This exceptional book is hard to describe – a stream-of-consciousness memoir, perhaps, featuring electrifying honesty. There are questions like why does she write? There are letters to a silent sister. And there is profound melancholy when acknowledging the suicides of her father and sister (Page 31: “I was crazy with grief, guilt and dread”). But there are very funny excerpts about a European trip in 1988, and hilarious observations about the current domestic life in her multi-generational Toronto home. Bottom line- this is a powerful story that is both heart wrenching and joyful, in other words, Ms. Toews at her best.
Category: mental illness
Juiceboxers – Benjamin Hertwig
Simply put, this amazing first novel is one of the best books I have read this year. It is unquestionably a “guy book” because all the major characters are male. In 1999 in Edmonton, four remarkably different “boys” meet as cadets; they are not really friends but have a type of camaraderie. Then there is army training and finally deployment to Afghanistan in 2005. Hertwig describes the Army mood and male behaviour perfectly: boredom, a lack of purpose, too much drinking and pornography, and yes, racism and bloodlust. And then there is the senseless violence of war, the chaos of conflict. Finally, there is the brutal aftermath of war, with PTSD. Hertwig’s writing is evocative with brilliant metaphors. Highly recommended, a must read book.
The Observer – Marina Endicott
Full disclosure: this is a great book that deals frankly with some unpleasant subjects. Julia accompanies her partner Hardy to his first RCMP posting in Northern Alberta. Julia is a keen observer of life, especially relationships. She is also a silent witness to Hardy’s descent into depression and PTSD. There is a strong element of fear and menace that is truly frightening. Powerful writing and very worthwhile.
The Book of Form and Emptiness – Ruth Ozeki
This brilliant new book by the author of A Tale For The Time Being is wildly imaginative, and thus hard to describe. Benny is a teenager who hears voices; his mother Annabelle is a hoarder. Both are grieving the death of their father/husband. Most key events take place in a public library, and books have a consciousness that allow them to narrate the story. Events are chaotic and often perplexing. What is reality, especially with grief and PTSD? What is the price of imagination? Highly recommended.
Forest Green – Kate Pullinger
A story of Art Lunn in different BC locations. His life is defined by a tragic incident at 8 years of age, which he blames himself for the rest of his life. Consequently, he is unable to make commitments to other people, and descends into alcoholism and eventual homelessness, an acute example of how early trauma can initiate a life-long feeling of worthlessness. Actually, the story is less depressing than the above description implies, so worth a read.
Transcendent Kingdom – Yaa Gyasi
Gifty is a graduate student at Stanford, studying reward-seeking behaviour in mice. She is grieving the overdose death of her brother and the continuing depression of her mother. This is a cerebral story, meaning it takes place in Gifty’s mind as she grapples with tough issues: addiction and depression, grief and love, science and religion.
Amy notes: another book by Yaa Gyasi, who also wrote the excellent Homegoing.
The Forgotten Daughter – Joanna Goodman
Ms. Goodman wrote the excellent The Home For Unwanted Girls about the Duplessis Orphans, created when Quebec re-classified orphans as being mentally deficient in order to transfer their care to mental hospitals. Her new book continues Elodie’s story to achieve justice and an official apology. The time is the early 90s with the backdrop of separation and the 1995 referendum, with two fascinating characters, James and Vero, on opposite sides of the separation debate. Anger is a powerful force in people’s actions. And the difficulty of acting on principles is a dominant theme. Highly recommended.
And This Is The Cure – Annette Lapointe
Allison is a nearly 40-year-old public radio pop culture journalist. Her past life has been messy and complicated: escaping a deeply conservative family, teenage rebellion epitomized by membership in a riot girrrrl punk band and issues with mental illness. Her current somewhat stable life is upended when her ex-husband is murdered; consequently, Allison takes on the guardianship of her angry 11-year-old daughter. Needless to say, she is unprepared for parenting. This is a brilliant novel about unresolved baggage and healing, with precise descriptions of Winnipeg and Toronto life. Both funny and poignant, a great read.
Amy notes; I am sure I didn’t get all the Canadiana inside jokes, but I got enough to appreciate their presence! Propulsive read.
Rabbit Foot Bill – Helen Humphreys
It is 1947 in a small town in Saskatchewan. Leonard is a young boy who befriends a reclusive man known as Rabbit Foot Bill. Bill commits a sudden act of violence and is sent to prison. Twelve years later, Leonard is a recently graduated doctor of psychiatry. His first job is at the Weyburn Mental Hospital where he encounters Bill again. What follows is a strange obsession that ends badly. This book explores the frailty and resilience of the human mind, and the elusive relationship between truth and fiction. The story also reveals the abysmal treatment of mental illness in the 1950s with use of LSD by both the doctors and patients. Humphreys is an under-appreciated literary goddess, with previous gems like The Evening Chorus, The Lost Garden and Nocturne.
What David Read 