SWING LOW: A LIFE

 Miriam Toews. SWING LOW: A Life. Stoddart, 2000. 

A beautiful book written from inside "manic depression" by the ill man, Mel Toews, with his daughter as amanuensis. 

Knowing the outcome made it less traumatizing for this reader. My take-away is the criminal way the family members of someone with a mental illness are held responsible for their care, with no help, professional or otherwise. Caretaker burnout and lack of appropriate treatment in a secure setting. 

The daughter's description is heart-warming, stressing Mel's success as a beloved teacher, and showcasing his love of words, writing, and word-play. For example, designing his own "Do Not Disturb sign for his hospital door. He says it should say: "Come on in. The patient is already disturbed." Great, dare I say, typically Mennonite sense of humour. 

THE FORGOTTEN DAUGHTER

 Joanna Goodman. The FORGOTTEN DAUGHTER. Harper, 2020.

Another book club selection, also a sequel, to Goodman's novel about unwed mothers and the Duplessis orphans. Elodie is now an adult, part of her birth-mother's family, with a daughter of her own. Her through line is the court challenges for compensation from the government of Quebec and the church-run orphanages/mental homes, and the criminally abusive nuns. Elodie's brother James Phenix is a journalist, interested in understanding the source of the separatist thinkers in Quebec. He wants to interview his girlfriend Veronique's father, released from prison after being convicted of the murder of a cabinet minister. James is uncomfortable with V's participation in criminal smuggling and sale of cigarettes. Both James and Ver face ethical dilemmas. 

The writer's use of the term "French-Canadian" bothers me. I suspect an American editor, unaware of the province, and that close to half of the residents do not consider themselves or want to be "Canadian". Quebecois seems more correct to me, and the fact that it is not used loses credibility for me. Also the reference to "pure laine", the dyed in the wool Quebecker whose ancestry must link back to immigrants from France after 1600. To me, IMHumbleOpinion, this is a form of "white supremacy" and an excuse to reject newer arrivals, to disabuse the rights of certain others, the same way that the rights of illegitimate children were abused by the government who warehoused them in mental institutions in order to receive larger grants from Ottawa. 

I found this book very interesting, modern history of the changes in Quebec over the last sixty years, but lacking credibility because of a stereotypical sketch of "separatist" thinkers. 

The Glass Castle.

 Jeannette Walls. The Glass Castle. Scribner, 2005. 

A shattering memoir of growing up in a family with an "alternative" lifestyle, a father who is a dreamer who drinks and refuses to let employment interfere with his dreams. A mother who hides behind being an artist as an excuse not to be a protector and provider for her children. Terrible to see the invisible line between addiction/mental illness and freedom of choice, and the unimaginable life many children experience. Every teacher should read this story of a girl who survives and thrives in spite of the neglect she experienced. 

A Death Feast in Dimla-hamid

 Terry Glavin. A Death Feast in Dimla-hamid. New Star, 1990.

Have owned this for 30 years. Read it before attending the Dancers of Damelahamid performance at Cultural Centre. Book is much more enlightening although dance was beautiful & entertaining. Glavin mentions Mary Johnson 3 or 4 times. The Indigenous disrespect from government & corporations is mind-boggling.

Elemental

 Kate Braid. Elemental. Caitlin, 2018.

Reading an old friend. 

The Custodian of Paradise

 Wayne Johnston. The Custodian of Paradise. Vintage, 2006.

A book club selection. A sequel to Johnston's Colony of Unrequited Dreams, with Sheilagh Fielding as the main character. A Newfoundland girl raised by a distant doctor father after her mother abandoned her at age six. A rebellious teenager who gets pregnant from her first and only sexual experience. Gives the babies to be raised in New York by her mother and stepfather. Writes. Develops a friendship with Joey Smallwood who was unfairly blamed for the folly which resulted in Sheilagh's being expelled from school. She drinks and is mysteriously helped to get her supply by an unknown benefactor who eventually emerges as her "Provider". During WW II, in her 40s, Sheilagh exiles herself to an island attempting to quit drinking and grieve the death of one of her twins killed in the war.

The ending feels tacked on and confusing, making the Provider the actual "custodian of paradise" and the female lead merely a pawn in his game.

The LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET

 Catriona Ward. THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET. Nightfire, 2021. 

NO PLAN B

 Lee Child, Andrew Child. NO PLAN B. Dell, 2023.

The thing about these "lost weekend" reads is that, one month later, I cannot remember their face. 

