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thebacklistborrower's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
One of just five books on the short-lived CBC Sunday Edition Backlist, initiated by Michael Enright (sigh. I miss that show). It was this list that got me fascinated by underappreciated fiction, after reading Swamp Angel by Ethel Wilson, and Basic Black with Pearls by Helen Weinzweig (which also introduced me to the House of Anansi A List).
This is the second Austin Clarke book I’ve read. I started with a short story collection called When He Was Young and Free and He Used to Wear Silks, and was very moved by the language used. This book continues that. It takes place over a single afternoon and evening, after two friends who grew up in Barbados reconnect by chance after 50 years in a snowy Toronto street. They take refuge in a bar, and swap stories about their lives, their loves, and their childhood. It is a train-of-thought book. It follows the exact same ebb and flow of a conversation that you’d have with a long-lost friend, including interruptions by the bartender, comments under the breath about folk at other tables, and plenty of reminiscing.
It is a fascinating book to read, but I felt a little lost by it, as it is --like many conversations-- aimless, wandering here and there without much direction. But as I read on, and the two friends slowly reveal themselves to each other, wearing away at the patina of time and the pressure to look successful, I found my footing. They talk about immigration -- one ended up in Canada, the other southern US (eventually), and money, and family. They are foils to each other, and together are sorting through their collective and separate past to find common ground.
Its a short book, so if you’re looking for a new perspective from a book full of beautiful prose, its a book worth checking out.
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