Commonwealth

Commonwealth

by Ann Patchett



Ann Patchett’s new novel, Commonwealth, grabbed me from the first page. Some stories take a while to get into, but this one had me from the opening section of the novel, set at a family christening party. It flows — from character to character and room to room and even house to house — with such visual grace that it’s almost like a movie. Everything is vivid, from the sounds of the party to the scent of the drinks. Patchett is descriptive but not flowery, an author who always seems to know just what needs to be written.  

The novel focuses on two families, the Cousins and the Keatings, and their messy association. Stories about dysfunctional families can tend toward cliché; it’s become a rather well-worn device. This isn’t that, a woe-is-me tale of divorce and hostile step-children. The novel surprises at every turn and I rarely knew what would happen next due to its layered characterizations. 
 
I’ll give you the bare minimum: the two families become interwoven by events that are set in motion at an orange-and-gin saturated suburban party. Fix Keating- a police officer in Torrance, California — watches as Bert Cousins, a co-worker who is barely an acquaintance, turns up at his daughter Franny’s christening.  This will have a disastrous effect on Fix’s marriage- before the night is through, Bert will kiss Beverly Keating. Bert eventually leaves his own wife and children, and he and Beverly will take the Keating daughters and move to Virginia. Franny is as close as this novel gets to a main character, though the novel regularly follows Bert, Fix, Beverly and others.  

The novel shifts very successfully between past and present, covering five decades in the lives of these characters. It’s both funny and poignant, and as I began to reach the last pages of the book I already knew I would miss them. You won’t find a huge overarching plot, it’s just life — just the lives of a number of semi-regular people- and that Patchett can bring such energy and interest to it is a sort of magic. Highly recommended.

Trains and Lovers

by Alexander McCall Smith

The lovely setting of a train journey between Edinburgh and London lends itself to the tales we hear as we eavesdrop on four travellers who share a compartment in Trains and Lovers by Alexander McCall Smith. These travellers are thrown together by way of train tickets and have no other connection to each other, yet as a way to pass the time, they each share their personal stories of love as the train rumbles along the tracks. 

McCall Smith introduces us to the journey we are about to take with his own thoughts on love and the human connection. He reminds us that the journey we take is not only about the destination, but also about the people we encounter along the way, and are often what we remember about a trip or an event, rather than the experience itself. 

Kay recounts her parents love nurtured in the Australian outback; Andrew’s first love chanced to emerge in the ins and outs of the art world, David thinks fondly of his unrequited young love, and Hugh recalls a chance encounter on a train platform leading to love.

In each of the tales tellings, we learn a bit about the individual character through their personal thoughts and reactions to the others’ stories. Through this insight we discover each passenger’s doubts and feelings which influence their decisions about what to share. Because of this, we learn a bit more about the human condition with regards to love, family, and personal struggle in a timeless way that is full of emotion. 

This charming book is a stand-alone McCall Smith that is sure to warm your heart with its delightful stories that roll along to the rhythm of the train ride. The storytellers draw you into their lives for the short time we are all together, yet they linger for a time after the last page is read.

Readers of McCall Smith whose other books include The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, 44 Scotland Street, and the Isabel Dalhousie series, to name a few, will want to grab a cup of tea, their favourite blanket and settle down for a pleasant journey.

Three Day Road

Three Day Road

By Joseph Boyden

The violence and brutality of war are not my idea of enjoyable subject matter.  Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road is indeed a story of war.  But it is also the story of best friends.  Their physical journey from the Ontario bush to the trenches of Europe mirrors their interior journey -- from peace and solitude to horror, and back again.

Elijah and Xavier are two young men from the Cree nation who join the Canadian army in World War I.  Both are experienced hunters who are comfortable in the bush.  The choice to immerse themselves in a European war is mostly Elijah’s, but Xavier follows.

Elijah is accustomed to life in a remote wilderness, but before going to live with Xavier and his Auntie Niska, he spent years in a residential school.  On the surface he appears unscathed by this experience, despite the abuse that he has undergone. He blossoms around people and quickly wins over his fellow soldiers.  His charm and wit become legendary in the Canadian army and his facility with language allows him to find a place with his compatriots.

Xavier, however, is happier in the company of animals than in the atmosphere of forced companionship of the army.  His English is poor, and he often relies on Elijah to translate for him.

