RETURN OF THE TRICKSTER

Eden Robinson. RETURN OF THE TRICKSTER. Vintage, 2021.

Jared needs help from stronger tricksters to fix a mess he has landed himself in. Third in the Trickster trilogy. 

WOMEN TALKING

Miriam Toews. WOMEN TALKING. Knopf, 2018.

Women in a Mennonite colony in South America ask a returned teacher to take notes at their meeting when they debate what to do to respond to the abuse from males in the colony. The women cannot read or write, but they can think and talk.

EDUCATED: A Memoir

Tara Westover. EDUCATED: A Memoir. HarperCollins, 2018.

An uplifting story of an horrific childhood, in a Mormon family in Idaho. Physical violence. Blind denial, on the part of victims, abusers, witnesses, parents. And how escaping to an education helps the narrator see the mental health issues behind the extremist ranting and negativity. How it took her years to free herself because the convoluted logic of the ties that bound her were knotted with love. A story of hope hiding in the form of friends, boyfriends, roommates, professors, tutor/mentors, reading, writing, and travel. And the sadness of shunning and character assassination from those still trapped in the lies.

A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW

 Amor Towles. A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW. Penguin, 2016.

Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, because of his aristocratic heritage, lives imprisoned in Moscow's Metropol Hotel from 1922 until 1954. Interesting. Amusing. Entertaining.

IMAGES FROM THE LIKENESS HOUSE

 Dan Savard. IMAGES FROM THE LIKENESS HOUSE. RBCM, 2010.

Fascinating images of Indigenous people and buildings from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in BC and Alaska. This book was an award-winner at the time of publication. Now, it seems to show us a visual record of how much we have learned in the ensuing dozen years. Where this book is organized around the white photographers who took the photographs, today to this reader anyway, a more Indigenous-centred or geographic grouping would be more respectful of the subjects. Especially because so many of the photos were used as advertising for the studios. No mention is made of consent from the subjects or shared profits. 

I was most interested to find a brief info about James Teit, a Scot living in Spences Bridge who worked with Franz Boas and others. Sometime I used to hear the term "Teit people" and I was always curious as to whom the name referred.

SERVING LIFE 25: ONE GUARD'S STORY

Neil D. Maclean. SERVING LIFE 25: ONE GUARD'S STORY. TellWell Talent, 2017.

I borrowed this book on Saturday and I finished reading it this morning, Monday. This is indicative of how interested I was in the content. I have no experience working in a maximum security institution like the one described here, Kent, in CSC's Pacific Region. 

It is interesting. The writer's personality really comes through. He is not shy about offering his personal opinions. I have no problem accepting his POV as credible, and the inevitable sad conclusion that "the system" can best be described as one of "mutual contempt" among inmates, staff, and management, which, IMHO, means a failure of leadership.

However, as a former English teacher, every sentence I read was grating, and proof positive that excellent professional editors, for both copy and structure, are a necessary pre-requisite for any self-published book.

DELIVERANCE

 James Dickey. DELIVERANCE. Dell, 1970. 

This is a fascinating action-adventure story about what it means to be a man in a modern world. 

I haven't seen the movie, and I've carried the paperback with me for 50 years but never read it. Then I found a different copy, larger print, in the building library, and read it in a few days. Paddling a canoe is one of the few physical activities I have actually tried, so the trip planning and canoe manning and whitewater running scenes were all somewhat familiar. The ignorance of the gung-ho men not knowing what the river would offer is foreshadowing. The fish-out-of-water city guys trying to line up support in the small towns populated by "farmers missing fingers" sets up another, a class conflict. Then one canoe is attacked by locals intent upon harm and all hell breaks loose. When Lewis, the only man with actual survival skills, is injured, things go from bad to worse. That's when Ed, the narrator, is forced to "man-up" and do what has to be done to get the survivors home. Reality versus morality. And practicality wins, buttressed by shame that the secret of a sexual assault may leak out. Big themes, with conflict on so many levels. Great read.