Spring 2008 Volume 22 - No. 1 - BC BookWorld
Spring 2008 Volume 22 - No. 1 - BC BookWorld Spring 2008 Volume 22 - No. 1 - BC BookWorld
29 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2008reviewsFICTIONCrusty attorneymakes anothercomebackBY JAMES TYLER IRVINEKill All The Judges by William Deverell(M&S $34.99)Having won the 2006Arthur Ellis Award forhis novel April Fool,William Deverell has againbrought his lawyer protagonistArthur Beauchamp out of retirementfor Kill All The Judges,a title that harkens back toDeverell’s Kill All The Lawyers,published in 2001.Deverell’s 15th book openswith a deranged court clerk whofires a pistol at a presiding judgebut the intended bullet is takenin the heart by a police officerwho heroically jumps in its way.This incident is creative nonfiction,a story within the novel,written by one of its main characters.As the title suggests,there are several judges whomeet their demise in the story.One succumbs to food poisoningfrom eating a portion oftainted duck a l’orange, anothervanishes off a wharf, anda third’s curiosity mysteriouslyends his life.Arthur Beauchamp is askedto step into the main trial in thenovel at the last moment (aftermuch resistance on his part) toact for the accused in the murdercase of a judge who may havesuspicious ties to the federalgovernment in Ottawa.In typical Deverell fashionthere is plenty of humour thatthreads its way through thisnovel. Felicity, who desperatelywants to be a poet, speaks innearly perfect verse tones. “Justlike a greeting card!”Beauchamp says.Some butter ends up on thefly of a man’s pants as result of alittle under the table accident,and poor Arthur discovers incriminatingevidence in hisgrandson’s possessions. Otherhot evidence is found in the localcommunity centre.✫The novel has its tense moments,too, particularly duringthe trial of the accused. A nearsightedretired theatre diva isasked to identify a suspect fromthe witness box. She is not ableto see past the end of her noseand must make her way slowlyaround the silent room. Everycharacter who has raised suspicionsthroughout the novel is sittingin the courtroom followingor avoiding her gaze.Many of the memorable charactersthat joined Beauchamp inApril Fool return here andDeverell presents his charactersas if they were old acquaintancesor new friends. Beauchamp fanswill remember lawyer BrianPomeroy, Margaret Blake (thelove of Arthur’s life), crabby centenarianWinnie Gillicuddy andNelson Forbish, the ever-pryingfor-detailseditor of The Bleat, toname just a few.Margaret has moved from savingeagles to wanting to stretchher political aspirations nationwide.Poor Brian Pomeroy hasbecome tired of his professionand the trials of his everyday lifeand sets off on a different path.Wentworth Chance, whoworks with Arthur, is a new characterto Beauchamp mysteries—young, green and keen. Headores the legal professionand aspires to follow inCOUPLAND‘S BOX STORE BLUESThe Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland(Random House $32)Sometimes you just can’t improveupon the hype. The jacket for DouglasCoupland’s new novel aboutthe angst-ridden lives of employees in aStaples outlet, The Gum Thief (RandomHouse $32), offers an excerpt that neatlycaptures the interplay between pathosand humour in Coupland’s ongoing critiquesof modern North American society.Once again, Coupland and his charactershave melded into one narrative voice:“I work in a Staples. I’m in charge of restockingaisles 2-North and 2-South: SheetProtectors, Indexes & Dividers, Notebooks,Post-it Products, Paper Pads, Specialty Papersand ‘Social Stationery.’ Do I hate thisjob? Are you nuts? Of course I hate it. Howcould you not hate it? Everyone who workswith me is either already damaged or elsethey’re embryos waiting to be damaged,fresh out of school and slow as a 1999 mo-MOREKILLFROM BILLWilliamDeverellDouglas Couplanddem. Just because you’ve been born andmade it through high school doesn’t meansociety still can’t abort you. Wake up. Letme try to say something positive here. Forbalance. Staples allows me to wear blacklipstick to work.—Bethany” 978-0-307-35628-4Beauchamp’s footsteps.Chance plays abig part in this novel,and this reviewerhopes to read more storiesabout him again.Arthur remainscrusty but compassionate.Like many of us,he does not know howto say “No” and frequentlywishes hehad. He would ratherbe relaxing, fishing,spending time with hisgrandson or readingfrom Virgil’s Aeneid. Ishe really WilliamDeverell in disguise?The question is part ofthe appeal for this series.