Frances Itani
Author of Deafening
About the Author
Image credit: Deseronto Archives
Series
Works by Frances Itani
Itani, Frances (About) 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1942-08-25
- Gender
- female
- Occupations
- nurse
poet
essayist
fiction writer - Awards and honors
- Order of Canada
- Short biography
- Frances Susan Itani, née Hill (born August 25, 1942) is a Canadian fiction writer, poet and essayist. She is a Member of the Order of Canada.Itani was born in Belleville, Ontario,[1] and grew up in Quebec. She studied nursing in Montreal and North Carolina, a profession which she taught and practised for eight years. However, after enrolling in a writing class taught by W. O. Mitchell, she decided to change careers.
She married Tetsuo (Ted) Itani, a retired Canadian Forces officer and humanitarian, in 1967.[2] They reside in Ottawa, Ontario.[1]
Itani has published thirteen books, ranging from fiction and poetry to a children's book. Her 2003 novel Deafening was shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Award, and won the Commonwealth Writers Prize, Caribbean and Canada region, and has been published in 16 countries. - Nationality
- Canada
- Birthplace
- Belleville, Ontario, Canada
- Places of residence
- Belleville, Ontario, Canada
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Quebec, Canada - Associated Place (for map)
- Canada
Members
Reviews
My husband can be very astute at times. Whilst reading Frances Itani's Remembering the Bones I was raving about the book and he said, "So you like it the same way you like obituaries then?" Exactly. Nothing to do with death at all, but rather for such a celebration of life. It's The Stone Diaries without the ghost, but also something original, beautiful, gentle and lovely in its own right.
The book begins with Georgina Danforth Witley, 80 years old and on her way to meet the Queen. She has show more been selected, along with ninety-nine other residents of the Commonwealth who share Queen Elizabeth's birthday, to attend a birthday luncheon at Buckingham Palace. This is an unlikely event in the life of a seemingly ordinary woman. Seemingly, of course; if we've learned anything from obituaries it's that nobody is ordinary. Georgie has a grown daughter, Case, her 103 year old mother still living, fond memories of her eccentric, salt-of-the-earth grandmother, Grand Dan, and the ability to name all of the bones in the human body. These she memorized from her late Grandfather's 1901 edition of Gray's Anatomy. She has talked to Queen Elizabeth, like a friend, for all her life. Georgie had a "polio honeymoon" and she understands why people laugh at funerals. Once she witnessed her husband in an act of love and fell in love with him for all time.
All this she remembers while she is supposed to be lunching with the Queen. On her way to the airport, not far from her own driveway, Georgie loses control of her car and careens between road barriers then crashes down through trees and into a ravine. Broken in the wreckage, unable to move or shout and with nobody aware she is in trouble, Georgie tells the story of her life, from childhood to widowhood, putting the pieces together and struggling to keep her brain active and her attitude positive. Her journey is a struggle to "remember the bones" she once knew so well, name them and thus reconstruct herself, and her life story. Georgie's story was of her most extraordinary ordinary life, and my heart was wrung by the joy and the sadness alike.
What happens to Georgie in the end, I think, is definitely a talking point, with some interesting ambiguity. I would argue, however, that the ending is the least important thing about all of this. Though I devoured this book rather greedily, it was for Georgie's voice and Itani's prose. This narrative is so beautifully constructed the pages fly by like those on a cinematic calendar, whizzing past faster than days go, until you're at the end and you're finished; but what you're left with is a life. show less
The book begins with Georgina Danforth Witley, 80 years old and on her way to meet the Queen. She has show more been selected, along with ninety-nine other residents of the Commonwealth who share Queen Elizabeth's birthday, to attend a birthday luncheon at Buckingham Palace. This is an unlikely event in the life of a seemingly ordinary woman. Seemingly, of course; if we've learned anything from obituaries it's that nobody is ordinary. Georgie has a grown daughter, Case, her 103 year old mother still living, fond memories of her eccentric, salt-of-the-earth grandmother, Grand Dan, and the ability to name all of the bones in the human body. These she memorized from her late Grandfather's 1901 edition of Gray's Anatomy. She has talked to Queen Elizabeth, like a friend, for all her life. Georgie had a "polio honeymoon" and she understands why people laugh at funerals. Once she witnessed her husband in an act of love and fell in love with him for all time.
