Grant Buday

I picked this book up at the Millennium Library when I was there for a function and I had nothing to read on the bus ride home. Grant Buday was an unknown author to me but he is the author of a number of books previous to this one. So I thought I would give it a go. It was okay but not great. As the book primarily deals with women trying to survive on Vancouver Island in the Victorian era I think the author didn't channel his inner femininity as well as he should have.

The book starts with a young woman, Florence, on a train from New York to Chicago who is being sought by Pinkerton's detectives for murders in Canada. She caught the eye of a British hussar also travelling on the train and he saves her by hiding her in his berth for the ride across the continent. The hussar is going to join the army in India apparently taking the long route from England to the subcontinent. They end up in Victoria where the hussar, Edward Greyland-Smith, is to catch a boat across the Pacific. After a night of passion he leaves and Florence stays in Victoria. Of course, she becomes pregnant and takes on the name Greyland-Smith and claims the hussar died before he could ever see his daughter, Pearl. The Greyland-Smiths live a genteel life thanks to the jewellery Florence took from her employers' pawn broker business. Pearl goes to a good school and turns out to be quite a beauty. However, on the night of a party at the home of the most important hostess in the city, Pearl is seduced by a police detective in the belly of a sphinx on the grounds. And, of course, she falls pregnant as well. At about this time a woman who knew Florence (not her real name) when she was a servant arrives in Victoria. She blackmails Florence who starts having to sell her household furnishings. Then, just when Florence is almost out of resources the old "friend" is murdered. Pearl thinks perhaps Florence did it or arranged for the murder. This brings the police detective to their door but he doesn't recognize Pearl because she was wearing a veil the night of the party. From then on the plot just becomes silly with suggestions of witchcraft and spirits and wildly improbable escapades.

Maybe Buday's other books are better but I'm afraid I won't be seeking them out.… (more)

Another fascinating Trojan War retelling. The War is at stalemate after 10 years; Agamemnon and Menelaus, brothers who inflicted it on everyone, ask Odysseus to think of some subterfuge to bring an end to hostilities. The story is told from Odysseus's viewpoint: the last few days and months--spring to summer--ending the War, interspersed with reminiscences. Thinking of his little son, Telemachus, luring crabs out of their holes to catch them, leads him to conceive of the wooden Horse. If the Trojans lead it into their city, Greeks hidden inside can emerge secretly and overpower the Trojans for a decisive victory. The idea is debated. The Greeks finally decide to use it, with modifications. Chosen men enter the belly of the Horse, wait and the Horse is taken into the City. At the end he muses, "... at long last the Trojan War is finished ... soon, very soon, in a month at most, I will be home."

These familiar characters are given personalities. We see Odysseus not merely as the trickster and with a slippery tongue, but truly longing for wife and son. His family appears in his memories. He has "hoist himself by his own petard" by having suggested an Oath of mutual help, years ago and now being bound by it. Written with vividness, terseness and imagination. I took dragonflies as a symbol for change--life to death, change of seasons.

Highly recommended.… (more)

The beauty of a good coming-of-age novel is that we can empathize or at least learn from the pain of the characters. And that is what one can do with this book. The story is set in September 1965 and it is Jack’s first day of school. But it also the day that Jack’s mother learns of her husband’s affair while trying to deal with the suicide of their downstair’s tenant (And her secret love.) Buday divides the narrative of the of the book between the voices of the three family members to brilliantly make the reader hear and feel the confusion and anguish of the lifestyle that exists in that cohesion.
http://tinyurl.com/ps6hqb9… (more)