Canadian Author Challenge — June: Timothy Findley & Joseph Boyden

June Authors:

Timothy Findley
Joseph Boyden

Back to general thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/209622

Photo by Robie Delaney

Something a bit different this month. Instead of posting biographical information about Findley, all of which can be easily gleaned from his wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Findley), including his complete bibliography, I've taken the following from a Quill & Quire article:

In 1956, Timothy Findley published his debut story in the Tamarack Review, motivated by some friendly generational griping from his friend, actress Ruth Gordon (Harold and Maude).

During a 1981 interview with Canadian Literature, Findley recalled attending an exhibition of painters under the age of 30 with Gordon. “Ruth asked me, ‘Why are you people so damned negative about everything? All those pictures were black, depressing. Can’t you say yes to anything?’ Secretly I decided to prove that we’re not. I went back to my digs and I wrote a story. It was called ‘About Effie,’ about one of the maids who worked at our house when I was a kid. The next day Ruth said to me, ‘Oh, Tiffy, you really shouldn’t be acting at all, you should be writing.’ (Which is a lovely thing to be told when you want to be an actor.)”

Joseph Boyden, CM, novelist, short-story writer (born 31 October 1966 in Toronto).
Joseph Boyden is of Irish, Scots, and Métis descent and the son of a highly decorated medical officer of World War II (Raymond Wilfrid Boyden). Joseph Boyden's work work focuses on the historical and contemporary experience of First Nations peoples of northern Ontario. He became widely known in Canada following the publication of his debut novel Three Day Road in 2005, which won numerous awards and was nominated for a Governor General’s Award. His second novel, Through Black Spruce, won the 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize. He was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 2015.

The focus of Boyden’s writing career has been the historical and contemporary experience of First Nations peoples of northern Ontario. His work recounts, in great detail, the perils of poverty, violence, and drug and alcohol abuse both on and off reservation. The damaging and isolating influence of residential schools is vividly depicted. However, his portraits of marginalized groups also represent their strengths—social and familial cohesion, mutual support and friendship, cooperation, and humour. Boyden highlights the endangered but crucial value of the collective memory of living off the land and the importance of respect and understanding for it.

(From the Canadian Encyclopedia)

Feel free to join in this month! June is the only month I paired two male authors, but I hope they are both easier to find in libraries around the world than some of the other featured authors. Haven't had time to read the previous authors on this challenge? No worries, just go to the general thread to find links to the other author threads and be sure to comment on what you've read!

What are your plans as far as the CAC goes in June?

I love listening to Joseph Boyden as a speaker but I won't read his books. Too much graphic violence for my taste, from all I've heard.

I do have a few Findley books on my shelves so I will attempt to get through at least one, if not more. The first one will be The Last of the Crazy People. I read his From Stone Orchard a few years ago and loved it. (touchstone wrong again...). I think I still also have Not Wanted on the Voyage kicking around somewhere here too

From Stone Orchard is the correct touchstone for the Findley. I really wish they'd reverse whatever they've done that makes them so useless. I haven't read either of these authors, and must see what my library has before deciding if I can participate this month.

I have a hold on a library copy of The Orenda on its way.

Considering I am behind with my CAC reading - still need to read my April and May CACs - I will use this post to comment on how much I love Findley's writing. My first Findley read was Last of the Crazy People, a shockingly brilliant exploration of a dysfunctional family. My favorite Findley read so far. Second favorite Findley read is The Wars, but you really need to be up for a World War I story with some graphic trench warfare details. You Went Away is a World War II story with the focus on Canadians maintaining the home front, and how that impacts families and relationships, as opposed to be on the front lines fighting.

For my CAC read, I am thinking about reading Headhunter but I also have copies of Spadework and The Piano Man's Daughter on my TBR bookshelves so not committing just yet as to which Findley will be read.

I loved The Orenda.

>5 jessibud2: I love listening to Joseph Boyden as a speaker but I won't read his books. Too much graphic violence for my taste, from all I've heard.

I'm with you there. He seems like a great guy, and he's a very talented writer. However, although I think it's a good book and I learned a lot, I didn't like The Orenda, mostly because of the violence. As Stephen Lewis (author, Canadian Ambassador to the UN, and Deputy Director to the UN, among other things) said, "The Orenda is torture porn". I don't remember Three Day Road being as bad, but the tone and approach didn't work for me.

I loved The Wars by Findlay. I have The Piano Man's Daughter and Pilgrim in my stacks, and will consider reading them. I hope someone reads Not Wanted on The Voyage because I'm interested in that one.

I just might use this as a reason to finally finish Pilgrim. I also have a copy of Orenda... we will see how much spare time I have this month.

I've had both The Piano Man's Daughter and Through Black Spruce on the shelf since before I joined this group, I think probably purchased during the same sale at ChaptersIndigo sometime in 2010, so those are the two I'll do my best to read this month. Once I'm finished reading Emily St. John Mandel book I had slotted for last month, that is...

I'm a bit apprehensive about Boyden with the comments on the amount of violence in his books, but he also comes highly recommended from several quarters, so I guess I'll just have to find out for myself.

