Reviews

Reproduction by Ian Williams

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d0lly's review

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

ridgewaygirl's review against another edition

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3.0

Felicity and Edgar meet when their mothers are assigned to the same room, in a Toronto hospital that is dealing with being flooded. One mother lives, the other does not. Felicity and Edgar develop a relationship based on a combination of need, compassion, and a willingness to take advantage. This is not a love story.

Years later, Felicity and her son are renting the downstairs portion of a split level home in a diverse neighborhood. Army is determined to make his fortune. His landlord and upstairs neighbor would like him to stop conducting his business in the shared garage. The landlord's son is interested in ant life. The landlord's teenage daughter is bored, but she has her eye on a cute guy working at the mall.

This novel is about families, and how they sometimes form because of nothing more than proximity and need. It's about being an immigrant and a hyphenated Canadian. It's about choices and living with those choices. Ian Williams won the Giller Prize for this novel. It's a lively and modern take on the usual immigrant tale. It also sagged in the final third as Williams played with format and style. Some of his risks paid off (like how a character's name was misspelled in different ways near the end) but others proved more distracting than effective. In the end, I appreciated this novel more than I enjoyed it.

cfinnigan's review

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4.0

Edgar is a dick. He is such a colossal dick that an entire family coalesces out of an ether in response to his dickishness. The writing style jumps all over the place. From POV shifts to journal entries to sentences layered within other sentences. We experience the characters growing through snapshots like actors speaking off stage in a dark theatre before diving into the main act. I was drawn in like poor Armistice, hoping beyond hope that Edgar would be less of dick. Alas.

samantha_shain's review

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2.0

There was a certain driving suspense to the novel - as I experience in many multi-generational family stories, which is why I like them so much. However this one didn't "do it" for me. I had trouble connecting empathetically with the characters and the polyvocal elements, while cool from a literary device perspective, were disruptive to the plot progression. The book also introduced some characters who were never explained/resolved (Logan?). The mini text dialogue in the later chapters never quite made sense to me (though maybe I'm missing something brilliant?). I thought Oliver's hatred toward his exwife was lazy writing and Felicia's loyalty toward Edgar somewhat inconceivable. All that being said, I enjoyed the layout and design of the physical book and it kept me engaged to read every day! It won't go down as a classic for me, but it was still a worthwhile read.

carmanj's review

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3.0

“Reproduction” is written in three main parts. The first almost had me punt the book. I found it hard to follow who was speaking, and it reminded me of how much I disliked “The Polished Hoe”. The middle part grabbed me, though, and then the last third limped to the finish. I like the idea of this novel, following characters over many years, an unconventional family of people thrown together by circumstance, but the flourishes of literary technique kept me at a distance.

eososray's review against another edition

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1.0

I hate to give this such a low star rating but I really didn't like it. I read 6 chapters, skipped ahead and read bits and pieces all the way to the end. Nothing caught my attention and made me think I should read it all.
So, this is one of those stories I don't finish.

johns_library's review against another edition

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challenging reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

It had been a tradition of mine to read the Giller prize winner in the past few years, as well as working my way backwards from years past. Each time, I always come into these books with both an excitement and curiosity as to why they had won. Where as other books may have won due to their prose or narrative, William’s Reproduction is one that has excellent prose from his background as a poet and the structure are the largest highlights for myself.

The book breaks down into 3 sections. The first section, is a simple narrative between two people, Felicia and Edgar, of whom finds themselves forming a relationship. Later on, the next section complicates itself further as the narratives are shorter and jump between Felicia,

her child, and the landlord's family

they find themselves sharing their lives with. Then finally, at the last section, each POV narrative becomes shorter. Similar to cells, the narratives are reproducing as the characters we follow increase. The last section itself includes the bleeding of the first section, into the last section, a callback to the original lives of Felicia and Edgar, like how a parent’s DNA bleeds into their children.

Overall, the structure was unique, and the story was somewhat interesting, even though I found myself disliking most of the characters except for Felicia, which may have been the intention all along. In the end, I can see why William’s work had won. It was unique, and his prose is poetic and how he structures the book to have a meaning, showcases thoughtfulness behind everything. This was a challenging read, but I still enjoyed it, even if it left me confused, especially in the last section.