All this she remembers while she is supposed to be lunching with the Queen. On her way to the airport, not far from her own driveway, Georgie loses control of her car and careens between road barriers then crashes down through trees and into a ravine. Broken in the wreckage, unable to move or shout and with nobody aware she is in trouble, Georgie tells the story of her life, from childhood to widowhood, putting the pieces together and struggling to keep her brain active and her attitude positive. Her journey is a struggle to "remember the bones" she once knew so well, name them and thus reconstruct herself, and her life story. Georgie's story was of her most extraordinary ordinary life, and my heart was wrung by the joy and the sadness alike.
What happens to Georgie in the end, I think, is definitely a talking point, with some interesting ambiguity. I would argue, however, that the ending is the least important thing about all of this. Though I devoured this book rather greedily, it was for Georgie's voice and Itani's prose. This narrative is so beautifully constructed the pages fly by like those on a cinematic calendar, whizzing past faster than days go, until you're at the end and you're finished; but what you're left with is a life. show less
I don't give 5 star ratings lightly. In addition to superb writing, a great plot and interesting characters, a book has to have a message that is personally important to me. It goes without saying that any book by Frances Itani will fulfill those first three requirements. She is a wonderful writer especially when she is delineating the interior lives of women. This book is set partially in World War II which is always fertile ground for a plot. The main character is Hanora Oak who was show more adopted by Kenan and Tress Oak at the end of Itani's last book, Tell. Born in 1920 she is told that she was adopted by Kenan and Tress on her 18th birthday, September 23 1938 but they would not give her any details about her birth parents. Hanora spent the rest of her life looking for information about her origins and that is the main quest in this book.
Hanora sailed to France with her cousin Billie in 1939 just before World War II was declared. Duke Ellington and his orchestra were on board as passengers. Jazz and dancing were important parts of Hanora and Billie's life. Years later a picture of the two of them with Ellington would help Hanora recall details about that voyage. Hanora spent all of the war years in London helping children orphaned by the Blitz and writing. Her next-door neighbour from Deseronto, Tobe Staunford, had joined the Canadian army and they managed to meet occasionally while he was stationed in Britain. After the war Hanora returned to Deseronto briefly but soon took up the peripatetic life of a journalist. Her cousin Billie married a painter and became an English as a Second Language teacher in Toronto. In 1998, Billie is a widow and suffering from dementia. Hanora, as her closest relative, becomes her main caregiver. It is this thread of the plot that was so personally important to me. Only someone who has cared for a loved one as they slip deeper into dementia could write so convincingly about it. Hanora loves Billie but she really wants to have time to spend on her research about a woman artist who was from the same area where Hanora grew up. When Billie is convinced to move into an extended-care facility Hanora finally has some time to spend on her research but an off-hand remark by Billie about their 1939 voyage leads Hanora to the information she has always wanted about her birth parents.
I also loved the references to jazz music throughout the book. The very first chapter is entitled "The 'C' Jam Blues" and the last is "Air Conditioned Jungle" both of which are works by Duke Ellington. There really should be a CD accompanying this book but, praise be to YouTube, you can find recordings on the net. The video of "C Jam Blues" is superb. show less
Hanora sailed to France with her cousin Billie in 1939 just before World War II was declared. Duke Ellington and his orchestra were on board as passengers. Jazz and dancing were important parts of Hanora and Billie's life. Years later a picture of the two of them with Ellington would help Hanora recall details about that voyage. Hanora spent all of the war years in London helping children orphaned by the Blitz and writing. Her next-door neighbour from Deseronto, Tobe Staunford, had joined the Canadian army and they managed to meet occasionally while he was stationed in Britain. After the war Hanora returned to Deseronto briefly but soon took up the peripatetic life of a journalist. Her cousin Billie married a painter and became an English as a Second Language teacher in Toronto. In 1998, Billie is a widow and suffering from dementia. Hanora, as her closest relative, becomes her main caregiver. It is this thread of the plot that was so personally important to me. Only someone who has cared for a loved one as they slip deeper into dementia could write so convincingly about it. Hanora loves Billie but she really wants to have time to spend on her research about a woman artist who was from the same area where Hanora grew up. When Billie is convinced to move into an extended-care facility Hanora finally has some time to spend on her research but an off-hand remark by Billie about their 1939 voyage leads Hanora to the information she has always wanted about her birth parents.