✫Figuring prominentlyin the story isthe intersection ofMain and Keefer inVancouver’sChinatown and a poshcondominium in whatappears to be FalseCreek. Glimpses ofGastown, Maple LeafSquare and GaribaldiIsland, where much of the noveloccurs (or is it really NorthPender Island where Deverellmakes his home?) also form partof the landscape of the novel.Kill All the Judges provides adelightful, witty and satisfyingread. And the culprit…well sorry,that’s a secret that must be kept.✫Deverell was born in Reginain 1937 and by 1964 he waspracticing law in British Columbiaand continues to do so. Thetelevision series Street Legalwhich ran for eight seasons onCBC-TV was co-created byDeverell, who also wrote its pilotepisode. 0-7710-2721-4James Tyler Irvine is a booksellerin Vancouver.Incidental Music by Carol Matthews (Oolican $18.95)Carol Matthews’ debut collection of fiction,Incidental Music, consists of seven linked storiesabout several couples, mainly Tannis andher husband Stephen. Before she wed, Tannis’s fatherhad told her “There has to be give and take in amarriage. You’ll find the lasting value of a marriageappears not at the beginning but later, towards theend. It is a journey, not a destination.” The couplego on to cope with aging and abandonment, buoyedby the consolations of maturity and a lasting union.Music also connects the lives of Matthews’ characters.Born in Vancouver, Carol Matthews was an instructorand dean at Malaspina University-College, whereshe has continued as an Honorary Research Associate.Her first book, The First Three Years of a Grandmother’sLife (Ryerson, 2006), is a collection of herquarterly columns from Relational Child and YouthCare Practice, written from her perspective as agrandmother, and self-illustrated. She lives on ProtectionIsland, along with her husband, Mike, andVictor, their “poet dog.” 978-088982-234-4S HORTIESSpook Country by William Gibson(Penguin $32.50)William Gibson’s follow-up to hislast novel Pattern Recognition (2003)is Spook Country, which takes place inthe present day and primarily involvesa journalist, a junkie and a troubleshooterfor manufacturers of militarynavigation equipment. 9780399154300Conceit by Mary Novik(Doubleday $29.95)Mary Novik’s first published novelConceit is about Pegge Donne, thedaughter of the poet John Donne, whoaudaciously rebels against her father’splans for her arranged marriage. Thenovel’s backdrop is London in the 17thcentury. 978-0-385-66205-5The Book of Beasts by Bernice Friesen(Coteau $21)The Book of Beasts by BerniceFriesen of Hornby Island is the comingof age story of Seamus (James)Wilberforce Young, a half-English andhalf-Irish boy who is taken to his mother’sIrish village in 1965 after her mother’slengthy alienation from his family.Recently Seamus’ sister was killed in acar accident and his mother soon decidesto leave her husband. At hisgrandmother’s bidding, James pursuesthe priesthood only to undergo a lossof faith. 978-1-55050-387-1Bernice FriesenThe Silent Raga by Ameen Merchant(D&M $32.95)The Silent Raga, the first novel fromBombay-born Ameen Merchant isabout a Brahmin musical prodigy whoflees an arranged marriage to be witha Muslim Bollywood star. Merchant nowlives in Vancouver. 1-55365-309-2Radiance by Shaena Lambert(Random House $19.95)Shaena Lambert’s first novel Radianceconcerns the relationship betweenan 18-year-old survivor of theHiroshima atomic bomb blast, KeikoKitigawa, who is brought to the UnitedStates in 1952 for charitablereconstructive surgery, and her suburbanhostess, Daisy Lawrence, who hasbeen assigned the task to pry the girl’straumatic story from her to serve thepropaganda needs of the committeethat has sponsored her visit. WithMcCarthyism on the rise and experimentsto develop the hydrogen bombunderway in the U.S., the complex intimacythat arises between the “Hiroshimamaiden” and her host motherhas its own frission born of whisperedconfessions and wrenching betrayals.978-0-769-31150-8Shaena Lambert
