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Incidents In The Life Of Markus Paul (2011)

by David Adams Richards(Favorite Author)

3.96 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0385666535 (ISBN13: 9780385666534)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Doubleday Canada

review 1: It's odd how you can miss a writer who is apparently really well known but this was a random library choice I really enjoyed. Set around a first nation reservation in 1985 and 2006 it tells of the consequence of a young boys death in the hold of a cargo ship on his first day a work. The eponymous hero at the time is the grandson of the chief who sees how the 'crime' rips his community apart, and in 2006 as a policeman is still obsessed by it. A really good read and I will look out for more now by the author!
review 2: An absorbing story about individuals, a particular social setting and the nature of right and wrong. Had to persist through the first half because the characters come close to or actually are caricatures. Richards also starts out with descriptions... more from a distance. The effect is like watching Prospero play with people on his island if you're in a generous mood, or like watching a puppet play and being very much aware of the woodenness of the marionettes and the strings pulling them about if you're not. But the artificiality fades and intensity builds in the second half. Thought at first I preferred The Friends of Meagre Fortune. May still, but the story is pulled together so well and powerfully in the end that I'm not sure whether I'd rate one book ahead of the other. less

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