ORDINARY STRANGERS

Bill Stenson. ORDINARY STRANGERS. Mother Tongue, 2018.

Picked up this novel in the library book sale because it is Canadian and because the story begins in Hope, BC and ends in Fernie. The concept is great: a couple driving through town picks up a crying child in the downtown park and drives away with her. There are so many ways this story could develop. Intriguing.

What startles me is the "old-fashioned" storytelling. Totally "telling". Third person omniscient, he, Sage, she, Della, and she #2, Stacey. And how the POV often switches between the three, sometimes in the same paragraph, sometimes in the same sentence.

Interesting ideas are explored. Early mistakes, such as marriage. How certain choices the female adult makes, wanting to stay home to raise the child, guarantee her dependence. How the male breadwinner exploits her dependence, knowing that she will not react to his emotional betrayals or criminal behaviour because she has no economic option. How despicable behaviour is excused or responsibility for it is reduced by mixing in alcohol and pot. How medical emergencies change everything. And how facts about birth and genetics are weighed against parental care and love.