There are two fine elements in this book. First, it is a BC book: Prince George, tree planting, Vancouver Island. The description of the physical environment is excellent. And second, this is a guy book, with a well-described look at male relationships, especially a father-son relationship with communication issues at its core. Overall, a very good read.
Category: grief
The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins
This is a cracking good mystery, with misinterpreted observations, deceit and lies (intentional and unintentional). The writing is reminiscent of Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl, et al) with two time lines that precede and follow an apparent crime. The main character in this novel is delightfully flawed, a real train wreck.
The Evening Chorus by Helen Humphreys
This is a quiet novel about love and loss, regret and contrition, and the aftermath of war. This is Humphreys’ 3rd novel set in WWII (Coventry, and the sublime The Lost Garden): each of them is different and perceptive. Humphreys is becoming one of my favourite authors.
Tell by Frances Itani
A beautifully written story in the aftermath of WWI, in particular secrets and silence because of with-holding conversations, and the toxicity of internalizing grief. This is a companion story to Itani’s brilliant earlier novel Deafening. Itani is a Canadian literary treasure.
Nocturne by Helen Humphreys
(thanks to Amy/Steph). Really excellent writing; book was read in one setting so clearly I was engaged by the story. The book describes the experience of the author’s life together with her brother, and details after his death. Perhaps I was primed by the [Miriam] Toews AMPS [All My Puny Sorrows] but I have a personal preference for introspective and insightful writing. Humphreys captures the cruelty of disease and the numbness of grief. She writes: fear the worst because the worst has happened” (first Matthew and then Anne).
The Light Between Oceans – ML Stedman
Another sad story about the consequences of lies and guilt, set in Western Australia in the 1920s.
What David Read 