Joan Barfoot
Author of Luck
About the Author
Joan Barfoot was born on May 17, 1946, in Ontario, Canada. After graduating from the University of Western Ontario in 1969, she worked as a reporter for several newspapers. She first garnered attention in 1978 with Abra, a book about a woman who leaves her life behind to search for her true self. show more Barfoot received the Books in Canada First Novel Award for this title. Barfoot has continued publishing fiction, largely about the emotions, needs, and rediscovery of the self for women. Other titles include Dancing in the Dark, Plain Jane, and Duet for Three. She has also been the recipient of the Women of Distinction London Award YM-YMCA for 1985 and the Marian Engel Award in 1992. Barfoot makes her home in London, Ontario. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Joan Barfoot
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1946-05-17
- Gender
- female
- Education
- University of Western Ontario (B.A. English 1969)
- Occupations
- journalist
editor - Organizations
- Writers' Union of Canada
PEN - Awards and honors
- Books in Canada First Novel Award (1978 ∙ Abra)
Marian Engel Award (1992)
London YM-YWCA Women of Distinction Award (1986)
Huron University College Medal of Distinction (2005) - Short biography
- Joan Barfoot is an award-winning novelist whose work has been compared internationally with that of Anne Tyler, Carol Shields, Margaret Drabble and Margaret Atwood. Her novels include Luck in 2005, nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, as well as Abra, which won the Books in Canada first novels award, Dancing in the Dark, which became an award-winning Canadian entry in the Cannes and Toronto Film Festivals, Duet for Three, Family News, Plain Jane, Charlotte and Claudia Keeping in Touch, Some Things About Flying, and Getting Over Edgar. Her 2001 novel, Critical Injuries, was longlisted for the 2002 Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the 2001 Trillium Book Award. In 1992 she was given the Marian Engel Award. Also a journalist during much of her career, she lives in London, Ontario, Canada.
- Nationality
- Canada
- Places of residence
- Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada
London, Ontario, Canada - Associated Place (for map)
- Ontario, Canada
Members
Reviews
Walking into a small-town ice cream parlour in the middle of a hold-up, 49-year-old Isla is shot and ultimately paralyzed from the waist down. The shooter, 17-year-old Roddy, takes off in a panic but is soon caught by police. As Isla struggles to come to terms with the senseless accident, she begins meticulously reflecting on the course of her adult life leading up to that one critical moment. Roddy, awaiting trial, reflects on his own past, and the shooting that has potentially destroyed show more both Isla’s life and his own. In the midst of their painful journeys comes Alix, Isla’s daughter, who may lead the pair toward some form of healing. show less
I feel like I have to go into battle for this book and tell you all how brilliant it was, as it seems like very few people on LT own it or have read it, and it's an absolutely incredible piece of work. It is a feminist story from 1978 (the year of my birth as it happens) that still feels very fresh, revelatory and challenging. It's about a happily married woman with two children that just kind of reaches a breaking point in her life, and use the tiny bit of independent income she has to buy show more a cabin in the woods, to which she flees from her normal life. This is the first third of the book. Another third details her life in the cabin. She starts to grow her own vegetables and to learn how to live on the land, and also learns to live completely by herself, and more importantly, for herself. Not much happens in this bit, but at the same time, it is utterly riveting and powerful. The final part of the book is about what happens when her daughter tracks her down to the cabin and comes to challenge her over how she abandoned the family. This is also fascinating and full of deep and rich emotional landscapes. I really urge everyone reading this review to go and track down a copy of this book if any of this sounds in the least bit interesting as I think you will be very richly rewarded for you efforts. show less
Luck by Joan Barfoot
I really loved the premise of Luck. It is tightly written and Barfoot gives us three very interesting main characters. My only issue with the novel is the structure of the time line. The first three sections are each one day in time. The fourth section jumps to one year later and I was let down by that plot device. I feel as though I missed out on some behind the scenes action/development. It is a minor complaint though. I think this would make for an excellent book group read.
I was sitting in a café telling my partner, L, about this book. I found tears filling my eyes and my lips quivering. I couldn't get the words out. And yet it's not a book which is written in an emotional style - in fact you could almost criticize it in places for the characters' tendency to speak in a somewhat detached way about big emotional issues.
To me this is a top book. It deals with important issues of families, relationships, forgiveness and acceptance, in a realistic way, with just show more the right amount of emotionality. I personally found it emotional to talk about because these issues had so much bearing on an important part of my life. Other readers will be less engaged.
Nonetheless, I reckon there is an absolute quality in this writing that even the most detached reader will recognize. Joan Barfoot has a wonderful skill of writing about the very subtle, but crucially important aspects of interactions between people - the body positions, the looks, the words not spoken, the things not done, the timing of dialog, and the appearance of people - their clothes, their facial expressions.
The basic idea of the book: a daughter coming to terms with the issues left behind by the sudden death of her father who has been estranged from her for 14 years, is surely one which most of us can relate to in some degree. How many have experienced an ideal parent-child relationship? Sure, not all parents are as lousy as me or the father in "Family News", but we can all learn something from the observations fleshed out for us by this fantastic writer. show less
To me this is a top book. It deals with important issues of families, relationships, forgiveness and acceptance, in a realistic way, with just show more the right amount of emotionality. I personally found it emotional to talk about because these issues had so much bearing on an important part of my life. Other readers will be less engaged.
Nonetheless, I reckon there is an absolute quality in this writing that even the most detached reader will recognize. Joan Barfoot has a wonderful skill of writing about the very subtle, but crucially important aspects of interactions between people - the body positions, the looks, the words not spoken, the things not done, the timing of dialog, and the appearance of people - their clothes, their facial expressions.
The basic idea of the book: a daughter coming to terms with the issues left behind by the sudden death of her father who has been estranged from her for 14 years, is surely one which most of us can relate to in some degree. How many have experienced an ideal parent-child relationship? Sure, not all parents are as lousy as me or the father in "Family News", but we can all learn something from the observations fleshed out for us by this fantastic writer. show less
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- Rating
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