I also loved the references to jazz music throughout the book. The very first chapter is entitled "The 'C' Jam Blues" and the last is "Air Conditioned Jungle" both of which are works by Duke Ellington. There really should be a CD accompanying this book but, praise be to YouTube, you can find recordings on the net. The video of "C Jam Blues" is superb. show less
via NetGalley
A quiet but profound novel about a Japanese-Canadian man, Bin, who spent several childhood years in a camp with his family during WWII. During those years, his "First Father" gave him away to a childless man, Oksuma. Oksuma is kind, and encourages Bin with his art, but Bin misses his First Father, mother, and brother and sister; after they leave the camp, they do not see each other often. Though Bin loves Oksuma, being given away affects him deeply; he also represses anger about show more what happened to his family and the tens of thousands of other Japanese-Canadian families during the war.
Despite the tragedy in his childhood, Bin grows up to be an artist, happily married to a woman named Lena, loving father of a son called Greg. Lena, however, dies relatively young, of a stroke; after this, Bin takes his dog, Basil, and begins to drive across Canada, back to visit the camp and to see First Father again, at his sister Kay's (formerly Keiko - white teachers changed Japanese names to make them easier to pronounce) urging.
The narration alternates between Bin's journey across Canada in 1997, and his earlier personal history in the 1940s and 1950s. The writing is visually descriptive without being flowery or drawing attention to itself; Bin is an artist so it is natural that he is an observer. What I liked best about this book was that it shed light on a time and place I did not know much about; I knew there were internment camps in the U.S., but I didn't realize Canada had them also, and I did not know what conditions were like there, or that people were not compensated for the loss of their homes or possessions (at least, not fairly or quickly).
Quotes
...and I'm on my way. What I hear is a burst of chaos. The middle of something I can't immediately identify. (e36)
...I can clearly recall some events from that time. Other events have been pieced together from a jumble of images, fragments of conversations overheard, body memories, sensations. Given the intervening years, it's impossible to separate one way of remembering from another. (print36/e46)
The landscape is tense and still in the frozen light...[the dog] sends a sympathetic noise in my direction, a noise that sounds like a humpback whale, searching for a soulmate under water. (print41/e51)
...the true artist [has] no pride, only a blurry sort of awareness of how far he is from reaching his goal. (print67/e77)
...and I look around while I receive the generosity of sky from every direction. (print124/e134)
We listened to the slow wash of waves and watched in awe as the sky's colours rushed past on their way to somewhere else. (171/181)
For some time now, I have been passed by snow geese that are holding up the limitless sky, line after wavering line, as they migrate north. (223/233) show less
A quiet but profound novel about a Japanese-Canadian man, Bin, who spent several childhood years in a camp with his family during WWII. During those years, his "First Father" gave him away to a childless man, Oksuma. Oksuma is kind, and encourages Bin with his art, but Bin misses his First Father, mother, and brother and sister; after they leave the camp, they do not see each other often. Though Bin loves Oksuma, being given away affects him deeply; he also represses anger about show more what happened to his family and the tens of thousands of other Japanese-Canadian families during the war.
Despite the tragedy in his childhood, Bin grows up to be an artist, happily married to a woman named Lena, loving father of a son called Greg. Lena, however, dies relatively young, of a stroke; after this, Bin takes his dog, Basil, and begins to drive across Canada, back to visit the camp and to see First Father again, at his sister Kay's (formerly Keiko - white teachers changed Japanese names to make them easier to pronounce) urging.
The narration alternates between Bin's journey across Canada in 1997, and his earlier personal history in the 1940s and 1950s. The writing is visually descriptive without being flowery or drawing attention to itself; Bin is an artist so it is natural that he is an observer. What I liked best about this book was that it shed light on a time and place I did not know much about; I knew there were internment camps in the U.S., but I didn't realize Canada had them also, and I did not know what conditions were like there, or that people were not compensated for the loss of their homes or possessions (at least, not fairly or quickly).
Quotes
...and I'm on my way. What I hear is a burst of chaos. The middle of something I can't immediately identify. (e36)
...I can clearly recall some events from that time. Other events have been pieced together from a jumble of images, fragments of conversations overheard, body memories, sensations. Given the intervening years, it's impossible to separate one way of remembering from another. (print36/e46)
The landscape is tense and still in the frozen light...[the dog] sends a sympathetic noise in my direction, a noise that sounds like a humpback whale, searching for a soulmate under water. (print41/e51)
...the true artist [has] no pride, only a blurry sort of awareness of how far he is from reaching his goal. (print67/e77)
...and I look around while I receive the generosity of sky from every direction. (print124/e134)
We listened to the slow wash of waves and watched in awe as the sky's colours rushed past on their way to somewhere else. (171/181)
For some time now, I have been passed by snow geese that are holding up the limitless sky, line after wavering line, as they migrate north. (223/233) show less
Another ten star read from Itani! I’m not sure how I missed reading this when it was first published in 2011. Luckily my book club picked this to read for September 2018 so I was able to make up the omission.
