Smallwood helps create newfoundland. ( )

I decided not to finish this. Learning that one of the two central characters who was (in the book) a lifelong influence on Joey Smallwood, who "casts a haunting shadow over" (dust jacket blurb) Smallwood's entire life, is fictional? Deal breaker for me. It's confusing when you don't know enough solid history to disentangle fact and fiction and frustrating when after reading a whole book, wind up knowing less than when you started. I gave it a few chapters, but the depiction of Smallwood's brutal alcoholic father was so detailed with dialogue and incidents that surely must have been invented, that I decided I really didn't want to get any more uninformed about Newfoundland than I already am.

Also, after reading that, I cannot look at the Smallwood-on-railroad-tracks cover (Vintage/Random House edition) without reading it as COLONY OF UNREQUITED DRAMS.

entertaining! ( )

Impressive, unconventional, funny, mesmerizing historical novel about Newfoundland and two of its maverick inhabitants, Joe Smallwood (scavenging journalist, loser, one-time socialist and later PM of Newfoundland) and Sheilagh Fielding (journalist, muckraker, brave, cynical, extremely funny woman of endless qualities). It is the interaction between these two doomed lovers that carries the story, whereby the character and wit of Fielding is infinitely more impressive than the lame, hair-brained, fickle, fame-seeking character of Smallwood.

(Mind! spoilers ahead!) It all revolves, it seems, around a limited number of encounters at school, where Joey (smallwood) hangs out with a group of elite boys (invited by Prowse, the leader of the gang, grandson of a Newfoundland judge at the high court, who wrote a very influential History of Newfoundland) and Fielding hops over from the neighbouring girls High, playing girlfriend of Prowse. The start and end of the affair comes rapidly when an accusing letter is received by the head of school, Reeves, which incriminates Joey. Reeves, who wishes to expel Joey anyway, considering him a low life with corresponding character (pegged at 45 out of a 1000), tries to get Joey to take responsibility. Joey refuses to do so. Then Fielding steps forward and admits she has written the letter to get back at Joey. Result – Fielding is expelled from her school, and not much later Joey drops out from his school. Now who really wrote the letter, and why? In the remainder of the book we follow Joey’s failed career as journalist, scraping a living in new York for five years, and after his return to Newfoundland organising railway workers for the union by walking all the tracks and side branches (and being saved by Fielding in a sudden snow blizzard); him going by boat along all destitute settlements and once the pack ice closes in, continuing on foot along the South end of the island state, him ending up running a radio show as the Barrelman, sharing local folklore and gaining him national fame, which then comes in handy once he starts campaigning for Confederation with Canada after ww2 and winning several elections after the surprise outcome of the national referendum. Fielding is not so fortunate – she is bent on a career as sharp-tongued, witty, cynical commentator for a variety of newspapers.

And then at the end of it all, the Fielding’s terrible secret is borne out. And that’s a real tear jerker. Not only did she bear two kids, to lose one in the war, without him knowing who she was, also the dad of her kids is a surprising one. In the process Johnston has rewritten Newfoundland’s history and made the reader part of that history of failure, ice, foiled plans and hard lives (with the imagery of dead frozen sealers on the ice as one that will not easily be forgotten). And Johnston has given the world one unforgettable character – Fielding. Onwards to the next odyssey around her (The custodian of paradise)! ( )

i don't know enough about Joey Smallwood to know whether he was such a cipher. But if he was even the addition of a love interest for him - which apparently was controversial - fails to save the Smallwood character in this book from being at all interesting. The character has no interior depth and as the book is first person it eventually just becomes a long drone. There's no feeling to his feelings for Fielding, little depth to his feelings about his father - and those are really the only meaningful interpersonal dynamics at play in the book. Smallwood's interior monologue is nothing more than blank description of things with occassional motivation thrown in His political evolution is dealt with as a mere fact and small event, his motivations for confederation are undeveloped. If you're looking for a historical read this is not it. If you're looking for an interesting character study, this is not it. If you're looking for a romance, this is not it. This is written in the style of the later moderns - a loose baggy thing patterned on Dickens but without his detail, interesting characters or historical grounding - like a later John Irving novel. I was very much looking forward to this book and very disappointed to read it. unrequited, indeed. ( )

