Village of the Small Houses: A Memoir of Sorts
by Ian Ferguson
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In 1959, just one step ahead of the law, Ian Ferguson's parents left the sophisticated big-city life of Edmonton and ended up in Fort Vermilion, 846 km due north. It was meant to be a temporary move. Ian's father lasted ten years before he made his escape; his mother remained until recently. Fort Vermilion, once a fur-trapping frontier town, was predominantly aboriginal, the third poorest community in Canada. Like their neighbors, the Ferguson kids, Ian and his six brothers and sisters grew show more up without indoor plumbing, central heating or electricity. Living closer to the Arctic Circle than to the American border, without the influences of television or radio, Canada was a dream to them, as far away and exotic as England or Australia. Beginning with the dramatic events surrounding his birth including a paddlewheel ferry heading for destruction, a legendary rowboat trip, and a life-and-death race against time Ferguson moves on to recreate adventures involving loophole ceremonies, life-saving encounters with indigenous medicines, tea dances, stolen hockey sticks and a boy lost in the woods. Funny with sad bits and sometimes the other way around The Village of Small Houses is an unforgettable story that lives, as Ferguson says, somewhere between Angela's Ashes and Who Has Seen the Wind. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Stephen Leacock Award for Humour winner. A funny, charming memoir that reminded me of Angela's Ashes. Ferguson brings a humorous slant to what really was a tough, often grim childhood. There is no self-pity here. I loved the connections his family had with the Native people in his community. Every person mentioned in this book is a rich, interesting, unique individual. The author wastes no words, he has a knack for letting the reader know all that they need in very few words. Ferguson was honest about the strengths and failings of everyone in his past, and especially his own failings as an adult. A loving look back at a memorable childhood.
This memoir is like [b:Glass Castle|7445|The Glass Castle|Jeannette Walls|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165613865s/7445.jpg|2944133] except it's from a male perspective, the parents are not quite as whacked, the dad leaves sooner, it takes place in Northern Alberta (primarily), many of the characters are Native, it has more humour in it, and it ends when the narrator is in high school. If Glass Castle was too heavy for you, try this one. I think I'm partial to Village of the Small Houses because it's more enjoyable reading -- lighter, funnier, shorter. And maybe it's because I'm Canadian, but I enjoy reading books with Native characters more than Southern Americans: better humour and outlook.
A very well written memoir, a little on the sad side in the end. All of it is true, apart from the bits the writer made up :-)
another used find.
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28+ Works 1,170 Members
Ian Ferguson is an award-winning playwright and humorist. He has written extensively for television and radio, and he is the creator of the live improvised soap operas Die-Nasty and Sin City and the creator and co-executive producer of the CBC comedy show Liquid Soapz. He is currently developing a series for American television
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- Genres
- Biography & Memoir, Fiction and Literature, Literature Studies and Criticism
- DDC/MDS
- 812.6 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American drama in English 21st Century
- LCC
- PR9199.4 .F468 .Z464 — Language and Literature English English Literature English literature: Provincial, local, etc.
- BISAC
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- 65
- Popularity
- 477,301
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.95)
- Languages
- English, Italian
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 1
