Canterbury Beach
Canterbury Beach, the debut novel by Nova Scotia poet and Journey Prize-winning short story writer Anne Simpson, takes its literary inspiration from no less a scribe than Chaucer. While the medieval English poet sent his pilgrims on a quest toward a cathedral, Simpson's destination is a more modest and modern site of respite from cares: a favourite family cottage in Maine. Simpson's prose is elegant, with descriptive powers so acute she can even effectively conjure the invisible: "Robin imagined all the things she couldn't see in the darkness. The black ocean, the islands like bent knuckles. Sea of loss. " Where her novel stalls at times is in its plotting. The story alternates between various members of an extended family driving south to their annual summer gathering, interwoven with key moments in their various pasts. There are great set pieces--notably, Robin's affair en route with a teenage boy who works at McDonald's--plus the central concern of the expected reunion with Garnet, the family black sheep, but the many simultaneous stories give the journey a muted momentum. Still, Simpson shows an enormous empathy for the everyday hopes and failures of human beings hurtling through a world that may no longer promise salvation, but can sometimes allow forgiveness. --Nigel Hunt Author(s): Anne Simpson. Binding Paperback. Publisher(s): Penguin Canada. Label: Penguin Canada.
| Fabricant: | Penguin Canada |
| Numéro de la pièce: | |
| Prix le plus bas (CAD): | 32,94 $ |
Caractéristiques du produit |
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| Auteur : | Anne Simpson |
| Format : | Paperback |
| Marque : | Penguin Canada (APB) |
