The Amazon.com/Books in Canada First Novel Award Shortlist
The difference between 2000 and 2001 is that in 2000 I didn't have to read and review the bad novels. At the end of the year I was presented with a huge box of books and asked to come up with a short list. I was able to abandon the clunkers after 50 or 100 pages. This year I had to read and REVIEW the good, the bad, and the ugly. I am surprised that there were so many truly bad novels. It seems that a number of smaller publishers are turning out books simply to keep their grant money coming in. Certainly there were at least a dozen novels that should never have seen the light of day.
The first piece of advice I give prospective writers is "Trust me, your lives are not interesting, don't write them down." That doesn't mean a writer can't use some autobiography as a basis for a story, but writers are storytellers, inventors. What one can imagine is so much more wonderful than anything that actually happened. There is a reason it is called FICTION. There is a reason we are given imaginations, and that is to create stories.
The 400lb clichTd theme that turned up again and again were stories about life at boarding school, usually catholic, often private. Some of the nuns or priests were violent or bulliesùimagine that! Generally one student and one faculty member had a dark secret. There was a lot of sneaking in and out. There was clandestine sexùimagine that! What kind of ill-informed writer would intentionally set a story in such an overworked setting, full of events so boring they could only be autobiography? And why would publishers want to print that? They really should make an effort to ready more contemporary fiction.
Having got that off my chest I have to say that the highs and lows of 2001 exceeded those of 2000. The best books were world class, my guess is that only one of last year's short list would have survived the cut this year. The lows were frighteningly bad, making me wonder if book publishers shouldn't have to pass some kind of test or exam before they are allowed to foist their literary choices on an unsuspecting public.
As usual there were a few books that almost made the short list, wonderful stories that deserve a lot of praise and might well be finalists if someone other than I were doing the judging.
Deserving of an honorable mention are: The Wife Tree, by Dorothy Speak (Random House), is a poignant story of an older woman who has had a difficult life. As her physical health declines, she finally takes some control of her situation, and in a sense is reborn. The influence of Margaret Laurence may be a trifle too strong. Generica, by Will Ferguson, (Penguin), one of the funniest novels of this or any year, tells what happens when an "apocalypse nice" is unleashed on the world in the form of the ultimate self-help book. Ferguson skewers the publishing industry unmercifully. The Torn Skirt, by Rebecca Godfrey (HarperFlamingo Canada), was inspired by a real case in Victoria. With a little more patience, a little more detail, another 40 or so pages, instead of a very good novel, Godfrey would have had a brilliant one. Baroque-a-nova, by Kevin Chong (Penguin Books), spans eight days in the life of confused 18-year-old Saul St. Pierre, from the time he learns that his long missing mother has taken her own life in Thailand to the day of her funeral. This is a powerful and moving tale about love and forgiveness. Ariadne's Dream, by Tess Fragoulis (Thistledown), is the tale of a Greek-Canadian woman who returns to Greece and falls into a trap prepared by the old Greek gods. Great storytelling but desperately in need of editing.
Speaking of editing, many of the novels this year appear to have had little or none. Some of the worst needed to be cut by as much as one-third, even the very good ones had spots that obviously needed cutting. During my career I believe I only had one editor who was completely competent. He suggested cuts, then backed them up with reasonable arguments. I don't think I ever refused one of his changes, and they invariably made my books stronger. He left the miserable pay of publishing to become a psychologist.
What do I look for in compiling the short list? Solid writing obviously. I want memorable characters and happenings. Most books are forgotten within a few days of finishing them. I want stories that will continually draw me back to them. In the most memorable novels, within the first fifty pages an incident will take place where I will want to reach into the book, grab a character by the collar and say, "Don't do that! You're going to ruin your life." Those are the novels that six months later I will wake in the night thinking about. Those are the novels that are on this short list.
Now, as they say, the envelope, please. Since I only pick the short list and have nothing to do with choosing the final winner, the list is presented in no particular order of preference.
Martin Sloane by Michael Redhill (Doubleday Canada, 280 pages, $29.95, ISBN: 0385259220). My prediction is that this book will still be in print twenty years from now, will be looked upon as a Canadian classic and will be extensively studied in college literature courses. Explored here with tenderness and humor are the mysteries of art and artists, what unconditional love may be, and the long-ranging and deep-rooted effects of childhood trauma. Michael Ondaatje sums up Martin Sloane thusly: ". . a deeply moving first novel that reveals human truths with grace and humor. Michael Redhill's portrait of the artist and the magnetic influence on those around him is profound and full of affection. It is a book of constant surprises."
Ten Good Seconds of Silence by Elizabeth Ruth, (Dundurn, 414 pages, $19.99, ISBN: 0889243018). This is a remarkable novel whose characters simply jump off the page. It is the tale of a mother and daughter desperately trying to understand each other. As a teenager Lilith Boot has visions interpreted as hallucinations by her parents who have her committed to a mental hospital where she is befriended by two women, Randy, a murderer, and Mrs. Moffat a gently deranged woman with a baby son. Lilith finds a unique way to be freed from the hospital and the story jumps ahead twenty years where we find Lilith with an 18-year-old daughter, Lemon. Lilith works for the police using her psychic abilities to find missing children. The mother-daughter conflicts are plentiful, and the eccentric characters engender much sympathy. The novel resonates with echoes of Dickens, John Irving, and Timothy Findley.
The Ash Garden by Dennis Bock (Harper-Flamingo Canada, 281 pages, $34.00, ISBN: 0002255243). A German scientist escapes to Spain, then to America where he is involved in building the atomic bomb. A young part-Jewish woman escapes the Nazis and eventually ends up in Canada. A Japanese girl is playing on the outskirts of Hiroshima when the bomb falls. How the lives of these three people intersect, their destinies entwined because of the bombing of Hiroshima, makes for fascinating storytelling and a novel full of surprises and beautiful imagery.
Strong Hollow by Linda Little (Goose Lane Editions, 280 pages, $19.95, ISBN: 0864923082). This is a charming, yet gritty novel that demonstrates how courage can overcome DNA. The characters are rural Nova Scotia lowlifes reminiscent of those in Tobacco Road. Little asks a profound questionùwhat happens when a sensitive soul is born into a life of ignorance and repression? Jackson Bigney is the sensitive soul and readers will cheer for him as he takes baby steps toward both success and happiness.
Open Arms by Marina Endicott, (Douglas & McIntyre, 248 pages, $22.95, ISBN: 1550548409). This novel is sweet, heartwarming and full of hope and promise. It tells of 17-year-old Bessie Smith Connolly, herself pregnant and trying desperately to connect with her own rambunctious mother both physically and symbolically. The characters take a little sorting out but are well worth the trouble. The five-hanky ending in the badlands of Alberta will surely leave readers with tears in their eyes.
River Thieves by Michael Crummey, (Doubleday Canada, 335 pages, $34.95, ISBN: 0385658109) is a historical novel set in Newfoundland. Crummey writes elegantly of the lives of complex characters and the history of Newfoundland is painlessly disseminated. ò
W. P. Kinsella spends his retirement playing in Scrabble tournaments and reviewing books.
