 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||
Sundre
by Christopher Willard
Montreal: Esplanade
Books, Véhicule Press, 2009, ISBN 978-55065-253-6, 127 pp., $16.95
paper.
Sundre by Christopher Willard is subtitled A Novel, though the book doesn't fit the usual pattern of a novel. Some parts might be classed as a narrative prose poem, but it is more than that. Some sections read more like a series of lyrical vignettes or recollections, but it is more than that, too. Perhaps, given its brevity, it could be classed as a long short story. Taken as a whole, however, it is a work of art that will stay in your mind for days.Sundre is the story of a farm couple, Sandra and Avery, who live near the town of Sundre in western Alberta, close to the Rocky Mountains, with their three children, two boys and a girl, Dode, Dusty and Sheryn-Lee. However, because of the unusual structure of the novel, it takes the reader a while to figure that out; introductory names and location are not given. The story is told in the first person, alternating between Sandra and Avery, but it took me a good while to figure that out, too, since the narrator isn't identified. Even after I realized the format, I had to backtrack occasionally to determine who was speaking. This is partly because quotation marks aren't used for conversation, just dashes, and there are no speaker tags.
The story, an unsettling one, begins in the early 1950s with Avery taking a picture of Sandra, while leaning out from a footbridge over the Red Deer River. This event took place in their early years, before marriage, and sets a foreboding undercurrent for the tale. Through brief, scattered vignettes, we learn a few details of their courtship, their years on the farm, and a little about their children. Sometimes the same event is told from both viewpoints; for example, the box social dance where Avery and Sandra meet. Sometimes an event is told in scattered reminiscences. Gradually the reader begins to experience a premonition, a feeling of dread, due to the author's foreshadowing, such as when Avery asks Sandra, "You didn't worry then? Never?" There seems to be an emphasis on endings, on death as part of a cycle; "Sometimes I wonder whether in this world something can be good without something being terrible . . . Even that brief, beautiful moment we call life ends terribly." (37)
The writer has included a lot of short, pithy statements by both narrators, prairie wisdom that grabs the reader. For example, Sandra believes that: "Perfection exists, truly and only in imperfection. Those who think they can lasso excellence have another thing coming, and that's called dissatisfaction." (72) Avery, pondering on the meaning of war, says: "When I pause to ponder just how much humanity's done for the good of a country since the dawn of civilization, I think it's a blessing we haven't done more good." (80) There's not much humour, but I'll remember one of Avery's succinct statements: "You don't squat with your spurs on." (62)
The writing in this novel is sparse, the language poetic. I enjoyed the descriptions of the farm and prairie and wildlife, and would have liked more. For example: "How camouflaged the western bluebird is out here, belly a sand-worn orange of the land, back a mirror reflection of the sky. This little bird is an earth and heaven all its own." (92)
Sundre is a very short novel. Within the 127 pages there is a whole lot of white space--the actual number with text on them is only about half of that total. Once I reached the end, however, I immediately started rereading it to see what I'd missed--something I don't normally do. The author has deliberately omitted so much of the story, hinted at events without describing them, left out details that I would like to know--but perhaps less actually does mean more.
Christopher Willard is an American-born writer living in Calgary. Sundre is his second literary novel. His first was a satire entitled Garbage Head.
Donna Gamache is the author of Spruce Woods Adventure (Compascore Manitoba) as well as many short stories for both children and adults.
Buy this book at McNally-Robinson Booksellers.