Member: stefc80

Hi Stef.

It was one of the Giller shortlisted novels. I really liked it, but it's not for everyone. I think it's one of those books that people will love or hate, with no in between, you know? There was a good article in the Globe and Mail this past Saturday, with an overview of each of the five shortlisted books. I just tried to find it for you, but now that the winner was announced, it seems to have gone vaporous in the World Wide ether. Here is a good review from The Guardian:

"Colin McAdam's second novel initially appears to be a familiar school story about a friendship between a shy, bookish loner and one of the handsome, popular boys. St.Ebury is a Canadian boarding school for the sons of the rich - and a few of their daughters, too - based on the great British institutions. "It was a place of traditions but the traditions weren't old."

Two voices take turns to narrate. The first belongs to Julius, revered and respected by everyone. The son of the US ambassador to Canada, he uses short sentences and seems rather dim. "I'm gonna look at these and jerk off. I'm gonna hide them somewhere better. I'm gonna fart. I'm farting."

Noel is more intelligent, thoughtful and linguistically adept, but can't persuade anyone to like him. He doesn't really belong in this luxurious environment; his father is a minor Canadian diplomat in Australia and wouldn't be able to afford the school fees without the government's assistance. He skulks through the corridors, avoiding trouble and seeking refuge in body-building, slowly bulking up his arms and shoulders. The school offers neither assistance nor guidance, simply confining him in a straitjacket of silly rules: "The schedules, the conventions, the not being allowed to walk through certain doors. We were childish to follow them and childish to break them. They were rules which we could do nothing with, hollow laws that left me so ill-prepared for the throb of blood or the animal choices that truly guided my life."

The most desired girl in the school is a dark-haired beauty named Fallon, nicknamed Fall. Noel longs for her, as do most of the other boys, but when Julius arrives, "everyone, including Fall, was drawn to him". No one else has a chance; Fall and Julius become boyfriend and girlfriend.

Normally, two boys like Noel and Julius would never become friends, let alone confidants, but they accidentally find themselves sharing a room. Through his new roommate, Noel has access to Fall, too. The nervous introvert unexpectedly finds himself hanging out with the fast set.

Slowly, subtly, McAdam reveals the real nature of their relationship. He relates the same incidents from each of their perspectives; he allows us to eavesdrop on their thoughts; he offers snippets of their pasts. We gradually realise that Julius is the kinder, gentler of the two, whereas Noel is already halfway towards becoming a monster.

McAdam introduces a third narrator, William, a chauffeur who lends his car to Julius. But he never gives a voice to the women in the book. The gorgeous Fall is always observed through men's eyes, and the few other female characters - cooks, mothers - play perfunctory roles. I missed a character like the feisty, fascinating Kathleen Herlihy, who swaggered through the pages of McAdam's first book, Some Great Thing, dominating the action whenever she appeared.

But this is a book about men - or boys pretending to be men - trapped in a masculine institution. Though McAdam dabbles with the conventions of a psychological thriller, he never seems very interested in motivation, repentance or punishment; what fascinates him most is the brutal and brutalising environment of St.Ebury. He has written a sensitive, honest and horrifying portrait of everyday life in an elite, expensive boarding school, describing the fear, violence, longings and loneliness of confused adolescents confined in a parentless prison."

I don't know if that helps you at all, but if you are open to less traditional storytelling I would say go for it!

Jojo :)

posted by jojo498 at 8:29 pm (EST) on Nov 11, 2009

Hi Stef.

Thanks for the friend add. We seem to have some similar literary likes and I look forward to exchanging suggestions with you.

Kind regards.

Jo

posted by jojo498 at 2:44 pm (EST) on Oct 24, 2009