What do You think about Mister Sandman (1998)?
Having read Gowdy's 'Helpless' awhile back, I was quite excited to give 'Mister Sandman' a whirl. I am of mixed feelings of this story.I absolutely love Gowdy's writing style. This woman knows how to make you turn a page. At under 300 pages she tells a wholly complete story; I love a concise writer. I also found most of the characters very rooted in reality. The passages devoted to the juxtaposing sister, the seemingly asexual Sonja and the promiscuous Marcia, I found particularly appetizing.However, while 'Helpless' was an exquisite marriage of external and internal conflict, I felt 'Mister Sandman' was only rooted in the internal - very little actually HAPPENED, up until the end. I found parts a little dull. I am also especially not fond of 'child enigma' stories, and did not enjoy any storyline pertaining to Joan.This I conclude from my experience reading 'Mister Sandman' - I need a meaty story that rachets up the tensions, and is not entirely rooted in the mind. But man alive, do I love Barbara Gowdy. I will definitey keep reading her.
—Liz
The good: very readable, with lovely language and a fast pace. Ms Gowdy also treats her characters with a benevolence that I felt was deserved, as she successfully portrays them as a family trying to muddle through life while doing the least harm.The bad: the ending. I don't remember whether I had similar reservations about The White Bone, but the ending was strange. It wasn't exactly abrupt or awkward, just a little less kind than I thought the rest of the novel was. Maybe that's just me, but the last few sentences had the most cynicism of the entire book. And it doesn't really resolve the story of the Canary family.On the whole, very good, just not amazing.
—Doreen
The story of a family set in 50s-70s Canada; this unconventional family - closet homosexual Gordon; wild, lying Doris; brilliant, promiscuous Marcy; slow, overweight, happy Sonja; and genius, brain-damaged, beautiful, talented Joan - struggles with love, openness and honesty until Joan opens their eyes.Recommended by Margaret Atwood and by Salon.com, this story had me expecting to be as spellbound as I was when reading Geek Love. However, despite the book's interesting perspective and plot line, the effort seemed a bit uneven. I took the sexual proclivities of all the characters to be an unconventional device that would allow comparison across the same playing field - none were what we'd call "normal" and by writing this from a sexual perspective Gowdy forced the reader to confront what he or she viewed "normal" sexual activity (or lack thereof). This had the effect of both being somewhat shocking but also eventually forcing a look inwards, especially as the Canary family is so likable! Gowdy does some brilliant work here - one example is Marcy's promiscuity, which literaly means that she generally doesn't discriminate; after a bit of trial and error, she moves from one partner to another before any hearts are broken - she is free w/ love - she doesn't withhold based on history, age, past, etc (but she does appreicate the cute ones).However, the book feels a bit off balance. There are awkward sentences all over the book - I found myself having to re-read sections to figure out who "he" was and who "she" was; many of the metaphors were also awkward (too, a few were brilliant) but it caused me to mentally stumble, an uncomfortable situation for the reader.
—Holly
