Gail Anderson-Dargatz
Author of The Cure for Death by Lightning
About the Author
Gail Anderson-Dargatz wrote The Miss Herford Stories, a collection of short stories, A Recipe for Bees, and The Cure for Death by Lightning, which won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and the British Columbia Book Prize. (Bowker Author Biography) Gail Anderson-Dargatz is also the author of the show more award-winning "The Cure for Death by Lightning". She lives with her husband on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: wordfest.com
Series
Works by Gail Anderson-Dargatz
Poster Cure for Death by Light 2 copies
ΓΕΥΣΗ ΑΠΟ ΜΕΛΙ 1 copy
La magia del rayo 1 copy
In the Name of Salome 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Anderson-Dargatz, Gail Kathryn
- Birthdate
- 1963-11-14
- Gender
- female
- Education
- University of Victoria (BA|Creative Writing)
- Occupations
- novelist
reporter
photographer
cartoonist
writing instructor (Providence Bay Writers' Camp ∙ University of British Columbia) - Organizations
- University of British Columbia
Canadian Writers' Union
Providence Bay Writers' Camp - Agent
- Denise Bukowski
- Short biography
- Gail Anderson-Dargatz, whose fictional style has been coined as “Pacific Northwest Gothic” by the Boston Globe, has been published worldwide in English and in many other languages. A Recipe for Bees and The Cure for Death by Lighting were international bestsellers, and were both finalists for the prestigious Giller Prize in Canada. The Cure for Death by Lightning won the UK’s Betty Trask Prize among other awards. A Rhinestone Button was a national bestseller in Canada and her first book, The Miss Hereford Stories, was short-listed for the Leacock Award for humour. She currently teaches fiction in the creative writing MFA program at the University of British Columbia, and lives in the Shuswap, the landscape found in so much of her writing.
- Nationality
- Canada
- Birthplace
- Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
- Places of residence
- Salmon Arm, British Columbia, Canada
Thompson-Shuswap, British Columbia, Canada
Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada - Associated Place (for map)
- British Columbia, Canada
Members
Reviews
I don't know why, but I had it in my head that this was a fun, light-hearted book, sort of in the way that [b:Amphibian|6452033|Amphibian|Carla Gunn|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328759365s/6452033.jpg|6642202] by [a:Carla Gunn|2922903|Carla Gunn|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1306197890p2/2922903.jpg] is. See, I tend to quickly read summaries of books, decide if it's of interest, and then add it to my "to read" list. I never again look at what the book is show more supposed to be about so that nothing is given away.
It must have been the title and the cover that made me think this book was entertaining. The content is way too heavy to be considered "light-hearted."
(Stop reading here if you want "nothing given away".)
Beth is a farmer's daughter to a poor family in rural country during WWII. They're so rural and back-country that it might as well be 100 years ago. Her father went crazy about a year prior and is prone to fly into rages unexpectedly. Her mother is part submissive, part willfully blind to the abuse he gives his family, the daughter in particular. The older brother is mostly "normal" until you find out he's got a thing for cows. Beth drops out of school after being stripped and tormented by the other kids. Even when she confesses to her mother what happened, her mother refuses to believe it "they're nice kids, they'd never do that." So Beth finds friendship with a local biracial Aboriginal girl and the two of them explore their sexuality together.
All the while, there's another local "crazy man" who's been possessed by the trickster Coyote and has a hunger for young children. Beth is haunted and stalked by Coyote.
It's all very dark and other-worldly. Not at all whimsical and fun. The writing captivated me and compelled me to keep reading, but the storyline also caused me some stress because of all the awfulness that went on.
Great Canadian literature, but don't let the cover & title fool you! show less
It must have been the title and the cover that made me think this book was entertaining. The content is way too heavy to be considered "light-hearted."
(Stop reading here if you want "nothing given away".)
Beth is a farmer's daughter to a poor family in rural country during WWII. They're so rural and back-country that it might as well be 100 years ago. Her father went crazy about a year prior and is prone to fly into rages unexpectedly. Her mother is part submissive, part willfully blind to the abuse he gives his family, the daughter in particular. The older brother is mostly "normal" until you find out he's got a thing for cows. Beth drops out of school after being stripped and tormented by the other kids. Even when she confesses to her mother what happened, her mother refuses to believe it "they're nice kids, they'd never do that." So Beth finds friendship with a local biracial Aboriginal girl and the two of them explore their sexuality together.
All the while, there's another local "crazy man" who's been possessed by the trickster Coyote and has a hunger for young children. Beth is haunted and stalked by Coyote.
It's all very dark and other-worldly. Not at all whimsical and fun. The writing captivated me and compelled me to keep reading, but the storyline also caused me some stress because of all the awfulness that went on.