Both Elijah and Xavier prove themselves to be skilled with firearms.  They quickly become a team of snipers, at times given privileges the others are not.  But while Xavier cannot reconcile the idea of killing another man, Elijah thrives on it.  Elijah becomes progressively more obsessed with killing, all the while charming officers, lieutenants and privates alike.  Xavier watches his best friend descend into a flurry of slaughter and madness, and must then ask himself whether he has the power to stop him.

The war narrative is interspersed with Niska’s tales.  Niska has great power inherited from her father and has tried to pass her skills onto Xavier.  Her stories of the Wendigo, a spirit that can possess a person, are particularly powerful.  Xavier’s traditional knowledge may be his saviour in this world of indescribable misery. 

Three Day Road is a graphic and unflinching portrayal of trench warfare, contrasted by the love that exists among Elijah, Xavier and Niska.  Their history and stories are poignant and beautiful.   Somehow, in this novel, the beauty wins out.

The Wonder Trail: True Stories from Lost Angeles to the End of the World by Steve Hely

The Wonder Trail

I checked out Steve Hely’s “The Wonder Trail: True Stories from Lost Angeles to the End of the World” for a few reasons:

1. He’s a former staff writer for “30 Rock”, which I think is one of the funniest North American sitcoms of all time;

2. Los Angeles is featured quite prominently in the beginning and that is a city I’m visiting this coming fall;  

3. I love traveling. 

The book boasts (both on the back cover and inside) that it is a book for those who love traveling and those who don’t, and I think that’s actually a very fair statement. It’s a book that reminded me about everything that is both wonderful and terrible when exploring the world: uncomfortable linguistic mishaps, loneliness, and shiny new people with interesting stories, overrated and underrated sights. It also features plenty of history, which Hely presents alongside his anecdotes in short chapters. You don’t like history? Skip those brief chapters and they won’t detract from the rest of the book. Hely is sharply observant, and while some of his yarns ring slightly self-indulgent, I appreciated the colloquial, relatable way he presents them.

This is a very personal book. Hely knows you can read more technically detailed books elsewhere, so his aim seems to be more about giving an idea of a place alongside a story that demonstrates what he did for fun while visiting. His suggestions for what to do at Machu Picchu, for example, include: “Take stuff in and out of your backpack. Saw a lot of people doing this one. I did it plenty myself…Explore…Feed an apple to a Ilama.”

If you like your educational information with a side of funny personal essay, this book is for you. If you like your funny personal essay with a side of educational information, this is also going to be a happy read. If you want an impartial travel guide with lists of five-star accommodations and local culinary delights, perhaps choose a different book from our travel guide section.

Fifteen Dogs

Fifteen Dogs

 by André Alexis

 I was first intrigued by this book when I saw it on the Globe and Mail’s “Best Books of 2015” list, because it involved two things I really like to read about:  dogs and mythology.  Fifteen Dogs: An Apologue, by André Alexis, opens with two of Zeus’ sons, Hermes and Apollo, wagering on whether animals that are given human intelligence will be happy.  What results from their bet is this often brutal yet thoughtful tale of 15 unsuspecting dogs that are given this “gift.” 

In discovering that they are able to think in human terms, with some of them learning to speak in the human language, the dogs are torn between their canine world with their natural dog instincts, and their new world of human consciousness. This divides the pack into those who embrace the new way and those who shun it and want to revert back to being dogs. Each of the dogs develops their own coping mechanisms to move forward in their new world, some seeking human companionship, others steadfastly rejecting any contact, some welcoming the freedom, others seeking ways to conform. The pack initially sets up their den in Toronto’s High Park, but soon enough the different reactions to their new fate leads to betrayal and bloodshed. At times, this tale reminded me of Lord of the Flies, with its somewhat expected breakdown of the pack as leaders emerge and assert themselves, and throughout it saddened me that this is in fact a statement on the state of affairs of the human condition.

The understanding that comes with the consciousness leads the dogs to a heightened awareness of their place on earth and the workings of the pack mentality send the dogs on their separate journeys. My favourite character was Majnoun, a poodle who ultimately finds a couple, Miguel and Nira, to spend his life with. Nira and Majnoun share an understanding of each other that allows Majnoun to learn many of the nuances of human behaviour, and they develop a quiet, lifelong friendship. I think I enjoyed their friendship the most as I want to believe that all dogs want to be loved and understood by their human companions.

André Alexis takes the reader right inside the mind of the dogs, which makes it a very personal tale of each of the canines. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever wondered what their dog might be thinking, and how your relationship might change if you truly could understand one another.