I’ve read all of Richard Ford’s novels and short story collections. Ford is a gifted writer. Canada was published in 2012 to mixed reviews which explains why I hadn’t gotten around to reading it until now. Canada is narrated by Dell Parsons, a college professor in his sixties. Parsons story starts when he was 15 and living in Montana in the Fifties. Dell’s parents decide to rob a bank. You can guess the result. Dell’s sister, Berner, runs away to California with her boyfriend. Dell is taken to Canada by a family friend. That ends Part One. Part Two concerns Dell’s life n Canada where violence also changes his life. Part Three brings us back to the present. I found the three stories really didn’t jell very well. Ford tells three very different stories and tries to blend them. Taken individually, the stories are compelling. But this fragmented novel didn’t work for me. GRADE: C+
My response was more positive than yours–although I did find the narrator maddeningly passive in light of all that had happened to him, but perhaps that’s the point: unlike his sister who went out and did things (even if they were the wrong things), events happened to Dell. Also, I kept thinking about all the logistical things–where were Dell’s birth certificate, social security card, paperwork that would allow him to remain and work in Canada? That part seemed a bit fuzzy; but I certainly liked this novel more than you did.
Interesting. As to Deb’s point, in retrospect I find Ford’s protagonists are often passive, aren’t they? Anyway, I am some books behind but I will get to this eventually. I have liked his books in the past, especially ROCK SPRINGS and THE SPORTSWRITER.
Deb, I wondered about that Dell’s birth certificate and Social Security card problem, too! Today, you can’t take a child over the International Bridges to Canada without providing ID and birth certificates. Dell’s passivity didn’t bother me as much as the fragmented stories. I’m a Richard Ford fan, but CANADA is not his best work.
Jeff, I really like Ford’s short stories. He is a real master.
My book club members have noted the recent high number of passive men in books we have read. I liked this more than you-but of course I am very tolerant of novels that seem like short stories. I have liked all his books but didn’t care for him at all in his interview with Bat Segundo. He seemed very arrogant.
Patti, your instincts about Richard Ford are sound. There was an incident at a party where Ford spat on a critic, Colin Whitehead, who had written a less than flattering review of one of Ford’s books.
I see nothing wrong with spitting on certain critics. I’d do it if I knew a certain coward’s name.
Bob, spitting on an opponent in the NFL will get you a 15-yard penalty.
Spitting on “Bat Segundo”. given his cutesy approach to his interviewing task (the pseudonym being hardly the worst of it) might be almost required.
Todd, perhaps you’re right.