Great Canadian literature, but don't let the cover & title fool you! show less
This story has one of my favorite opening sentences:
It really sets the tone for what I can only describe as a compelling coming-of-age story. A wonderful blending of isolated rural community living, family histories, show more native folklore, evocative memories stirred by the wonders captured within the pages of her mother's scrapbook and the luscious descriptions of food, gardening and bizarre remedies. It is a wonderful throw-back to a forgotten era and I love how Beth reminds us that the story she is telling is something that occurred in her past, not her present. The writing is a delight to experience, like this description of eating cherries fresh off a cherry tree:
I delighted in the recipes and remedies that are strewn throughout the story. The kinds of recipes and remedies that are handed down from generation to generation so I was very happy to see the index at the back of the book. While the story is set in the Turtle Valley region of British Columbia, it is easy to picture it as taking place in almost any Northwest valley farming community with an reserve nearby. Canadian specific references to such things as Vancouver, Vernon and residential schools are kept to a minimum. As with most coming-of-age stories, it has elements that are harrowing and emotional. Anderson-Dargatz focuses on how Beth reacts/deals with situations, instead of exposing the reader to minute details of the situations themselves. A nice touch as some of the topics are disturbing enough without having the read through pages and pages of ugly details.
Overall, a really good read. show less
"The cure for death by lightning was handwritten in thick, messy blue ink in my mother’s scrapbook, under the recipe for my father’s favorite oatcakes: Dunk the dead by lightning in a cold water bath for two hours and if still dead, add vinegar and soak for an hour more."
It really sets the tone for what I can only describe as a compelling coming-of-age story. A wonderful blending of isolated rural community living, family histories, show more native folklore, evocative memories stirred by the wonders captured within the pages of her mother's scrapbook and the luscious descriptions of food, gardening and bizarre remedies. It is a wonderful throw-back to a forgotten era and I love how Beth reminds us that the story she is telling is something that occurred in her past, not her present. The writing is a delight to experience, like this description of eating cherries fresh off a cherry tree:
"When you eat a ripe cherry straight from the tree on a sunny day, its juice is so hot, thick, and red that it has the feel of blood running down your chin, staining your lips, and filling your mouth. Once you've sucked all you can from it, you spit out the pit and go for another warm cherry off the tree, and another and another, because the cherry will seduce you every time. You don't see that ripeness, that hot blood juice, in a store-bought cherry. But a cherry sun-hot off the tree, well, that's where it came from, the insinuation of lust in the cherry, the smut-name put to the ripe button-love of a woman. Cherry. It's all juice and warmth, a O in your mouth, a soft marble for your tongue to play with, a sweet soft thing with a core cloaked in flesh."
I delighted in the recipes and remedies that are strewn throughout the story. The kinds of recipes and remedies that are handed down from generation to generation so I was very happy to see the index at the back of the book. While the story is set in the Turtle Valley region of British Columbia, it is easy to picture it as taking place in almost any Northwest valley farming community with an reserve nearby. Canadian specific references to such things as Vancouver, Vernon and residential schools are kept to a minimum. As with most coming-of-age stories, it has elements that are harrowing and emotional. Anderson-Dargatz focuses on how Beth reacts/deals with situations, instead of exposing the reader to minute details of the situations themselves. A nice touch as some of the topics are disturbing enough without having the read through pages and pages of ugly details.
Overall, a really good read. show less
Set on a farm near a reserve in the interior of British Columbia during WWII, this is fifteen-year-old Beth Weeks' coming-of-age story. Her father was injured in the first war, presumably intended as an explanation of his brutish behaviour, but as this would have happened more than twenty years earlier I'm more inclined to think that it is his true nature. There is a large cast of characters, few particularly likeable, and most are in conflict with each other. While I liked Beth's mother and show more her scrapbook of collected recipes and household tips from which the title comes, I found the rest of the characters were overwhelmed by aberrants of one kind or another. Anderson-Dargatz had a choice of writing nostalgic memories of growing up in a farming community mid-century with the tragedies and sad occurences of normal life, but instead emphasized a dismal story of abuse, violence, misogyny and conflict. And despite some good writing, there was little sense of place. Disappointing. show less
Beth Weeks is fifteen and growing up in a small farming town in British Colombia during WWII. Her father was traumatised during the First World War and his behaviour is becoming increasingly bizarre and extreme. This leads to a further isolation of the family from their neighbours.
I found this book quirky and enchanting. As a picture of life in this time and place the story worked well. Maybe there were a few too many people with mental problems in this debut novel, bearing in mind the small show more cast of characters, but I still liked most of them. There are some extremely disturbing scenes but I think the way Gail Anderson-Dargatz told the story was worth a bit of distress.
Gritty and disturbing but one I am pleased to have read and I will definitely be reading more of this author's work. show less
I found this book quirky and enchanting. As a picture of life in this time and place the story worked well. Maybe there were a few too many people with mental problems in this debut novel, bearing in mind the small show more cast of characters, but I still liked most of them. There are some extremely disturbing scenes but I think the way Gail Anderson-Dargatz told the story was worth a bit of distress.
Gritty and disturbing but one I am pleased to have read and I will definitely be reading more of this author's work. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 31
- Members
- 2,049
- Popularity
- #12,556
- Rating
- 3.4
- Reviews
- 119
- ISBNs
- 119
- Languages
- 6
- Favorited
- 5
