I read this book about a year and a half ago. I loved it. And so, as with all the books I really love, I felt I had to do a half decent review for it. And so, as with all the books I really love and for which I have such intentions, I never got around to it. Tsk. Of course, now I can't even remember all the fine things I was going to say.

But this is a wonderful novel. If you've read her short story collection, Play the Monster Blind, it's that good and better. Coady has such a wonderful way with family, men, misfits and some rollicking violence to boot.

Read the book. You won't be sorry.

The gang is meeting at a new place for coffee and book gabbing and I'm not sure if this joint will appreciate a whole pile of books left behind when we leave. So, I'm taking just this one while we scope the place. If none of the regulars wants it, I'll find a good spot for it somewhere in or around the premises.

To the finder of this book:
I hope you enjoy your new read.

Welcome, also, 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, return it to any Little Free Library or even release it into the wild. It is all up to you.

If you make a journal entry (you can do it 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!

Thanks Pooker3 from bringing this book. I've been wanting to read it ever since it was nominated for the Giller. I think I probably read this review from the Globe and Mail which I just now realize was written by Giles Blunt who is another great writer.

I thought the Second Cup was a really great spot to meet and I don't think they'll mind if we bring more books next time. Although that probably won't be in July because the Fringe is on and we have to do a Fringe release party. Maybe we'll be back in July.

I don't think I have read any other books by Lynn Coady but if this is an example of her writing I will have to find more. She manages to convincingly write as if she was male. There have been a few books written by men about women that I thought were very well done, such as Clara Callan by Richard Wright, but none of them were written in the first person as far as I recall. This book, which is a series of emails, captures the boneheadedness of young males at university and also the mature indignation of a forty-something man.

Rank has always been big. His father, owner of an ice cream shop, encouraged Rank to use his size to intimidate customers who were causing trouble. Something bad happened although we are not sure what until later in the book. We do know that Rank confessed this to his university friend, Adam, during one drunken debauch because Rank starts writing to Adam to complain that Adam has used the confession in a novel. Over the course of the summer of 2009 Rank continues to email Adam recalling their university days and the event that he divulged. Rank is interrupted for a while because he is called home to care for his father who has fallen and broken his leg. Rank and his father are not what you could call close but the father is enormously proud of Rank. When he learns Rank is writing a book (the excuse Rank gives for spending so many hours in his room on the computer) he keeps suggesting things to be added. Rank is often exasperated by his father but his father seems oblivious. That's a family dynamic that I can relate to.

Rank is really a decent guy but he could have so easily turned out badly. Two people stand out for turning his life around. One was his high school hockey coach and the other was an evangelist who approached him in a bar. Without those interventions his story could have been quite different. And, possibly, Adam should be added to that list because his novel has caused Rank to re-examine his life and come to terms with it.

Thanks Pooker3 for passing it on to me.

We stopped here for lunch on our way out west on vacation. I left this book underneath the Snowbird plane that is on display here. This release is for the 2014 52 Towns in 52 Weeks release challenge.