Book Review: The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson (literary fiction)

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shortlisted for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize

In The Saturday Night Ghost Club, protagonist Jake Baker looks back on his boyhood relationship with his uncle Calvin.

My uncle owned a shop, the Occultorium, at the top of Clifton Hill.The name was spelled out in Gothic lettering on the marquee, while below, in elegant script, the slogan--Investigating the dark cubbyholes of otherworldly experience... (p. 32) 

In the 1980s, the year Jake turned twelve years old, he spent the summer chasing ghosts with his uncle. Was his uncle teaching him to deal with his fears or was something else going on? (Adult Jake--with the perspective time has bought him--believes that his uncle was trying to deal with his own nightmares.)

Jake grows during the course of the summer. He learns to confront his fear and stand-up for himself.

Published by Knopf Canada

Published in 2018

Under the pen names Patrick Lestewka and Nick Cutter, Craig Davidson writes horror. The Saturday Night Ghost Club--literary fiction--includes some tantalizing scary scenes and in this way serves as an introduction to his other work.

 Freedom to Read

Celebrate the 35th anniversary of Freedom to Read from February 24 to March 2

Freedom to Read week is an annual event that encourages Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment to intellectual freedom...

Click this link to find out more.

photo by ldyck

March on this blog...

In like a lamb

and out like a loin

or

In like a loin

and out like a lamb

Whatever the weather we'll have fun. We'll start the month with a list of Canadian picture book publishers. The ink is still wet on the short story and poem I wrote for you. And I've reviewed two prize-winning books:  Washington Black by Esi Edugyan and A Wake for the Dreamland by Laurel Deedrick-Mayne. I'm looking forward to spending March with you.

photo by ldyck

Sharing my author journey...

This month a writing group invited me to talk about my author journey. My goal was to provide information drawn from

Book Review: Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson (magical realism)

Update: Trailer for Trickster TV show

In this article by Sue Carter written for Quill and Quire, Eden Robinson reveals that she started working on a follow-up to Blood Sports but lost interest in that project and then in writing altogether. But writing Son of a Trickster rekindled her passion for the craft. And on November 7, 2017, at the Writers' Trust of Canada's black-tie gala, Eden Robinson was awarded $50, 000. So in Son of a Trickster, you read the work of an author at the height of her game sharing what she loves.

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Publisher:  Knopf Canada

Published in 2017

Son of a Trickster is about the effect the residential school system has on three generations. The first generation turns their back on their culture. The second generation is angry and destructive. The third generation is lost but struggles to reclaim their culture.

Son of a Trickster is...

Funny

Jared's mom and her boyfriend 'took turns firing into the trunk of one of the target trees, which quivered until it creaked, cracked, then fell over.

"Tim-ber!" they yelled together.

"Normal people buy their trees from the Boy Scouts," Jared said, "Normal people don't hunt their Christmas tree down and kill them." ' (p. 66)

Beautiful

'In the sudden silence, the trees shushed in the breeze, a thousand small whispers.' (p. 237)

At times, dark

'His tiny, tightly permed maternal grandmother, Anita Moody, had never liked him... "Wee git," she'd say if his parents left them alone. "If you hurt her, I will kill you and bury you where no one can resurrect you. Get, you dirty dog's arse."

"I'm Jared," he'd said.

"Trickster," she'd said. "You still smell like lightning."' (p. 1)

The mystery of why Jared's grandmother thinks he is a trickster is solved on page 68 when Jared's mom tells him, ' "The nuns messed her up. They made her think everything Indian was evil. And that includes you and me." '

Thank you for this haunting book, Eden Robinson. So glad that it's the first in a trilogy. (I wonder will Jared grow older or will minor characters--such as his girlfriend and his parental grandmother--have their stories expanded?)

David Stouck writing for BC BookWorld concludes his review with:  '[W]hat this novel does for the non-Indigenous reader is to make totem poles, masks, and legends come alive. This remarkable novel accordingly takes Indigenous writing to a new level.' 

More

Click this link to listen to Shelagh Rogers (Host of The Next Chapter on CBC radio) interviewing Eden Robinson about Son of a Trickster.

'Abby on a walk' by ldyck

Next post:  Sunday, December 17
at approximately 5 PM PST
Supper Guest (short story)
I try my hand at writing middle grade fiction.