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saareman 's review for:
The Erratics
by Vicki Laveau-Harvie
Daughters Rescue Dad
Review of the Anchor Canada paperback edition (2021) of the Finch Publishing paperback original (2018)
The Okotoks Erratic "Big Rock" in Okotoks, Alberta, Canada. Photograph sourced from AmusingPlanet.com
Vicki Laveau-Harvie grew up on an isolated ranch near the town of Okotoks, Alberta, Canada about 20 miles south of the provincial capital of Calgary. She now lives in Australia after a career as a translator that took her to France as well. Her sister lives in British Columbia on the west coast of Canada. Both sisters had been disinherited and estranged from their parents for almost 20 years before they took steps to save their father from their delusional mother when the latter shattered her hip and was hospitalized as a result.
The story of this rescue and of some of its background is told in Laveau-Harvie's memoir The Erratics, which uses the analogy of the famous local Okotoks split erratic rock (pictured above) to symbolize the family separation and estrangement and the various torn and split feelings of the daughters' attempts to reconcile with their parents. Laveau-Harvie wrote this originally as a writing exercise but won several awards in Australia as a result, including the Finch Prize to publish it and the Stella Prize for women's writing.
Laveau-Harvie does not go overboard on the story of her mother's delusional excesses, the story is told straightforwardly from her own experience and that which is reported to her by her sister and their partner who were closer at hand during various emergencies. The short of it is that the parents were in their 90's while still living at the ranch home. While wildly spending money on various scams and schemes and luxury purchases, the mother was gradually starving and abusing the father through lack of proper home care. Various literary devices such as flashbacks and flashforwards, foreshadowing and delaying disclosure are used throughout, as well as incorporating the local indigenous legend of the origin of the Okotoks Erratic rock. As Margaret Atwood summarized in her brief Twitter review (linked below) the resulting true-life drama "reads like a novel."
My thanks to Karan for the loan and discovery of this book!
Other Reviews
"A searing, brilliantly-written memoir about a destructive and cunning mother; reads like a novel" from [a:Margaret Atwood|3472|Margaret Atwood|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1282859073p2/3472.jpg] on Twitter, March 2, 2020.
Review at Alberta Online, December 1, 2020.
Review at BookPage.com, August 25, 2020.
Related Article
At 77, Alberta expat Vicki Laveau-Harvie has become a literary sensation in her adopted home of Australia in the Calgary Herald, September 12, 2020.
Review of the Anchor Canada paperback edition (2021) of the Finch Publishing paperback original (2018)
The Okotoks Erratic "Big Rock" in Okotoks, Alberta, Canada. Photograph sourced from AmusingPlanet.com
Vicki Laveau-Harvie grew up on an isolated ranch near the town of Okotoks, Alberta, Canada about 20 miles south of the provincial capital of Calgary. She now lives in Australia after a career as a translator that took her to France as well. Her sister lives in British Columbia on the west coast of Canada. Both sisters had been disinherited and estranged from their parents for almost 20 years before they took steps to save their father from their delusional mother when the latter shattered her hip and was hospitalized as a result.
The story of this rescue and of some of its background is told in Laveau-Harvie's memoir The Erratics, which uses the analogy of the famous local Okotoks split erratic rock (pictured above) to symbolize the family separation and estrangement and the various torn and split feelings of the daughters' attempts to reconcile with their parents. Laveau-Harvie wrote this originally as a writing exercise but won several awards in Australia as a result, including the Finch Prize to publish it and the Stella Prize for women's writing.
Laveau-Harvie does not go overboard on the story of her mother's delusional excesses, the story is told straightforwardly from her own experience and that which is reported to her by her sister and their partner who were closer at hand during various emergencies. The short of it is that the parents were in their 90's while still living at the ranch home. While wildly spending money on various scams and schemes and luxury purchases, the mother was gradually starving and abusing the father through lack of proper home care. Various literary devices such as flashbacks and flashforwards, foreshadowing and delaying disclosure are used throughout, as well as incorporating the local indigenous legend of the origin of the Okotoks Erratic rock. As Margaret Atwood summarized in her brief Twitter review (linked below) the resulting true-life drama "reads like a novel."
My thanks to Karan for the loan and discovery of this book!
Other Reviews
"A searing, brilliantly-written memoir about a destructive and cunning mother; reads like a novel" from [a:Margaret Atwood|3472|Margaret Atwood|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1282859073p2/3472.jpg] on Twitter, March 2, 2020.
Review at Alberta Online, December 1, 2020.
Review at BookPage.com, August 25, 2020.
Related Article
At 77, Alberta expat Vicki Laveau-Harvie has become a literary sensation in her adopted home of Australia in the Calgary Herald, September 12, 2020.