Blogging from Boise

Will miss you all -- but hope you have a great evening. Oh what I'd give for some of your delicious food, Janet, and for an evening's conversation with you all. Here, late at night and off the top of my head, are a few random thoughts re Consolation:

I think Redhill really captures the new world “frontier” exceptionally well – those icy or gritty streets, the forest that has been pushed back but is ready to take over again, the array of weird and wonderful characters who left home and went to Canada for many and varied reasons, that gruesome weather. Wonderful poetic language, no doubt about that. Lots I could quote, but the fingers aren't up to it. You'll know what I mean.

I said to Marjorie today that I really liked the way the historical story is told in quite a conventional manner, and the contemporary story is told in a less conventional, more contemporary narrative style. I think it works beautifully. There are also some paragraphs in the final chapters where Redhill blends the present and the past -- but I can't find them! As I recall (and I'm realising it would be great to re-read this book), sentences begin in the present as John walks through the city and finish in the past as he considers all that would have occurred in this place. Am I imagining this?

I love the layered nature of the novel – and the way it reflects the "forensic geology" of David Lewis. We do live on the layers upon layers of all that has gone before us, don’t we? It's interesting being in Boise, a place of somewhat the same age as Toronto -- quite new, really -- and seeing the way history can so easily be swept aside by a mad dash for progress. My mother, who has lived here all her life, flinches regularly as old houses and businesses come down, are built over, and in effect vanish, unless they linger in somebody's memories. My elementary school has just been torn down (a replacement with big yellow pencils supporting the front portico will open at the end of the month) and my junior high is next on the demolisher's list. I can't help but wonder if part of my personal history vanishes with each demolition? I think Redhill captures all this quite well.

I'd love to know what the locals in Toronto think of the book.

Plenty of questions about the book remain:
What happened to Hallam when he took the photos to England? How were the photos received? What did Hallam’s family think of him? What did he think of them?

Consolation? Who was consoled for what? Who provided the consolation? Did they indeed find eventual consolation? Lots to tease out here I think.

Wonderful book, I loved it! Definitely glad we chose it -- thanks for finding it, Marjorie.

Enough -- time for bed! Look forward to your thoughts, and perhaps an ongoing conversation about the book. What's next, gang?

What a fine looking group of book lovers!

Not wanting to wear the opprobium of not having contributed to our very own BLOG, I thought I should at least post something before our meet tomorrow night for our consideration of Consolation. It's almost all too easy really that I can't think why two of our BLOG have chosen not to contribute, as yet. I'm sure some moral suasion will set that right.

Many thanks Niki for the work in getting our BLOG set up. If it's any consolation, we will seriously miss you tomorrow night but from your emails it seems as though life in Idaho at the moment isn't too bad. I'm not sure if we are going to do a real time blog, but we will certainly all be thinking of you.

Murray