The Bird Artist: A Novel
2 journalers for this copy...
BookCloseouts had a sale on all their cookbooks and there were a few I really wanted but since they were so cheap I went looking to see what other books they had. I don't know anything about this book but the description sounded interesting plus it is autographed.
From the back cover:
Howard Norman's spare, lovely, haunting novel begins in 1911. Its narrator, Fabian Vas, is a bird artist: He draws and paints the birds of Witless Bay, his remote Newfounddland coastal village home. In the first paragraph of his tale Fabian reveals that he has murdered the village lighthouse keeper, Botho August. Later, he confesses who and what drove him to his crime--a measured, profoundly engrossing story of passion, betrayal, guilt and redemption between men and women.
From the back cover:
Howard Norman's spare, lovely, haunting novel begins in 1911. Its narrator, Fabian Vas, is a bird artist: He draws and paints the birds of Witless Bay, his remote Newfounddland coastal village home. In the first paragraph of his tale Fabian reveals that he has murdered the village lighthouse keeper, Botho August. Later, he confesses who and what drove him to his crime--a measured, profoundly engrossing story of passion, betrayal, guilt and redemption between men and women.
I read this book for my Newfoundland entry in John Mutford's Canadian reading challenge since my personal challenge was to read a mystery set in each province and territory in Canada. I suppose that to call this book a mystery is sort of a stretch since it is not your classic whodunit type of mystery. Right from the first you know that Fabian Vas has murdered Botho August. The mystery is why and what happens to Fabian after the murder.
First of all I have to say I loved the names of the characters in this book: Fabian Vas, Botho August, Boas LaCotte, Romeo Gillette, Orkney Vas and on and on. And the personalities of the characters are as quirky as their names would suggest. Fabian spends his days drawing birds and his nights (well Tuesdays and Thursdays anyway) making love to Margaret Handle; Margaret has parlayed a facility for mathematics into a bookkeeping business but really only wants to drink whiskey, ride her bicycle and make love; Fabian's mother, Alaric, commences an affair with Botho August when her husband is off on Anticosti Island for the summer; Botho August keeps to himself in his lighthouse playing gramophone records and making shadow puppets in the lantern light; Helen Twombly stores huge quantities of milk and butter in her cold storage shack and thinks that everyone is out to steal it.
I thought the middle of the book dragged but the beginning set the stage well and once the trial started I was quite caught up in it. Newfoundland has always seemed almost foreign to me and after reading this book I think I understand why. Before Newfoundland joined Canada it wasn't really British (or at least the people didn't perceive themselves as British) but it certainly wasn't part of Canada. This is reinforced throughout the book by references to Canada as a place apart. I think that long period of separateness affected the people of Newfoundland and they have never quite lost that.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a glimpse of life in a Newfoundland outport just after the turn of the century but don't go thinking, as I did, that it will be a mystery novel. I'll reserve this book for the 2010 Canada Day release challenge.
First of all I have to say I loved the names of the characters in this book: Fabian Vas, Botho August, Boas LaCotte, Romeo Gillette, Orkney Vas and on and on. And the personalities of the characters are as quirky as their names would suggest. Fabian spends his days drawing birds and his nights (well Tuesdays and Thursdays anyway) making love to Margaret Handle; Margaret has parlayed a facility for mathematics into a bookkeeping business but really only wants to drink whiskey, ride her bicycle and make love; Fabian's mother, Alaric, commences an affair with Botho August when her husband is off on Anticosti Island for the summer; Botho August keeps to himself in his lighthouse playing gramophone records and making shadow puppets in the lantern light; Helen Twombly stores huge quantities of milk and butter in her cold storage shack and thinks that everyone is out to steal it.
I thought the middle of the book dragged but the beginning set the stage well and once the trial started I was quite caught up in it. Newfoundland has always seemed almost foreign to me and after reading this book I think I understand why. Before Newfoundland joined Canada it wasn't really British (or at least the people didn't perceive themselves as British) but it certainly wasn't part of Canada. This is reinforced throughout the book by references to Canada as a place apart. I think that long period of separateness affected the people of Newfoundland and they have never quite lost that.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a glimpse of life in a Newfoundland outport just after the turn of the century but don't go thinking, as I did, that it will be a mystery novel. I'll reserve this book for the 2010 Canada Day release challenge.
Journal Entry 3 by gypsysmom at -- Bus Stop (See Notes For Details) -- in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada on Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Released 13 yrs ago (6/29/2010 UTC) at -- Bus Stop (See Notes For Details) -- in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I left this book in a bus shelter on Meadowwood Avenue just west of Dakota Street. However, I left it about 7 pm before I went to my Book Club meeting in Double D's Cheesecake and Coffee House (wonderful cheesecake) and when I left about 8:30 it didn't appear to be in the bus shelter any longer. This release is for the 2010 Canada Day release challenge.
This book will be making its way to Grand Beach, MB next.
