I picked up this book expecting a book about Canada and since one of my daughters is at university there I thought I should educate myself. I was completely misled by the title; there's not a lot about Canada in this novel. I thought the novel was amazing though. Part One is certainly the best. It reads almost like real-time and it was remarkable how interesting the study of the characters was. Even if the book finished there it would be incredibly well-done. Part Two is much harder to read, not because of the writing but because of the life Dell is thrown in to. Part Two's action takes place in only about 6 weeks but again, because of the quality of the writing you get a sense of "real" time and the desperate situation he is in. That part is another great study of a main character and leads so well into the main "event" of the novel. Part Three is the shortest and my least favorite part but still really good.The best part of this novel is the attempt to make sense of other people's actions and how sometimes "making sense" can take your whole life. We all do it to a certain degree but is it really possible? In the end, what difference does it make? I think this is one of the books that will stay on my mind for a long time. The opening lines of Richard Ford’s Canada are corkers and persuaded me to read this novel.This is a coming-of-age account, about the penalties owing to a disastrous family fracture. Set largely in Saskatchewan, Ford has crafted a haunting novel, a leisurely read. While the book is extremely well-written and full of eloquent prose, it is overwhelmingly verbose.The title “Canada” is misleading, not about an imposing country or its people, rather about the lives of those who escape from themselves and their offenses. Less focus than expected on the cultural differences between Canada and the United States was pestering, perhaps the reader’s culpability.Not exactly a win for me.Notable excerpts:“Life had begun to demand lies in order to be workable.”“… no matter the evidence of your life, or who you believe you are, or what you’re willing to take credit for or draw your vital strength and pride from - anything at all can follow anything at all.”“Man comes to trouble as the sparks fly upward.”“… composition is the arrangement of unequal things.”
What do You think about Canada (2012)?
interesting story but very odd,,,,,read at peace river in wauchula florida
—ChristinaHaggerty
A well written book that's depressing and a little boring.
—mango_rain
