Up with the Lark

Ragged Islands

Ragged Islands by Don Hannah is a novel of secrets.  The story follows the thoughts and memories of Susan Ann as she lays dying in a Toronto hospital.  There are many things about her life that she doesn't understand and in her mind she goes through time searching for meaning. She is trying to make sense of the secrets in her life and in the lives of those around her.  Her parents give her away to relatives to be raised and although she is neither the first nor the last of their children, no one ever tells her why she is the only one to be sent away.   We are also led into her past through the cards and letters and scraps of things that her son Carl finds as he is cleaning out her belongings.  Unlike Susan Ann who wants to unravel her mysteries, Carl has no questions about her life, or indeed, his own.  He reads through all the things his mother has kept for upwards of eighty years and then tosses it all out as junk. Hannah writes about the secrets, the grief and the knowledge that people take to the grave - including their own identity.  Susan Ann doesn't really know anything about her real parents and nothing at all of her grandparents, not even their names.  My grandmother who lived to 102 told me once that she was sad that there was no one left in the world who knew her as a little girl.  That particular sense of loss permeates this book. Set in rural Nova Scotia and covering roughly the period from World War II to current times the novel teems with a sense of history and of family.  What I do not understand is why Hannah has seen fit to toss in 9/11.  I've noticed a number of writers who include event this in their work without it having any bearing on their story - The Emperor's Children being the most recent I've read. It doesn't work thematically or in terms of any of the characters or in the setting and I just found it annoying.  For the life of me I can't figure out what the life and death of an elderly rural Nova Scotian woman has to do with a terrorist attack in New York.  Perhaps Hannah is linking the effects of the two World Wars on Susan Ann's family and suggesting that this is her grandchildren's armageddon, but I don't it doesn't work for me. Buy at Amazon

Lullabies for Little Criminals

Heather O'Neill's Lullabies for Little Criminals was one of the best books I read from the 2006 season.  It is the story of Baby, a 12 year old girl who lives with her heroin addicted father Jules. They live perilous lives, but Baby doesn't mind because she loves her dad and they are together.  When Jules goes into rehab Baby is placed in foster care and her life spirals away from what little protection and stability it had  The narrative voice of this twelve year old was completely believable.  O'Neill captures the essence of the child teetering on the edge of a very nasty adulthood.  The little girl who sits down and plays with dolls after turning tricks is heartbreaking.  Baby's relationship with the nerdy kid Xavier in her class is one of the joys of the book. With him she can be a child, have a friend, be openly as smart as she is and feel the stirrings of first love (even though she is already a prostitute).  This is a book that you sometimes have to put down and walk away from, but you always come back because the writing is so sharp and clear and the character of Baby is so well drawn that you really care about what happens to her.  Buy at Amazon

DeNiro's Game

DeNiro's Game by Rawi Hage is a compelling story to two young men in war ravaged Beirut. Brutality is a way of life for these men - one works with the militia thugs getter deeper and deeper into degradation while the other tries to remain on the outside and dreams of another life.  The protagonist is forced to leave Beirut and it is quickly apparent that he only knows how to get what he wants by force.  He is an outsider everywhere. The book is beautifully written and I found it impossible to put it down.  Be aware that the violence is pervasive and sometimes quite difficult graphic.  Amazon

The Other side of the Bridge

Readers of The Other Side of the Bridge will recognize the age old story of two brothers. Arthur is worthy, hard working and dull and Jake is the feckless and charming brother. Author Mary Lawson manages to write around those clichés and produce characters of depth and interest. The book is set during World War II with a parallel story set in the 1960’s. By alternating settings each chapter the author to give us the background to the events that the reader sees played out. This is a fine follow up to Lawson’s first novel Crow Lake.  Buy at Amazon

The Custodian of Paradise

This new novel by Wayne Johnston picks up the story of Sheilagh Fielding, first introduced in The Colony of Unrequited Dreams. This character is a bitter, brittle, brilliant wreck of a woman.  The reader delights in her wit and her repartee while glimpsing the grief that underpins everything in her life.  Johnston has added an interesting plot to match this wonderful character study, making it a terrific read. My biggest quibble with the book is the length. Weighing in at over 500 pages I could have used a bit more editing. Don’t let that put you off reading it – it is worth the time.  Buy at  amazon