Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
Every now and then I stumble upon a book that offers up a complete cast of characters, immerses me in their lives and makes me feel as if I know them all personally, their flaws and foibles, and then, when I come to the end, I’m left bereft at having to say goodbye. This is how I felt when I read David Adams Richards’ 1988 novel Nights Below Station Street.
The story is set in rural Canada (the blurb tells me it’s New Brunswick) in the early 1970s.
There’s no real plot; instead, we meet a handful of locals and follow their ordinary working-class lives in a small mining and timber mill community over the course of a year or so.
In effortless, stripped-back prose, Adams Richards depicts complex familial and neighbourly relationships, the day-to-day struggles of the poor, and the very personal battles faced by those with addiction (or illness) and the subsequent outfall on their families.
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.
The story is set in rural Canada (the blurb tells me it’s New Brunswick) in the early 1970s.
There’s no real plot; instead, we meet a handful of locals and follow their ordinary working-class lives in a small mining and timber mill community over the course of a year or so.
In effortless, stripped-back prose, Adams Richards depicts complex familial and neighbourly relationships, the day-to-day struggles of the poor, and the very personal battles faced by those with addiction (or illness) and the subsequent outfall on their families.
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Alcohol
Minor: Sexual assault
A must read for every Maritimer (and non-Maritimer) during the winter months. This novel is powerful, subtle, and intuitively familiar in its presentation of poverty, alcoholism, and the families that build our rural communities.
This is my second reading of Nights Below Station Street, and I am sure I will return to its pages again some day while lost in the cold, dark wood. Richards has found a way to locate parts of our lives and present them to us in characters who persist and survive. Excellent.
This is my second reading of Nights Below Station Street, and I am sure I will return to its pages again some day while lost in the cold, dark wood. Richards has found a way to locate parts of our lives and present them to us in characters who persist and survive. Excellent.
http://amysmarathonofbooks.ca/nights-below-station-street/