Canadian literature - CanLit - got a lovely boost last spring when the Globe and Mail newspaper launched the Globe Book Club. The idea is that a Canadian author suggests a Canadian-authored book for us to read and then has an in-depth discussion with the author of the suggested book in which both authors give the reasons for suggesting/writing the book as well as discussing the content of the selection. Others chip in with their view and we all benefit - books' lives are rejuvenated, authors find their way back into the spotlight and the readers are reminded not only of fiction they may have missed a few years ago but also of what great minds we have in Canada.
Last May Margaret Atwood led the way, choosing Barbara Gowdy's 2000 novel, The White Bone for reading/study.
The White Bone, set in Africa, is told from the perspective of elephants. We share their innermost thoughts in a really creative and unique way and are challenged with ideas about the distressing fates of elephants in the wild, the effects of climate change, the rights or wrongs of anthropomorphism and other fascinating points of discussion. Find the wrap-up with video and other links to discussion topics here: Globe Book Club Spring.
At the beginning of November, the Globe Book Club asked for Canadian author Esi Edugyan's recommendation. Her choice, Jacqueline Baker's The Broken Hours, is a 2014 novel with another unique way of telling a story, fictionalizing the end of H.P. Lovecraft's life.
Lovecraft, a real-life US horror fiction writer, is holed up in his 1936 Rhode Island mansion, still a young-ish man, but dying of cancer. Lovecraft hires a personal assistant, Arthor Crandle, who arrives at what seems a very creepy house and ghostly weird things start occurring that send shivers up his and our backbones.
I anticipate fascinating discussions between readers and authors, don't you?
A link: Globe Book Club Fall
I remember reading The Broken Hours a few years ago and even posted a review. Here it is!
Thursday, April 16, 2015
The Broken Hours
Jacqueline Baker
The horror genre is not one I'm familiar with so, before picking up this book, I'd never heard of the early 20th century American writer H.P. Lovecraft.
Jacqueline Baker's The Broken Hours mirrors Lovecraft's style while relating the story of Arthor (this is his actual first name, not a spelling mistake) Crandle, a fictional live-in personal assistant hired by Lovecraft in 1936, just a year or so before the famous author's death from cancer at age 46.
Crandle moves into the eerily dark, quiet dingy, etc. etc. mansion in Providence, Rhode Island and becomes immersed in the ghostly quality of the house: locked rooms, people appearing, disappearing, reappearing, odd lights, debris, lack of comfort or warmth and so on. He and his reclusive employer do not meet until several days later, communicating instead through letters left on a table. Creepiness abounds and discomfort crescendos.
Good ghost stories depend on a writer setting the scene using descriptive language, innuendos, and suggestion. Characters falter, making poor decisions, becoming delusional. Crandle is no exception and his first lie leads to so many more afterwards, he cannot find his way out of them. Then the end of the story comes along and is so appropriately weird, the reader no longer understands what is a lie and who is being lied to.
I enjoyed reading The Broken Hours. It was fun to have a brief sojourn into horror. I looked up information about H.P. Lovecraft and was impressed with how well his actual life details were integrated into Baker's story. What an interesting man he was! And what an interesting way Jacqueline Baker has of bringing him to our attention.
I recommend both of these novels. Following along with the Globe Book Club will only enhance the experience.