Started this book many years ago and didn't finish it. However, finally got there and it was worth the read. Joey Smallwood was a fascinating figure in Canadian History one I'm sure many children in school nowadays know nothing about, and as such his life deserves reviewing. Told from the perspective of Joey himself for the most part, this book takes you through his childhood, his struggles towards adulthood and his monumental failures for the better part of his life, until he manages to bring Newfoundland into Confederation and becomes the first premier of Newfoundland. Funny, touching, self deprecating at times Joey tells an interesting (if not always honest) tale. The counterpoint to Joey is a fictional character named Sheilagh Fielding, a kind of drunken Jiminy Cricket to Joey's often wobbly conscience and political commitment. She haunts his whole life and in many ways gives insight to the man Joe Smallwood becomes by pointing out some of his glaring omissions and questionable justifications. ( )

sweeping epic of NewFoundland

"We are a people in whose bodies old sea-seeking rivers roar with blood."

I had The Colony Of Unrequited Dreams on my Canada reading list. To be fair, the book was not high up on the list as my knowledge of and interest in Newfoundland was pretty non-existent. If I say my interest in Newfoundland was pretty low, imagine how eager I would have been to read a fictionalised biography of Joseph Smallwood, Newfoundland's first Premier and the politician to lead the Dominion of Newfoundland into the confederation in 1949.
Yeah, exactly...had it not been for a CBC group read here on GR, I probably would have missed out on what turned out to be a fascinating read that not only changed my perception of the province but also taught me a lot about Canadian history.

As mentioned, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is a fictionalised biography, and as such it starts off by telling about Smallwood's childhood and his upbringing in an impoverished environment, though he himself was able to attend school and was taught by what seemed British expats with a lot of chips on their shoulders from being stranded in the last outpost of civilisation - i.e. anywhere but Britain.

"All my marks had gone dramatically up, except my mark for character, which had stayed at forty-five. Its being not only so low, but also fixed, never-changing, was the point. It could not change, Reeves seemed to be saying; my other marks could go up or down, as the case might be, but my character, my fundamental self, would stay the same. I might as well have had forty-five stamped on my forehead. I was what I was, my character was my fate and my fate was forty-five."

To be honest, the mention of "forty-five" made me cringe. I read Alistair McLeod's novel No Great Mischief earlier this year and I sincerely hoped that Johnston would not follow that same path that Alistair McLeod chose for his characters, where all events and character traits where blamed on the "forty-five", though in McLeod's case referring to the Scottish Jacobite rising and the Battle of Culloden of 1745.

I was hugely relieved the Scottish topic did not make an appearance in Johnston's book. (Obviously, I'm still scarred from reading No Great Mischief.)
However, the reference to Smallwood's character being criticised and the overall dismissive attitude by his tutors of anything local, anything originating in Newfoundland, seemed to have a profound impact on the young Smallwood - who early on decides that he should write the "great Newfoundland" novel. The literary aspirations of young Smallwood do not come to fruition, however, as he is kicked out of school over a letter he is being accused of writing. Incidentally, Fielding, his childhood friend from the neighbouring girls' school is also forced to leave shortly after. Her leaving, too, happens under unresolved circumstances and she too seems to have been involved in the letter that caused Smallwood's dismissal.

From there on, the lives of both "friends" intertwine all throughout the story. Fielding, an alcoholic already in her youth, sets out on a career in journalism. Smallwood initially joins her but then decides to become a socialist and travel the land for the cause:

"I had bought a Bible in Corner Brook because I hoped my supposed religiosity would impress the sectionmen who fed me and let me spend the night in their shacks. It did, but, more important, it impressed their wives. When their wives went to my suitcase to get any clothes that needed washing, there was the Bible. That Bible, not one page of which I read along the way, kept many a section-man who was otherwise inclined to do so from dismissing me as a Godless socialist and convinced them to sign up with the union. I told them and their wives that when I thought I could not take another step, I took out the Bible and was inspired by reading it to carry on. “I could not have come this far without it,” I shamelessly said, at the same time recalling the many times I had been tempted to lighten my load by throwing it away."

I won't re-tell the story from here on as this would spoil reading the book but eventually Smallwood is in a position where he owns a paper rivaling Fielding's columns and her political satire. It was fascinating to watch the two characters - the semi-historical Smallwood and the entirely fictional Fielding - interact in the course of the story.