I ordered Pilgrim from the library the other day and I'll order The Orenda probably at the end of next week.

I checked out the library shelves today and came back with Spade Work. Looks interesting.

I'm currently listening to Through Black Spruce although now a bit worried about excessive violence given what people have said above ...

I read The Orenda. You were all correct - the violence is graphic. But it IS part of the history. I don't think he could have written this story without that part. I was already a huge fan of Joseph Boyden, but I think this is his best yet.

The Iroquois maiden: “We are the people birthed from this land. . . . We are this place. This place is us.”

The Jesuit: “In matters of the spirit, these sauvages believe that we all have within us a life force that is similar, if you will, to our own Catholic belief in the soul. They call this life force the orenda. That is the fascinating part.”

The Huron warrior: “The Crow knows how to offend without trying.”

I wish I could give words to how good this book is. The interplay of relationship, the maturing of conscience, the brutality of Indian life in the 1630s, the complexity of the relations between various tribes and newcomers – all of it so well written. By the natives, the Jesuits were called “crows” for their flapping robes and cawing speech, and the Indians, by the missionaries, “sauvages”. Boyden gives due to each group of peoples, being frank with both their good points and bad, with what they think they have to do to either co-exist or to maintain their own way of life. Superb.

I'd not heard of either of these authors before LT. Orenda was on my radar but >16 countrylife: has convinced me to order it at the library (interesting to me is that this is the only book of his that the library system has).

In contrast, Timothy Findley copies abound, so I've ordered a book of short stories and Pilgrim. I suspect I won't get to these before July, but will do my best!

I just picked up Findley's You Went Away from the library. I haven't read any of his work, but have heard of a few of the famous ones.

I probably won't read any Boyden this year. I've read his Through Black Spruce and enjoyed it and would like to read Three Day Road, but am put off by the comments about The Orenda. I'm sure it is excellent, but the violence...

>16 countrylife: >18 raidergirl3: hanks for your comments about The Orenda. Thinking on the violent aspect of Boyden's books which has been mentioned here, it came to mind that I've come across some pretty atrocious descriptions of violence between natives and settlers, most memorably in the Lonesome Dove series of books, where Comanche indians are described as particularly vicious. I can't say I enjoyed the violence by any means, but it was there for a good reason and I accepted it as such.

For the moment, I'm reading Timothy Findley's The Piano Man's Daughter, which I'm enjoying at a rather slow pace, and since it is more than 500 pages long, I may not be able to fit in my Boyden selection this month, but will certainly make room for Through Black Spruce in July, if need be.

>16 countrylife: But it IS part of the history. I don't think he could have written this story without that part

>19 Smiler69: I can't say I enjoyed the violence by any means, but it was there for a good reason and I accepted it as such.

Every writer has choices. There is not just one way to write an event, there are hundreds or thousands. I don't think Boyden should be silent about the violence--not at all. But I don't like the way he writes it. I prefer writers who take a different, less graphic approach. The same point can be made, the same story can be told, using a different combination of words.

>20 Nickelini: The same point can be made, the same story can be told, using a different combination of words.

That is certainly true. As I haven't read any of Boyden's fiction yet, I guess I'll find out when I get there.

I LOVED The Orenda when I read it last year.

So I brought Three Day Road with me on this trip to Portland. As soon as I finish my current read, that one will be next.

The conference is good and I'll get a wee bit of reading time here and there but The. Best. Part. will be my 3+ hours on the train back home on Wednesday. Pure reading time. :-)

#22
That is what I said about the time in the airports and on the planes in the last two months. Quality reading time.

I started reading this on the train last night and I am completely engrossed. Wow.

>24 EBT1002: Glad you've favourably impressed, Ellen. I've still got Through Black Spruce lined up, but I think I'll only get to it in July.

I used to love all the business travel for the downtime the airport waits and flight times 'forced' on me. I was truly a harried executive, bleeping Blackberry and all, so it was nice to have time when I was completely out of touch with the world and could just focus on a book.

I am still plugging away at my challenge books for the CAC. The Crummey is coming along slowly but I am happy to report that I am doing much better with Findley's Spade Work. It is set in Stratford somewhere I have been and know about. Now off to figure out which Pierre Berton I will pull off my own shelves for the July challenge.

>26 Familyhistorian: Oh yes, July... must put up the new page. Will take care of that tomorrow as it's close to bedtime for me now.

I was mixed about the Findley I read Dinner Along the Amazon - on the one hand it was interesting to read stories from across quite a wide period (the title story mentioned Diana, so not that old I guess). It seemed a little high strung though, and filled with very similar characters: affluent people struggling with drink problems, or having to hide their sexuality.

Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden



This was almost a perfect novel! On the cover of my edition, Louise Erdrich is quoted describing it as "A devastatingly truthful work of fiction, and a masterful account of hell and healing."
I simply cannot exceed the beauty and accuracy of those words in describing the novel.

Timothy Findley's Spadework was a story about relationships and forgiveness. It was set in Stratford, Ontario so, of course, some of the characters were actors or other members of the theatre. It was interesting to see some of the inner workings of this acting town.