The author of the prescient The Plague has now written an inventive story of metafiction. The narrator/author creates a fictional version of himself as 12-year-old Benny living in 1980s Vancouver Chinatown. Accordingly, there is a blend of reality and invention. What if the author loses control of the narrative? Consequently, the story is often confusing because of two timelines, and thus can be frustrating. Some complex themes of child sexual abuse and suicidal ideation abound. This original story is deservedly on the Giller long-list.
Tag: Kevin Chong
The Plague – Kevin Chong
There is much to admire in this book. First, it is set in Vancouver, particularly the city core, so much is familiar. Second, as is evident from the title, Vancouver experiences an infectious disease disaster but the storyline is novel. Rather than focus on the cause and search for a cure (vaccine), the story is about the aftermath of the plague: how do people cope? There are three distinct points-of-view for coping: a family doctor who experiences directly the expanding disease first hand, and two people who are trapped in Vancouver’s core when a quarantine is put in place: a newspaperman who can’t return to his home in the suburbs, and an American writer on a book tour. Explorations of their behaviours in the face of suffering and futility, together with the psychological stress of quarantine, makes this an excellent read – highly recommended.
Amy notes: in 2011, there was a riot in Vancouver after the Canucks lost the final game for the Stanley Cup. The downtown peninsula was closed off by the police; people who had watched the game at friends apartments unable to leave, for example. An inspiration for this downtown quarantine?
What David Read 