Two reviews this time...

I finished reading two novels back to back; Red Dog, Red Dog by Patrick Lane and Life Form by Amelie Nothomb.

Sometimes I do not know where to begin when reviewing a novel.  Red Dog, Red Dog by Patrick Lane has kept me thinking since I finished reading it two days ago.  It is a dark novel that leaves the reader wondering…that’s the kind of reading experience I love.

Set in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia in 1958, Red Dog, Red Dog tells the story of Tom and Eddy Stark, but the story line takes the reader back in time to understand their parents.  Told sometimes by an omniscient third person narrator and other times through the eyes of Alice, their dead sister, the writing flows effortlessly from one to the other sharing a horrible story of abuse, betrayal, and unrequited love.

I do not want to give away the plot; however, I will share this passage to give an idea of the beauty of Lane’s writing:

He heard the call of the loon and saw the fall of the snow geese onto the sloughs, the Canadas and curlews as they came in their millions down the sky onto the desolate prairie lakes.  Going north or south, blade after blade of birds cried down until the water was so weighted by their breasts he thought the lakes themselves would rise above the earth and drown the land forever.  He’d seen the dust walk the plains, a thousand-foot wall of earth moving across the fields.  He lived the drought years. I seemed at themes all he talked of was dust and roads. (152)

Patrick Lane is a Canadian poet; he has also published a memoir and has a marvelous web page.

Lane, Patrick. Red Dog, Red Dog. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2009. Print.

I discovered Amelie Nothomb and her novel, Life Form, on the Europa Editions website after reading 70% Acrylic 30 % Wool by Viola DiGrado.  Nothomb, born in Japan of Belgian parents, lives in Paris and has published multiple novels written in French.  Her novels tend to be under 200 pages, and this work of 124 pages is better described as a novella.  Life Form tells the story of an author, Amelie Nothomb and her correspondence with a soldier in the American Army serving in Iraq, Melvin Mapple. 

I read this novel in two hours and could have read it in one sitting, if life didn’t interfere.  It is mesmerizing.  Nothomb takes the unusual step of making herself the first person narrator in this epistolary novel; however, the reader is aware that this IS a novel…not a memoir.  I found myself feeling quizzical, repulsed, fascinated, frustrated, bamboozled, but never disappointed.  It is a stunning novel, and I plan on reading more of her works to better appreciate her style. 

Nothomb, Amelie.  Life Form.  translated by Alison Anderson.  New York: Europa Editions, 2013.         Print.