In a way, Fielding and Smallwood are complementary to each other: where Smallwood is driven by ambition and will not shy away from any trick in the book, Fielding is pragmatic, direct and proud of her integrity.

"She was called a fence-sitter and was challenged to defend herself, which she did by saying the accusation might or might not be true."

Confrontations between the two are what made the book rather special:

“You lost your job?”
“No,” she said, “I know exactly where it is. As of two months ago, it was taken from me.” “You didn’t lose your job because of the union,” I said, “you lost your job because you wouldn’t join the union.”
“Smallwood,” Fielding said, “are you some sort of agency of fate that it would be pointless of me to resist? If you are, tell me now so I can shoot myself without regret.”

While Fielding was without doubt my favourite character, Johnston masterfully interjects other aspects into the book that are really interesting. For one, Johnston alternates the storytelling through different styles: Smallwood's perspective is told by way of narration from Smallwood's perspective, Fielding's story on the other hand is told through her letters to Smallwood. Both parts are separated with excerpts of real and fictionalised books about the history of Newfoundland.

One memorable event that Johnston manages to web into the story is the sealing disaster of the S.S. Newfoundland that led a group of sealers frozen between two ships - neither allowing them shelter from the icy storms before they had caught the set quota of seals. The scene is not one that can easily be forgotten and Johnston does well to catch the despair and sadness of the event without exaggerating.

Overall, Johnston's writing of the whole book is excellent.

"Where the water stopped, the wind went overland until it met up again with water on the other side, each one, it seemed, driven on by the other. Everything was headed one way — clouds, wind, water, the waves so high the horizon was near and jagged, bobbing as if I was jumping up and down. I was sure the motion of the waves must extend right to the bottom, the whole ocean running like a river infinitely wide. It was impossible not to personify the wind."

However, there were still a few snags that kept me from loving this book more: One was the character of Smallwood. Even though the book is amount him, we don't get to know him well. Of course, not being able to read his character could be befitting of a politician. With Smallwood, though, a lot of things were hinted at but never explored, such as his relationship to his family and people other than Fielding. As a reader of a historical novel I would have liked to have seen more of Smallwood as a person and as a politician, not just as Fielding's counter-part.

"I thought about telling him that Fielding had saved my life, but I could not bring myself to do it, for it seemed to me that the more people there were who knew of Fielding’s heroism, the more indebted to Fielding I would be. I not only felt indebted to her, I felt, for reasons I could not understand, that her having saved my life rendered me morally inferior to her."

With respect to Fielding also, there was an issue that seemed to drag the book unnecessarily. Fielding's secret, the reason she was forced to leave school, and the mystery of the letter that caused Smallwood's expulsion, is revealed at a painstakingly slow pace - and left me somewhat disappointed. Btw, the secret is not what you might think it is - there is a twist, but I didn't feel the mystery element was needed in the novel and just drags it out.

I shall leave with one more journalistic punch up between Fielding and Smallwood:

“Got a phone call from himself yesterday. I made a suggestion. He made, and offered to help me carry out, a suggestion of his own. Said on the record I was off my rocker. Off the record a good deal more. The words Scotch and bitch came up a lot.”

(Editor’s explanation: Miss Fielding and Mr. Smallwood, though they have never met, chat frequently by phone, often sharing a chuckle over the unaccountable rumours that there exists between them some sort of animosity. The words Scotch and bitch came up frequently in their most recent conversation because Mr. Smallwood had phoned Miss Fielding with the happy news that his terrier had just had a litter of puppies, three of whom were female. Miss Fielding, who had been promised the pick of the litter and who has followed with much interest and concern the course of Pokey’s pregnancy these past few months, could not have been more pleased. As for the exchange of suggestions, it demonstrates perfectly the deep-seated friendship that exists between these two, which no amount of professional rivalry can undermine.)"
( )

Warning: this review contains spoilers.

****

This is the story of Newfoundland as it moves from British colony to Canadian province. It is also the story of Joseph Smallwood, the province's first premier, and Sheilagh Fielding, a journalist and contemporary of Smallwood's who spends her days drinking and writing sharp-tongued satirical newspaper columns. The two contrasting viewpoints provide a multifaceted view of Newfoundland in all her wonder and wistfulness.

