Book Review: The List of Last Chances by Christina Myers (women's fiction)

 The List of Last Chances is about the friendship that forms between thirty-eight-year-old Ruth "Ruthie" MacInnes and sixty-eight-year-old Kay March on a road trip from PEI to BC.

photo by ldyck

The List of Last Chances

Christina Myers

Caitlin Press

2021

Fred Kerner Award Shortlist 2022

(humour, road fiction)

For Valentine's Day, Ruth decides to surprise her boyfriend and...

"I had come home early [to find]...Jack...midway through sagging the clerk who worked in the flower shop under our apartment." (p. 11-12)

Life in tatters, Ruthie moves out of the apartment she shared with Jack and onto her friend Jules' sofa. For six months, Ruthie's life becomes a bottle--all she does is drink. Jules can't stand to watch her friend exist in that state. She wants Ruthie to do something. She is sure what that something is once she finds the perfect solution...

"Wanted: Experienced care attendant to accompany elderly client by car from New Annan, PEI, to Vancouver, BC." (p. 9)

Kay is content on her farm in rural PEI, but her son David worries about her. He tells Ruthie...

Mom "has been widowed for several years now, and she hasn't yet realized that her isolated living conditions are not the safest environment for her when considering her age." (p. 38)

But Ruthie thinks...

"At thirty years my senior, [Kay] was twice as capable as me in pretty much every way--mentally, emotionally and even physically." (p. 129)

David has painstakingly planned the trip from PEI to BC, but Kay tells Ruthie, " 'There are some things I'd like to do. Things that aren't on my son's list.'" (p. 56) Ruthie describes Kay's list as "equal parts sightseeing tour and sin-seeking, with a dash down memory lane." (p. 58) 

Story question: "But here we were, two boats bobbing together on a big empty ocean, pushed together by currents we couldn't control. Would we let the tide take us where it would? Or should we put up the sail and decide where we were heading ourselves?" (p. 58)

Ruthie is a sympathetic protagonist who grows through the course of the story. How much does she grow? That's a question that is left for the reader to ponder. And in this way, The List of Last Chances is a haunting read.

Though technically a minor character, Kay is a major character to me. She's the kind of senior citizen I aspire to be--wise, fun, dynamic and vital. 

I recommend The List of Last Chances, especially for those amid a major transition.

Poetry in the Japanese Gardens

I attended the poetry reading in Mayne Island's Japanese Gardens yesterday afternoon. The gardens made for the perfect backdrop. They are especially lovely at this time of the year. I was looking forward to listening to poets read their work. However, as I walked into the gardens, I was issued an invitation to read some of my poems. I usually invest days in preparation for a reading. I've never read "cold turkey" before. There are many reasons for this: I'm dyslexic, so reading is a challenge, and I'm shy, and... It's a long list. However, I surprised myself by accepting the offer. I had a few moments of panic—or was it excitement--before I stood up and faced the audience of about ten. They were warm and supportive. I read two poems and had such a fun time doing that that I read one more. I even ad-libbed the introduction to my work. I was so surprised and pleased with myself. I also enjoyed listening to other poets read their work and poetry enthusiasts read their favourite poems by famous poets. Half of those who attended this event read poems. There's talk of future poetry readings. Will I be there? You betcha. I would love for you to attend as well. 

 

 Next Sunday...

Book Review: Leaving Now by Arleen Pare

Allow me to begin with a little bit of self-talk. "Leanne, this is an example of why it's important to leave room for a book to find you. Listen up." Okay, I feel better. Thanks. Now...

Background:  The night before finding Leaving Now I'd actually started reading... Well, the name of the book isn't important. By... Well, the name of the author isn't important either.... It's enough to say that I'd read another books by the author. Other books that I'd enjoyed. So, I began reading that book with hope in my heart. I'll enjoy this, I told myself. Half-way through the first chapter, I kept reminding myself, any time now I'll begin to enjoy this. 

The problem was the author. I could compare him to a bully. He was holding the story over my head. I could see it danging there in front of me. But when I reached out to grab it he pulled it away. 

Finally, I told him. "Fine. If you don't want me to have it, I don't need it." And I left the author with his story. 

But that left me with a new problem:  what do I read now? 

The problem was that I had too many books to choose from and none of them called to me. 

That evening I went to Arleen Pare's book reading. 

Leaving Now jumped right up, waved at me and said, "Yeah, I'll be happy to entertain you. Just bring me home."

So I did and Leaving Now didn't disappoint. In fact, it charmed me from page one, with turns of phrases such as 'An ordinary day--but with a suitcase in it." (p. 9)

The cover is a well-executed work of art--weaving pink and blue. 
It speaks of times long past--1952. 

