The Prowler
3 journalers for this copy...
I picked this up from the free book shelf at Second Cup on Osborne when we met there last night for our monthly BC meeting. It's a slim book and although I've only just started reading, the story seems enormous. Rather intriguing.
This is a small novel, at least in terms of the number of pages (the pages are not numbered, but I'd estimate it to be about 100 pages in length) and, if you were so inclined, you could easily read this in one sitting, non-stop. But, I challenge you to do so.
There is at the core of this novel a story about a young woman whose family emigrated to Iceland when she was a girl and her experiences "fitting in" to her new life and her memories of the old. There is, as the title would suggest, an actual prowler in the story too adding to it a bit of mystery and suspense. Although I have to admit I lost track of that actual prowler and am not sure if that aspect to the story was ever resolved for me. But there is also, within this small text, much attention given to the idea of story and the truthfulness of any story and the writing and reading of it.
The thing is: it is the narrator of this story who is the real prowler as she sifts through her collection of memories and experience and, you will realize, as you follow along behind her gathering up her thoughts and contemplating them, you, the reader, are just as much a prowler.
While, as I've said, there are no page numbers, there are numbered chapters or vignettes, and each one of those contains a memory or thought or idea. And as you contemplate that thought, it blooms. And blooms, and blooms like a cumulus cloud, its size and beauty limited only by the amount of time or effort you wish to give it.
For example:
"59 It was James Joyce who said, 'the reader wants to steal from the text'. The reader aspires to be a thief. For that reason the text must not be generous."
And I'll leave you with that.
There is at the core of this novel a story about a young woman whose family emigrated to Iceland when she was a girl and her experiences "fitting in" to her new life and her memories of the old. There is, as the title would suggest, an actual prowler in the story too adding to it a bit of mystery and suspense. Although I have to admit I lost track of that actual prowler and am not sure if that aspect to the story was ever resolved for me. But there is also, within this small text, much attention given to the idea of story and the truthfulness of any story and the writing and reading of it.
The thing is: it is the narrator of this story who is the real prowler as she sifts through her collection of memories and experience and, you will realize, as you follow along behind her gathering up her thoughts and contemplating them, you, the reader, are just as much a prowler.
While, as I've said, there are no page numbers, there are numbered chapters or vignettes, and each one of those contains a memory or thought or idea. And as you contemplate that thought, it blooms. And blooms, and blooms like a cumulus cloud, its size and beauty limited only by the amount of time or effort you wish to give it.
For example:
"59 It was James Joyce who said, 'the reader wants to steal from the text'. The reader aspires to be a thief. For that reason the text must not be generous."
And I'll leave you with that.
Journal Entry 3 by Pooker3 at Little Free Library #2873 in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada on Monday, August 26, 2013
Released 10 yrs ago (8/26/2013 UTC) at Little Free Library #2873 in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
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!
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!
Journal Entry 4 by Pooker3 at Second Cup – Graham & Edmonton in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada on Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Released 10 yrs ago (1/9/2014 UTC) at Second Cup – Graham & Edmonton in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
This little book has been prowling about the city from Second Cup to my hands, to LFL #2873 and other hands unknown to me. I will set it free again at our meeting at Cafe D'Amour. If no one present takes it home you'll find it on the bookshelf in the cafe.
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!
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!
I've had this book for a while but hadn't journaled it. I hope to have it read in time for release for the Canada Day challenge.
Journal Entry 6 by Matty at Second Cup – Graham & Edmonton in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada on Monday, June 26, 2017
Released 6 yrs ago (6/26/2017 UTC) at Second Cup – Graham & Edmonton in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I'm releasing this for the 2017 Canada Day Release Challenge in honour of Canada's 150th birthday.
I hope that the next reader enjoys reading this book of Canadian literature. Happy Canada Day!
I hope that the next reader enjoys reading this book of Canadian literature. Happy Canada Day!
This book is currently sitting on the Winnipeg Official Bookcrossing Zone bookshelf in Second Cup, 254 Edmonton St., Winnipeg MB.
It is waiting there for a new reader to take home, read, and release back into the wild!
It is waiting there for a new reader to take home, read, and release back into the wild!
This book has left the OBCZ shelf. Let's hope we will soon hear from it all about its adventures.