I got chills reading the last pages
of Michael Crummey's Sweetland. Real
chills. Okay, okay, I was outside when I finished it, but they weren't cold
chills. They were beauty chills mixed in with the eerie turn of the conclusion
of this most excellent novel.
The eerie-ness pervades the novel
as our protagonist, Moses Sweetland, after refusing to leave Sweetland Island
(yes, they share the name) along with the rest of its inhabitants (bought-out
by the smarmy government man), finds himself alone... or is he? Not actually
that dun, dun, dun dramatic: the quasi-supernatural elements of the text read
as entirely believable, if also wholly unsettling. Another way of putting it:
the "realist" portrayal of the Island already reads as magical
and out-of-time and so when eerie things begin happening the reader accepts
these moments as what they are: eerie and entirely possible in the space/place
of Sweetland.
Sweetland as space/place is some
great setting. The Island assumes its own character with a personality that is
alternately forgiving and vengeful. If
you weren't already contemplating a trip to Newfoundland (as I am!), the
representation of the expanse and the mystery might well have you planning.
Minor quibble? Descriptions of some
of the "action" plot moments were a bit too heady for me to follow. I
couldn't quite visualize where people were and what they were doing and so just
accepted that Things Were Going Wrong, read the descriptions, then waited for
the description of the outcome to really piece together what happened. There
aren't many of these moments, but when they do happen this reader felt a little
left out of the action, particularly as these moments occurred in climactic
scenes.
On reflection, part of my feeling
of being left out might be purposeful: I am not from/of Newfoundland. These
slightly muddy descriptions happened in boats and on rocks. It's not impossible
that my confusion stems from not knowing enough about boats and Newfoundland
geography. Perhaps these moments are a way of echoing one of the themes of the
novel, that is that those of/from Newfoundland will always have a special
connection to the land that others will not. In this way these moments of
dislocation for the Ontario-reader are a way of letting me know what it feels
like to leave/be forced out of Newfoundland.
The character, setting and plot of
this book are beautiful and magical. Another brilliant read from Crummey.
Enjoy!
When's she not reading, Erin Aspenlieder is teaching, running or eating cookies
(sometimes all at once). She prefers fiction and books made of paper.
She blogs at literaryvice.ca
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