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Loading... The Colony of Unrequited Dreams: A Novelby Wayne JohnstonLibraryThing recommendationsMember recommendationsLoading...
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Terrific journey to a time and place, Newfoundland before joining Canada. (  ) charlie68 | Jul 6, 2009 |  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. (  )1  brenzi | May 1, 2009 | 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. ( ) rkelland | Nov 10, 2008 | 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. (  ) AnnavanGelderen | Oct 16, 2008 | A long, long time ago, in the previous millenium, I discovered a band called Great Big Sea. They are from a place whose pronunciation gets worse treatment than my last name. Newfoundland. Aside from excellent music both traditional and pop, they are the province's best ambassadors. Through their music, I was introduced to landscapes and people never before encountered. I still haven't made it up there, but one day... In the meantime, I have Wayne Johnston to provide snapshots of a culture that has flourished in its isolation. Back in that previous millenium, I read the Divine Ryans. A hilarious and tragic story of a family. At book club, one of the Canadians had brought Colony of Unrequited Dreams also by Johnston. Not recognizing the author's name, but appreciating the subject, I asked to borrow it. The other Canadian there pointed out that he had written quite a lot about Newfoundland, and looking in the front cover, I saw that he had written the Divine Ryans. It did take me a few months to read Colony, partly because I didn't make time, and partly because I deliberately read it slowly. Johnston makes you feel the grinding poverty of the coastal fisherman and the tragedy of the seal hunters. His sympathetic portrait of Smallwood only falters towards the end, when you feel as though Smallwood was too public a figure to give Johnston any room to work with. I don't know how interesting it would be for anyone who doesn't have a tendre for big rocks off the coast of Canada, but Johnston is a gifted writer with a knack for comedy even in the face of despair. Originally posted March 5, 2006 kconcannon | Sep 26, 2007 |  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com (ISBN 0385495439, Paperback)In 1949, Joseph Smallwood became the first premier of the newly federated Canadian province of Newfoundland. Predictably, and almost immediately, his name retreated to the footnotes of history. And yet, as Wayne Johnston makes plain in his epic and affectionate fifth novel, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, Smallwood's life was endearingly emblematic, an instance of an extraordinary man emerging at a propitious moment. The particular charm of Johnston's book, however, lies not merely in unveiling a career that so seamlessly coincided with the burgeoning self-consciousness of Newfoundland itself, but in exposing a simple truth--namely, that history is no more than the accretion of lived lives.Born into debilitating poverty, Smallwood is sustained by a bottomless faith in his own industry. His unabashed ambition is to "rise not from rags to riches, but from obscurity to world renown." To this end, he undertakes tasks both sublime and baffling--walking 700 miles along a Newfoundland railroad line in a self-martyring union drive; narrating a homespun radio spot; and endlessly irritating and ingratiating himself with the Newfoundland political machine. His opaque and constant incitement is an unconsummated love for his childhood friend, Sheilagh Fielding. Headstrong and dissolute, she weaves in and out of Smallwood's life like a salaried goad, alternately frustrating and illuminating his ambitions. Smallwood is harried as well by Newfoundland's subtle gravity, a sense that he can never escape the tug of his native land, since his only certainty is the island itself--that "massive assertion of land, sea's end, the outer limit of all the water in the world, a great, looming, sky-obliterating chunk of rock." The Colony of Unrequited Dreams bogs down after a time in its detailing of Smallwood's many political intrigues and in the lingering matter of a mysterious letter supposedly written by Fielding. However, when he speculates on the secret motives of his peers, or when he reveals his own hyperbolic fantasies and grandiose hopes--matters no one would ever confess aloud--the novel is both apt and amiable. Best of all is to watch Smallwood's inevitable progress toward a practical cynicism. It seems nothing less than miraculous that his countless disappointments pave the way for his ascension, that his private travails ultimately align with the land he loves. This is history resuscitated. --Ben Guterson (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:20 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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