Buy Link

Please visit the book cover artist, Arleigh Wood

Arleen Pare's writing is emotionally deep with a poetic style. Reading her words inspired me to try my hand...

Satisfaction comes from developing your craft.
Ink on paper...capturing...emotion...writing deeply...capture the minute, the essence.

Satisfaction is achieved by sitting with your pen.
Exercise your brain...focus...execute...breathe life into word.
Build a world...watch your characters come to life...
Stand for something...make a point....

Don't worry who will care. You will.

Yes, Leaving Now captured me--right up and including the very last page.
'That's what happens in a fairy tale. That's the way the endings work. Perfectly. That's the law. I close the book.' (p. 162)

So, wanting more, but knowing the story was complete, I, indeed, closed the book.



***
Next post:
After all that, would you like to meet the author of Leaving Now? I knew you would. Arleen Pare will be here tomorrow. 
Can't wait?
Neither can I. : )
***
Work in progress
Word count:  64,638 words
Just two scenes left. I'm so close I can taste it--and it's so sweet. Then I let it rest for a few days (as many as I can stand). After a through editing and polish, it's submission time. If all goes well this progress should start in December or January. After the holidays or before... Huh? I've worried over this dilemma more than once.

This week I finished Room by Emma Donoghue. I thought I'd leave it at that. But as with so many books it seems I have something to say. So, please, watch for this review.
***
News:
I will be attending two writer workshops this Saturday...
Write with Geist
Fall Workshop series
Getting It Into Print 
(Billeh Nickerson reveals the secrets of how to get published in literary journals.)
Art of the Sentence
(Stephen Osborne explains how to identify strong sentences and how to write them)
I've been fortunate to be published in some literary journals. But I want to do more. And my sentences are strong but they could be stronger. (couldn't everyone's?)

Oh, yes, and this coming Tuesday at 9 pm my favourite TV show returns.
Scotiabank Giller Prize (link)

Confessions of a writer by Leanne Dyck

Each Friday, on this blog, I feature a guest post. I promote my guests on Twitter, Google + and Facebook. I'd planned to be away last weekend--catching the ferry on Thursday. Knowing that I won't be able to promote the guest post, I rescheduled Mike Force and Chris Di Giuseppi's guest post for this coming Friday. (I'm really looking forward to Mike and Chris' visit--they're my first team authors; they were generous with their questions and their book looks very interesting.)
So no guest post last Friday instead because I would be away--of island, for a break. Or at least that's what I thought. That's the thing about plans--they change. 
Around the time I should have been planning what to pack, my muse found an oasis of inspiration. Words flew onto paper. This left me with a difficult decision--stay home and work or leave and relax. 
Well, I look at achieving a steady flow of words as a gift. And, I reasoned, one I didn't want to stop receiving. So I stayed and worked.
The plan:  From Friday morning to Sunday night my fingers would be on the keyboard and my pen would be in my hand--no Internet or email.
On the whole, I did stick to this plan.
However, there were some diversions and now, to clear my conscious, I'd like to confess them.
Early Friday evening I attended Arleen Pare's book reading.

And I left with her book in my hand.

'In Leaving Now Arleen Pare, winner of the 2008 Victoria Book Prize, weaves fable, prose and poetics to create a rich mosaic of conflicted motherhood. Set in the volatile 1970s and '80s, when social norms and expectations were changing rapidly. Leaving Now is the emotionally candid story of a mother's anguish as she leaves her husband to love a woman. In this second book, Pare masterfully blends aspects of her personal journey with her own version of a well-loved fairy tale. Gudrun, the five-hundred-year-old mother of Hansel and Gretel, appears hazily in the narrator's kitchen--presumed dead, all but written out of her own tale, but very much alive. Gudrn spins a yarn of love, loss and leaving, offering comfort and wisdom to the conflicted young mother. 

Raising children is not for the faint of heart, all parents know the anguish of parting from a child, even if for the briefest moment. Leaving Now is for mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. It is for anyone who has ever lived in a family.' (From Caitlin Press' web site)

I forgave this diversion because, after all, it is one of my tasks, as a writer, to network. It wasn't my fault that the evening was so enjoyable.

Saturday I spent at the Mayne Island fall fair. Here's a taste...

I forgave this diversion because, I felt, attendance was my civic duty as a Mayne Islander.

I spent Sunday wading in words. This Thursday you'll be able to judge for yourself how well this went when I report my manuscript's latest word count.

I hope you enjoyed your weekend whether it was work, play or a little bit of both.