The Last Woman
Registered by Pooker3 of Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada on 10/17/2009
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
2 journalers for this copy...
Okay so delayed gratification is not one of my strong points. I purchased this one at full price knowing that Chapters almost always puts new releases on sale for 30% off in a few weeks. But I couldn't wait and I'd had a long work week (despite it actually being a short week) and figured I was deserving of a book treat! Yay me!
I loved this author's previous novel, The Island Walkers. So I was looking forward to reading this new one. The Last Woman did not seem quite as "epic" as I remembered The Island Walkers to be (although it's been a while since I read it and I am getting up there in age so my memory might not be all that it could be).
And although both books seem to be set in approximately the same place, The Island Walkers' locale was fresh and fictional to me whereas The Last Woman seemed more familiar to me, almost like "home". I grew up in the Lake of the Woods area which is also one of those "cottage country" places close to an Indian reserve (several actually). Although I no longer live in the area, I go back often and I feel the same sort of regrets, concerns, and even anger about what is happening to the area - the land and its people - that Billy feels in The Last Woman. You don't have to be aboriginal to have those concerns and you don't have to be away from the place for a long time to notice the changes. So I was a teensy bit irked that Billy, the Ojibway guy, is the one who obviously notices and is seemingly most upset about it.
I was also somewhat put off from the main characters, Ann (the artist), Richard (Ann's husband and a lawyer) and Billy (Ann's former lover and Richard's former client in a land claim action) for the "love triangle" aspect of the novel. I have difficulty mustering up sympathy/empathy for cheaters. That also might be an age related thing - I've grown tired of such tensions.
Having said all of that, you might think that I did not like the novel, but in fact I did enjoy it. I loved the familiarity I had with the landscape. As Billy and Ann canoe the waters, I was there. I could feel and smell it. I enjoyed Billy's attempts to intervene with his community's young people and their responses to him. And, I especially was intrigued by the evolution of Ann's Red Woman painting.
In the end I'm not sure that The Last Woman measures up to the author's first novel but it is nevertheless a good one.
And although both books seem to be set in approximately the same place, The Island Walkers' locale was fresh and fictional to me whereas The Last Woman seemed more familiar to me, almost like "home". I grew up in the Lake of the Woods area which is also one of those "cottage country" places close to an Indian reserve (several actually). Although I no longer live in the area, I go back often and I feel the same sort of regrets, concerns, and even anger about what is happening to the area - the land and its people - that Billy feels in The Last Woman. You don't have to be aboriginal to have those concerns and you don't have to be away from the place for a long time to notice the changes. So I was a teensy bit irked that Billy, the Ojibway guy, is the one who obviously notices and is seemingly most upset about it.
I was also somewhat put off from the main characters, Ann (the artist), Richard (Ann's husband and a lawyer) and Billy (Ann's former lover and Richard's former client in a land claim action) for the "love triangle" aspect of the novel. I have difficulty mustering up sympathy/empathy for cheaters. That also might be an age related thing - I've grown tired of such tensions.
Having said all of that, you might think that I did not like the novel, but in fact I did enjoy it. I loved the familiarity I had with the landscape. As Billy and Ann canoe the waters, I was there. I could feel and smell it. I enjoyed Billy's attempts to intervene with his community's young people and their responses to him. And, I especially was intrigued by the evolution of Ann's Red Woman painting.
In the end I'm not sure that The Last Woman measures up to the author's first novel but it is nevertheless a good one.
Journal Entry 3 by Pooker3 at Japanese Garden on Carlton Street in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada on Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Released 13 yrs ago (6/30/2010 UTC) at Japanese Garden on Carlton Street in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
on a ledge in the garden.
This book was released for the 2010 Canada Day release challenge (running June 25 - July 4) in celebration of Canadian books and authors.
To the finder of this book:
Welcome to the wonderful and wacky world of BookCrossing! Here you'll find a unique and worldwide community of book lovers sharing their books. This book is now yours! Read it, enjoy it. Keep it or pass it on to someone you know or even release it back into the wild as I did. If you make a journal entry (either anonymously or as a BookCrossing member) all previous readers of this book will be notified by e-mail and can follow this book on its travels. BookCrossing is free to join, completely confidential (you are known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your email address) and it's a whole lot of fun!
I hope that you enjoy this book by a Canadian author. Happy Canada Day on the 1st!
This book was released for the 2010 Canada Day release challenge (running June 25 - July 4) in celebration of Canadian books and authors.
To the finder of this book:
Welcome to the wonderful and wacky world of BookCrossing! Here you'll find a unique and worldwide community of book lovers sharing their books. This book is now yours! Read it, enjoy it. Keep it or pass it on to someone you know or even release it back into the wild as I did. If you make a journal entry (either anonymously or as a BookCrossing member) all previous readers of this book will be notified by e-mail and can follow this book on its travels. BookCrossing is free to join, completely confidential (you are known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your email address) and it's a whole lot of fun!
I hope that you enjoy this book by a Canadian author. Happy Canada Day on the 1st!
Found in a Little Free Library at 294 Woodlawn Street in Winnipeg.
Journal Entry 5 by jessicasheff at Dover Street Little Library in Cambridge, Ontario Canada on Monday, October 17, 2016
Released 7 yrs ago (10/17/2016 UTC) at Dover Street Little Library in Cambridge, Ontario Canada
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Enjoy this great work of Canadian fiction!