Bin Okuma was a young boy when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the government of Canada decided that all people of Japanese descent had to be moved to the interior. His family had to give up their home on the west coast of Vancouver Island and were relocated to an internment camp show more along the Fraser River. There Bin with his brother and sister and mother and father lived in a two room shack crowded onto a small shelf of land above the Fraser along with over 60 other families. Incredibly the Japanese had to pay for the lumber and other supplies to build their accommodations. Slowly the community brought some order to the place. They had a school for the children and a community garden where they grew produce to sell to Vancouver to raise funds for their needs. We learn about life through Bin’s remembrances in 1997 when he makes a cross-country drive from Ottawa to the site of the internment camp. Bin’s wife recently died and he is still grieving. He also thinks about their marriage and their son and his work as an artist. Since he was a young man rivers have figured prominently in his work and an Ottawa gallery is going to give a retrospective but Bin has to provide a few more works and also a name for the collection. Bin also must come to terms with the man he calls First Father. He has not seen him since 1946 and he has never dealt with his feelings of anger to him for giving him to a childless man in the community. Okuma-san raised Bin and was a good example of how to father which Bin could emulate with his own son. He also encouraged Bin’s artistic talent which First Father always called a waste of time. So in many ways Bin was lucky to have been adopted by Okuma-san but he never forgave First Father for giving him away. Now First Father wants to see him and Bin reluctantly agrees to include an encounter in his trip.
Every word and every phrase seems carefully chosen by Itani. She says that she took 4 years to write this book and it shows. She lovingly describes Basil the dog who accompanies Bin on his travels and it seems Basil is based upon an actual dog who was part of the Itani family. Itani is herself of Irish Canadian extraction but her husband is Japanese Canadian and experienced many of the same things Bin Okuma did. She is careful to say that Bin is not her husband and her husband did not read the book until it was published. Her research included many other sources than her husband and his family. The list of some of the books is at the back. I will be looking for some of those books myself.
Highly recommended. show less
Bin Okuma was a young boy when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the government of Canada decided that all people of Japanese descent had to be moved to the interior. His family had to give up their home on the west coast of Vancouver Island and were relocated to an internment camp show more along the Fraser River. There Bin with his brother and sister and mother and father lived in a two room shack crowded onto a small shelf of land above the Fraser along with over 60 other families. Incredibly the Japanese had to pay for the lumber and other supplies to build their accommodations. Slowly the community brought some order to the place. They had a school for the children and a community garden where they grew produce to sell to Vancouver to raise funds for their needs. We learn about life through Bin’s remembrances in 1997 when he makes a cross-country drive from Ottawa to the site of the internment camp. Bin’s wife recently died and he is still grieving. He also thinks about their marriage and their son and his work as an artist. Since he was a young man rivers have figured prominently in his work and an Ottawa gallery is going to give a retrospective but Bin has to provide a few more works and also a name for the collection. Bin also must come to terms with the man he calls First Father. He has not seen him since 1946 and he has never dealt with his feelings of anger to him for giving him to a childless man in the community. Okuma-san raised Bin and was a good example of how to father which Bin could emulate with his own son. He also encouraged Bin’s artistic talent which First Father always called a waste of time. So in many ways Bin was lucky to have been adopted by Okuma-san but he never forgave First Father for giving him away. Now First Father wants to see him and Bin reluctantly agrees to include an encounter in his trip.
Every word and every phrase seems carefully chosen by Itani. She says that she took 4 years to write this book and it shows. She lovingly describes Basil the dog who accompanies Bin on his travels and it seems Basil is based upon an actual dog who was part of the Itani family. Itani is herself of Irish Canadian extraction but her husband is Japanese Canadian and experienced many of the same things Bin Okuma did. She is careful to say that Bin is not her husband and her husband did not read the book until it was published. Her research included many other sources than her husband and his family. The list of some of the books is at the back. I will be looking for some of those books myself.
Highly recommended. show less
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Five star books (2)
Canadian Fiction (1)
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Statistics
- Works
- 16
- Members
- 1,583
- Popularity
- #16,301
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 80
- ISBNs
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