I went into this knowing virtually nothing about Smallwood other than that he was Newfoundland's first premier, and it was an absorbing read. The Newsday review quoted on the back cover of the copy I read called this "a capacious, hammock-like book you can sink into", and that description is accurate. Because of the two viewpoints (Smallwood and Fielding), the narrative is constantly in motion, guiding the reader smoothly from one incident to the next. Time does have a way of compressing itself a bit much if you're not paying attention, and I never did figure out who Hines actually was, but overall it was a very good book.

The events worked well as fiction, although I would have liked an author's note at the end, like John McFetridge has in his Eddie Dougherty series, where he talks about the historical events in the book and explains how he's adapted/pillaged them from real life. I went the entire book without realizing that Fielding didn't exist! I may be gullible for believing that, but she really came to life on the page and I would have read more by or about her if she'd actually existed.

Further reading after this book:
Smallwood: The Unlikely Revolutionary, by Richard Gwyn -- to get a truer story
River Thieves, by Michael Crummey -- about the Beothuk, who are briefly mentioned in one of the interludes from "Fielding's Condensed History of Newfoundland".

Recommended for those who like to read books from all parts of Canada and want a glimpse into the youngest Canadian province. It was also nominated for a Giller Prize and featured on Canada Reads, so if you like to read books featured by either of these institutions, this would be a good choice. ( )

i finished this novel a few days ago but, so far, i haven't been able to consolidate my thoughts vey well. so this 'review' may be a bit of a mess - sorry!

johnston is a great writer - his prose is lovely, funny and smart, and his eye seems to come at things from a slightly off-centre slant. i loved (LOVED!) the character of fielding. so much so, at moments i kept wishing this novel was all about her. johnston did a great job weaving the history into his story. i very much appreciated the feel for newfoundland presented through his writing.

where things fell apart for me a wee bit - and why i have't been able to come up with anything helpful to say for a few days - was at the end. it felt like the story was very backloaded and rushed, and the mystery of the letter writer was not very satisfying and ended up feeling unnecessarily drawn out.

so for now i have landed on 4-stars. for the most part, i was completely swept up by this book, and i wouldn't hesitate in recommending it to certain readers. i think i will get out my copy of 'The Custodian of Paradise', since my beloved sheilagh fielding takes centre stage!! thank you, wayne johnston! ( )

Generally a good book. Slows down in places, a long read. ( )

Fictional biography of Newfoundland’s famous premier, Joseph Smallwood. This is a tricky thing to do—using the facts of a person’s life and building a novel around them. I want to read a non-fiction biography of Smallwood and fix the “facts” in my mind soon.

I think the author did a great job of defining what drove Smallwood. Johnston’s prose goes down as smoothly as a spoonful of chocolate pudding.

This is one of the best books I’ve read this year. 5 stars ( )

This is a novelized account of Newfoundland's first premier Joseph "Joey" Smallwood. It's a "rags to riches" story with a lot of disappointments for Joe along the way. He made his name in journalism and organized labor unions over the years. I really can't say that I liked Joe's character or his politics, but I do admire his drive. In fact, I'm not sure that I really admired any character in the book. The book is a little long, and the author does lose a little steam as the novel progresses. It's as though more care was taken in the first half to two-thirds of the book, and the author was rushing to meet deadlines and took less care later. Still it's an interesting story of how Newfoundland came to be a Canadian province. ( )

Terrific journey to a time and place, Newfoundland before joining Canada. ( )

The ultimate story of the history of Newfoundland and the life of its first Premier, Joey Smallwood, told by himself and Sheilagh Fielding, his first and only true love. Through misunderstanding and unawareness, Smallwood and Fielding never move beyond friendship but the story they tell is outstanding. As a young man, Smallwood walks across New Foundland trying to unionize railway workers. (The abject poverty is a theme throughout.) When he is nearing the end of his trek, he is caught on the tracks in a blinding snowstorm. Fielding saves his life. She has rented a circuit shack and receives word that Smallwood is coming. The book is filled with stories like that: man vs. man; man vs. nature are continual themes, also. Just a fantastic read; a real page-turner. ( )

I wanted desperately to give this novel a rating of five stars, but I just couldn't do it. It is a Great book until about half-way through. From that point it becomes a Good book. The beginnings of the book concern the younger years of a fictionalized Joey Smallwood. Writing about young children and coming-of age stories is Johnston's strength and he demonstrates that strength admirably here. Once Smallwood grows up and enters politics I felt that the quality of the book slipped a little bit. Still, it is a must read. Johnston is one of the few authors that I make a point of reading all of their work. ( )

