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Title: Island: The Complete Stories by Alistair MacLeod ISBN: 0-375-71304-2 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 12 March, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.38 (13 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: TALENTED, DEFINITELY -- BUT NOT MY CUP OF TEA...
Comment: Fans of Alistair MacLeod, please understand -- I respect his writing abilities, but this book disappointed me. Perhaps it's too much in the vein of what little I've read of Hemingway and London -- but it just didn't hold me like I anticipated...and yes, I read it all the way through.
There were some stories I liked more than others -- but for the most part, I found them to be uninvolving. His descriptive talents are immense, and his feeling for his subjects and their setting -- Canada's beautiful but harsh Cape Breton Island, for the most part -- is obviously deep and heartfelt. Perhaps his characters and his storylines are just a little too rough-hewn for me, I can't really put my finger on it.
I'm glad I read this book -- I had heard a lot about MacLeod's work in the last year or so -- and I won't go so far as to recommend that others NOT read him. As I said, his talents are genuine and obvious, and others might enjoy these stories more than I did. By all means, if you enjoy reading the work of a craftsman, don't ignore this man's writing.
I've read collections of short stories in the past year that I enjoyed more -- by Russell Banks, John Biguenet, Adria Bernardi, and (my favorite) William Trevor.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Bittersweet Look Back Home
Comment: I read this book over two years ago and parts of it continue to haunt me. It tells of life in Cape Breton in the province, I believe, of Nova Scotia. It is written by a man who grew up there. This is a part of the nearby world that I have always wanted to visit. I may yet get to do that but I'm not sure whether MacLeod's book has made me more anxious or less anxious to do so. His Breton is a place where life is not at all like the pretty postcard that many of us imagine. In his collection of short stories and sketches, we come away with an appreciation of the hard times and sturdy people but we don't necessarily want them moving next door. There are a number of stories and scenes that really bring people to life in a very down to earth manner. The story of the loneliness of the girl in the title story was overwelming. I recall a number of references to sex that were made throughout the book in a sort of agrarian manner; taking the cow to be "serviced" by the neighbor's bull was almost as emotional as some of the human intercourses. Things had their purpose and occassionally there was a purpose for fun but much of the imagry I took away from this book was that of a very stoic people. I gave it a rating of "5" because I rounded up this time from a 4.5. This book definitely will have an impact on its' reader. Not a joyful or inspiring impact but an impact nonetheless,
Rating: 4
Summary: An English Assignment Gone Well...
Comment: When I first picked up my copy of Island I had two thoughts. Wow this cover is pretty, and Wow this book is (relatively) big, at least to read in a week or so. However once I started reading the first few lines of "The Boat" (a story I'd coincidentally read the year before and didn't even realize till the end) I found myself liking MacLeod's simple yet descriptive style. Written in a way such that a reader can picture the story being told out loud, much like traditional maritimes tales are done through oral speakings, these 16 stories each encapsulate the reader leaving you wanting to know what will happen to the characters within the story and beyond.
Many of the stories are written from the perspective of an older male looking back on a particular snapshot of atime period in their youth, usually a moment of clarity in coming of age (although sometimes its only just starting, as some stories are set with main characters as young as 8 or 9. There are variations of lessons of love, death, learning from your parents, upholding traditions, starting afresh, surviving in extreme conditions, and just general lessons of life.
I'd recommend this book to people who enjoy short stories, and while they are not my fave genre of writing, these particular stories, although sometimes overly simplistic and almost annoying in terms of some stylistic aspects, will engage a reader to continue reading each story from start to finish. A triumph in Alistair MacLeod's life is that his collected works can create a whole that is quite powerful.
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Title: No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod ISBN: 0375726659 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 03 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Alistair MacLeod: Essays on His Works by Irene Guilford ISBN: 1550711377 Publisher: Guernica Editions Pub. Date: April, 2002 List Price(USD): $8.00 |
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Title: As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories (New Canadian Library) by Alistair MacLeod ISBN: 0771098820 Publisher: New Canadian Library Pub. Date: 01 June, 1986 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: Cape Breton Road: A Novel by D. R. Macdonald ISBN: 0151005230 Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: 25 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: The Lost Salt Gift of Blood by Alistair MacLeod ISBN: 077109969X Publisher: New Canadian Library Pub. Date: 01 October, 1995 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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