Ernest Buckler (1908–1984)

(Literary Fiction, Vintage, Canadian author, Atlantic Canadian)

Published in 1952, this is an Atlantic Canadian classic and is set in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia, in the years leading up to WWII.

It’s the story of three generations of the Canaan family, particularly David Canaan of the last generation, and illustrates the eternal struggle between generations and the subsequent breakdown of families.
For example, while David and his father are working together outside, David’s father thinks: “Someone of my own name will always live in my house,” while David is thinking of how he can’t wait to leave.

But David must sacrifice his dreams of being a writer to stay and work the family farm.

Read this if: you enjoy the novels of John Steinbeck. 4½ stars… (mer)

Spoiler alert.

There is a certain unevenness in the story-telling in this book, particularly in the earlier sections, but it does pull together and tell a cohesive and often beautifully written tale. The long poetic descriptive passages, really a sort of meditation on the physical and sensual experience of the people in their setting, can be moving or can interrupt the flow of the narrative a tad too long. Still at their strongest they are some of the best aspects of the book.

I love immersing myself in the work and world of this land and time, and there are some compelling insights into humans. Overall it is a dreary tale, though. Just about everybody dies young, the protagonist never comes to grips with his own self-defeating tendencies, and few if any of the inter-personal rifts are resolved before his own untimely death.

It was a bit of work to read in some ways, and I don't regret it, but it isn't one I will go back to. I will cherish some of the images, but as a story, it left me a bit down and unsatisfied.… (mer)