IN A HOUSE OF LIES

 Ian Rankin. IN A HOUSE OF LIES. Orion, 2018.

The thing about Rebus is that every time he beacons, I go. Even if we've been there before. 

LEONARD COHEN

 Leonard Cohen

The Sellout

 THE SELLOUT

FUGITIVE PIECES

Anne Michaels. FUGITIVE PIECES. McClelland & Stewart, 1996.

In my memory, I have tried unsuccessfully at least three times to read this, Anne Michaels' first novel. My reasons included: I could not locate a setting. Two place names, B, a town or city, & Z, an island. Names I could not pronounce nor locate. And then the heavy burden of words again which I could neither pronounce nor define. And beginning from a child's POV, Jakob. I remember saying that even after seeing the movie, I could not follow the story. But after reading her Giller winning HELD, I determined to try again. Success. And, to my surprise, a note at the end, a date in 1998, when I completed a first reading. What?

Okay. So I think I've sorted out the plot and characters. Boy Jakob hides underground from the uniforms. Poland. Parents and beloved sister Bella dead. Rescued by Athos, taken to a Greek island, Z.., where they hide out through the Italian and then the Nazi occupation, reading and learning. After the war they move to Athens. Then Athos accepts a job in Toronto where Jakob grows up. Athos dies. Jakob maintains friendship with Maurice and wife and marries Alex. She leaves after 7 years. Jakob publishes Athos' writing and his own poetry, Groundwork. He goes to Greece to take Athos' ashes. Back in TO, Maurice tries to set him up until finally he meets Michaela. They live in Greece. Jakob is a celebrity in TO. At one of Maurice's parties, Ben and Naomi attend. Ben is doing his thesis on Jakob. Ben's parents are Holocaust survivors too. Ben is jealous of how close Naomi is to his parents. His father has always been critical. Ben travels to Greece seeking Jakob's journals. Lives with Petra for a while while searching unsuccessfully. She messes things up and he kicks her out. Then he finds the journals, and a scarf reminding him of Naomi, and flies home hoping to reconcile.

It seems to me that the book is about the intergenerational trauma experienced by victims of the Holocaust and children of Holocaust survivors. Anxiety, hunger, and fear of loving because what you love dies. Told using images and figures of speech of travel, geography, geology, climatology, and poetry. 

INTO the UNCUT GRASS

Trevor Noah. INTO the UNCUT GRASS. Penguin/Random, 2024.

Loaned from a book-club friend, after the success of his Born a Crime memoir. This book is hardcover. It looks like a children's book but is labeled a fable about choosing adventure. The illustrations evoke Winnie-the-Pooh, a boy and his bear, experiencing choices and having adventures as they learn life lessons. 

In one main section, I feared pages were missing. A loud growl (from a stomach that left without breakfast?) morphs into a perceived battle with an unseen foe. This would probably work if the story is being read aloud to a child as it offers an opportunity for the reader to imagine what happens. And it leaves danger/fear unspecified.

The idea of levels of moral reasoning is not explored. Decisions are about a flip of a coin and an acceptance of chance as the determinant.Again, would provide opportunities for discussion with readers of different ages. This nod to fate appears to contradict what Noah says in his memoir, how his mother taught him, through Bible study, to learn to think for himself.

THE TROUBLE WITH POETRY

Billy Collins. THE TROUBLE WITH POETRY and Other Poems. Random, 2005.

Another find from my used bookseller Wish List. I love getting these phone calls: Do you still want this?  Yes!

RECONCILING HISTORY

Jody Wilson-Raybould with Roshan Danesh, RECONCILING HISTORY: A Story of Canada. McClelland & Stewart, 2024.

See my review on www.onelonelywriter.substack.com.

GOING-to-the-SUN

Rose Houk, with Pat O'Hara & Danny On. GOING-TO-THE-SUN: The Story of the Highway Across Glacier National Park. Robert White & Associates, 1984.

It's a slow start to 2025 as I'm reading a history text, so finding this booklet and another soup recipe book at the thrift store was a godsend. 

I have travelled this highway at least three times. The first time my father was the driver and even he was scared. One of the first poems I wrote, "Montana High", was about the second crossing. 

This brief history of the visioning, funding, and construction of this high mountain road is impressive. Black powder was used to blast the mountains. The "sappers" placing the powder worked in their sock feet, because the hobnails on their workboots could spark and ignite everything. There were only 3 deaths of workers reported, but many many more resignations, bowing out while they still could.

The opening celebrations, on July 15,1933, included a "burying of the hatchet" peace pipe ceremony involving three First Nations.