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A review by bookthia
No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod
4.0
My favourite line in this book was "We are all better when we are loved." And this book was about the bonds of family and the love shared between siblings, parents and grandparents over the generations. Blood is thicker than water -- that phrase is oft repeated in this story.
The main character is Alexander MacDonald. Through his eyes and his memories we learn of his family's history, from the highlands of Scotland to the highlands of Cape Breton; from the battlefields of Culloden to the uranium mines of Northern Ontario. But we don't just learn about family facts and genealogies, we learn about their culture, as displaced Scots, and as a community isolated in a remote Canadian village. We learn about their strengths and weaknesses, their pride and their shame, their successes and failures, their tragedies and -- well, there are no triumphs unless you count the fact that Alexander and his twin have managed to create successful careers outside of Cape Breton.
Even though there is much sadness in this story, it is ultimately a story of sustaining love, and of hope. And while we learn little of Alexander MacDonald's wife and children, knowing they exist bodes well for the fictional MacDonalds, the Clann Ruadh of Cape Breton.
The main character is Alexander MacDonald. Through his eyes and his memories we learn of his family's history, from the highlands of Scotland to the highlands of Cape Breton; from the battlefields of Culloden to the uranium mines of Northern Ontario. But we don't just learn about family facts and genealogies, we learn about their culture, as displaced Scots, and as a community isolated in a remote Canadian village. We learn about their strengths and weaknesses, their pride and their shame, their successes and failures, their tragedies and -- well, there are no triumphs unless you count the fact that Alexander and his twin have managed to create successful careers outside of Cape Breton.
Even though there is much sadness in this story, it is ultimately a story of sustaining love, and of hope. And while we learn little of Alexander MacDonald's wife and children, knowing they exist bodes well for the fictional MacDonalds, the Clann Ruadh of Cape Breton.