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A review by lordfinkelgravy
The Bartender's Tale by Ivan Doig
2.0
This book read a lot like To Kill a Mockingbird. The first person reflective point of view; the local color and the ensemble of colorful characters all brought to mind Harper Lee. That is where the comparison ends though, for while Lee's book wove the characters and setting into a unified theme around breaking down the walls which separate people, The Bartender's Tale seems content with painting a picture and leaving us to wonder what point the author was trying to make with it.
I read some reviews which called this book a coming of age novel and I disagree. Coming of age would imply that as the young narrator moves through the book he encounters conflicts and makes discoveries which in the end teach him (and the readers) and help him to grow and change. Nothing of the sort happens here. The book starts with a 12 year old boy and ends with the same 12 year old boy and then tacks on something of an epilogue to create a sense of nostalgia. All of it well written and rich in detail, but lacking an inspired theme to make they reader think once the story is over.
What does work for this book is way Rusty , the narrator, brings his father to life through his narration. These passages were equal parts hero worship and longing to keep the intimacy with his father they establish since his father took Rusty into his care starting from age six. Father-son relationships is powerful stuff in literature, but again, while Doig brings it to the fore, he then just let's it sit there with no real message or exploration.
In the end, this was a competent book, but I expected more.
I read some reviews which called this book a coming of age novel and I disagree. Coming of age would imply that as the young narrator moves through the book he encounters conflicts and makes discoveries which in the end teach him (and the readers) and help him to grow and change. Nothing of the sort happens here. The book starts with a 12 year old boy and ends with the same 12 year old boy and then tacks on something of an epilogue to create a sense of nostalgia. All of it well written and rich in detail, but lacking an inspired theme to make they reader think once the story is over.
What does work for this book is way Rusty , the narrator, brings his father to life through his narration. These passages were equal parts hero worship and longing to keep the intimacy with his father they establish since his father took Rusty into his care starting from age six. Father-son relationships is powerful stuff in literature, but again, while Doig brings it to the fore, he then just let's it sit there with no real message or exploration.
In the end, this was a competent book, but I expected more.