Today I bring you a review of Richard Ford's newest book Canada. Richard Ford is a Pulitzer Prize winning author in fiction and is considered to be part of the dirty realism movement.
To give a simple summary of this book, it is the story of a boy named Dell who faces unfortunate circumstances in his life at no choosing of his own.
The story is broken up into three parts, which are delineated for you in the book. The first part focuses on Dell and his family, which includes his twin sister Berner, and his father Bev and mother Neeva. Dell and Berner have never felt a sense of place since they were constantly moving due to his father being in the military. Eventually, they settle in Great Falls, Montana. I don't want to give too much away, but his parents come wrapped up in something that lands them in jail. Neeva, knowing that she and Bev would eventually get caught, has made arrangements for her kids to be picked up by a friend and taken to safety. However, before this happens, Berner decides to run away. Dell, by himself, is picked up by his mother's friend and is driven to Canada to live with the friend's brother, Arthur Remlinger. His life is in upheaval because of his parent's poor decisions.
Part Two of the book focuses on Dell's time in the small town in Canada. Dell works for Arthur by helping cleaning the hotel that Arthur runs and eventually helps with the goose hunts that he organizes. Close to then end of the book, it is revealed that Arthur has a somewhat dark past, and ends up dragging Dell into yet another unfortunate situation.
Part Three of the book is short and brings you to a present time in Dell's life. We find out Dell stayed in Canada and established a life for himself there. We also learn about what happened to Berner.
Overall, this book was an enjoyable read.
And a side note. We actually got to see Richard Ford in person at Politics & Prose, a D.C. bookstore. He read from the book, did a Q&A, and then signed books. Richard Ford is my husband's favorite living author, and he insisted that we go. He was great and was so kind when signing books. He even allowed my husband to take a picture with him. It made me happy that my husband had the opportunity to meet him.
