time she put in researching deafness and WWI.  The book, with its well-drawn characters (some of the best I have not written of - I don't want to give anything away!) and poignant scenes (the scene of a deaf man, rejected by the armed forces due to his disability, being presented with a white feather was hard to stomach) is one of the best I have ever read.