Ian Williams. REPRODUCTION. Random, 2019. Giller Prize winner, 2019.
A family saga of sorts, three generations of unplanned
reproduction. Cultural differences within homes and families. Families in
various configurations. Obsessions and difficulties communicating. The
challenges of being a successful modern male, and of mothering, parenting. The
scramble to earn or deserve money complicates all.
This is the first novel I’ve read where STYLE is dominant.
Variety of style, with most of the plot communicated through dialogue. In
different voices, some with accents. Set in Brampton and Toronto. With a
soundtrack covering fifty years, from the 1970s to the early 2000s.
Only the last section started to leave me behind a bit. No
chapter breaks. The name Edgar degenerates every time, to a different spelling.
The video-obsessed child shifts from videoing masturbation, paint drying, to
adults dying.
I began by READING for PLEASURE, loving the style, sharing
examples with fellow writers:
Felicia meets her ex-lover she has not seen in 14 years: “He
had gained weight in the face so now he looked like three rectangles stacked on
each other: head, neck, the rest. His hair was between the colour of pennies
and loonies, but streaked throughout with dimes.”
The son, Army, finds weight-lifting equipment and imagines:
“By the end of the summer, most of the boys would have V-shaped torsos and tiny
legs, like martini glasses.”
“Heather’s breasts grazed his chest then she set them
firmly against him like the paddles of a defibrillator.”
Sorry, the newness of these comparisons just made me laugh
and then gasp at the writer’s mastery of word and image. STYLE
trumps story yet I hesitated to finish, not wanting to leave these people, this
family.
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