This novel really has two protagonists, Joe Smallwood and the country whose first premier he was after it became a Canadian province in 1949. Joe Smallwood (a historical figure) was born in 1900 when most people in Newfoundland, with its relentless climate and its inhospitable landscape, lived a life on the margins of existence. Witnessing the deaths of a large number of sealers in a blizzard because of the callousness of a ship's captain made him an advocate for the poor and gave direction to his ambition to become a figure of note. However, this is not a biography, but a novel about a historical figure. In order to emphaisize this the author created the fictional character of Sheilagh Fielding who plays a prominent part in this novel and with whom Smallwood is made to have a convoluted love-hate-relationship. Unfortunately, Fielding and the mysterie concerning a letter she allegedly wrote, for me somewhat spoiled the book. The chapters dealing with Smallwood walking the entire length of the Newfoundland railway to unionize its workers and his attempt to do the same for the poor isolated fishermen in the South are excellent, as are the chapters describing Smallwood's parents, for Johnston is a great storysteller. But the figure of Fielding and her rather farfetched story lack credibility and marred the book for me. ( )

This book took a bit to get into - however I loved the character Joy Fielding, almost more than Joey himself. A wonderful read. ( )

A work of historical fiction, the novel presents a fictionalized portrayal of real-life Newfoundland politician Joey Smallwood, the political leader who brought the province into Canadian Confederation in 1949. A major literary device in the novel is his lifelong correspondence with (fictional) journalist Sheilagh Fielding. ( )

This is a big book, at 562 pages, but it moves quickly because the story is interesting, the characters are real and you care about them, and the writing is fluid. It is, I suppose, an historical fiction in that it is based on the life of Joey Smallwood, first Premier of Newfoundland, a man who, given his background, was a most unlikely candidate to have so emerged, but he hitched his future to the star of Confederation and pulled it off. This after coming from the wrong side of town with a drunken father, and with a string of mediocre or failed careers as a journalist in St.John's and New York, a union organizer for fishermen and railway workers, and a Liberal party worker. His greatest success was in radio where he hosted a regular program on Newfoundland for Newfoundlanders, and thus built name-recognition that he was able to turn to political advantage. That and his understanding that Newfoundland consisted of more than just the "townies" of St.John's, but also included the small fishing hamlets and villages dotted along the coastline where people had lived for generations with very little change in their lives.

The novel is at the same time, or perhaps principally, an unrequited, or perhaps better, unfulfilled love story between Joey and Sheilagh Fielding (always called only be her last name) from their days in school through a period of neophyte socialists, to Fielding's being one of Smallwood's most trenchant critics in a daily newspaper column filled with her ironic and acerbic wit. Their paths cross and re-cross throughout their lives and they each, as Fielding puts it about herself towards the end, lived with two separate rives of existence that never quite merged and about which one is always left with the question of whether it would have worked out if they had. But the realization, at the end, that they should at least have tried, is poignant and wonderfully presented.

The book is also a capsule history of Newfoundland, from its discovery by the Cabot through the trials of its periods as a colony, then self-governing, then reverting to colonial status again, before emerging, not as independent, which had been the dream of so many, but as the 10th province of Canada. No other province had a similar history, in particular in relatively recent time, of having to make that stark choice. Nor does the history theme gloss over the failures of Smallwood as Premier. Rather it dwells upon them: the long list of scams and schemes that Smallwood supported and threw money at, almost all of which enriched only the scam artists and left rusted refineries, mines, factories and unused roads all over the province. It essentially presents Smallwood as a fervent small "p" patriot, dedicated to Newfoundland, but out of his depth as Premier and without the confidence in his own character and position that might have let him be less gullible in supporting wacky schemes and dreams.

Finally, the novel depicts wonderfully the very harsh life of people who take their sustenance from the sea in an unforgiving climate, where death is a mainstay of existence, and where men worked incredible hours and incredibly hard for pennies a day to try to sustain their families.

The book is wonderfully written. Almost every character is fully-drawn, understandable, and credible, and Fielding and Smallwood themselves are so real that you cannot help but feel for them and to care where and how they develop, singly and together.

Well written saga about Newfoundland ( )