31 BC BOOKWORLD SPRING 2008reviewsFICTIONTHUMPING JACKSChris F. Needham plays Lucy with the truth to unravel congenital violenceBY CHERIE THIESSENFalling from Heights by Chris F. Needham(Now or Never Publishing $21.95)You don’t want to messwith the three Jacks boys,Jonathan, Robert andJeremy. In Falling from Heights,none of them can sustain lastingrelationships.Jonathan, the elder by sixteenyears, is a sexual predator.Jailed earlier for his attacks onyoung girls, he has done his timeand now lives in a heritage homein a respectable Langley community;closely monitored 24/7by four full-time employees.Robert has left his secondwife, and a three-year olddaughter he has no interest in,in favour of impregnating oneof his high school students,whom he subsequently may haveassisted off the Knight StreetBridge. The partying studentSukhvinder, and her unbornchild, unsurprisingly didn’t survivethe plunge—or fall.Although he doesn’t drink,Robert loves to beat the hell outof guys in bars, he loves to watchhis twin brother, Jeremy, getplastered, and he doesn’t say noto a good toke. Jeremy, thedrunk, is the best of the three,although he’s a failure at work,relationships and life.Both university-educatedbrothers, Robert and Jeremy, are“temporarily” doing menial jobsin a smelly Delta fish feed plant.Unfortunately, Robert can nolonger teach school, not becauseof Sukhvinder—nobody knowsabout that yet—but because hepunched out the principal infront of his students. One wonderswhy this pugilistic charmerwould have ever chosen teachingchildren in the first place.Jeremy has reluctantly returnedto Vancouver from easternCanada where he has hadone largely unread, misogynistbook published. His return isprompted by a phone call fromhis father, with whom he has hada dicey relationship, telling himthat Robert, who is an army reservist,has been killed in a jumpwhile on a weekend trainingmission.The father tells him Robert’sparachute must have becomeentangled with that of a fellowjumper, one Corporal Sidhu,but when Jeremy returns andaccompanies his ailing father tothe airport, expecting to pickup a very small coffin, hisbrother limps off the plane.Turns out that Robert has miraculouslysustained only minorinjuries, as Sidhu cushioned hisfall.Unlike Sukhvinder, Roberthas survived his fall from heights.Both younger brothers, nowclose to 30, return to the familyhome with their Dad, ahome that is constantly losingground to a rapaciousravine. There has neverbeen a mother in the picture.Jon Sr. has told hisboys she died while on ahoneymoon with her secondhusband.The present-day storyof the Jacks family isposted as blog entrieson the Internet bysomeone with the penname of Lucy. Giventhat the only Lucy wemeet in the story is a catat the eldest son’sguarded residence, weare intrigued to learnmore.✫The twins and their relationshipfeel very credible,and the plot is engaging,so with all of this excitementgoingon, youwould think itwould be easyto get yankedquickly intothis novel. Infact, it’s astruggle atfirst, mostly becauseof theauthor’s stylisticchoice of intruding into thestory and because of his use ofconvoluted and lengthy paragraph-longsentences. Here’s anexample:Together Jeremy and his fathertried to get limping Robert into hisnow vacant, incessantly leaky condo—as mentioned, Robert’s wife hadtaken a recent leave of absence fromtheir relationship, taking with hertheir three year-old daughter—butwith his various minor injuries, togetherwith everything else presentlyfalling apart in his life, they thoughtbetter of it and decided to install himin his old room at his father’s house,Chris F.Needham:Delving intoviolence in thesuburbs ofVancouverthe very house Robert and Jeremy hadgrown up in.Later the author’s intrusivenesslargely disappears, especiallyonce the story ricochets tothe most overtly deviant son,Jonathan. But only about half ofthis novel is about this scary familyof four.✫Right from the beginning,interspersed with the Jacks family,we have another intriguingstoryline: A mysterious but fascinatingyoung woman, Birdie, iswriting letters and diary entriesfrom a voluntary “prison,” partof a well-paid controlled experimenton the effects of marijuanausage, a trial that tookplace in the early 1970s.It’s this half of Falling fromHeights that was evidently inspiredby real letters and eventsthat occurred at a governmentsanctioneddrug experiment inToronto in 1972.The letters from Birdie, someof which Jeremy finds in the familyhome, are 30 years old. Articulate,funny and insightful,Birdie’s writing pulls us in rightfrom the start and fortifies us forthe frequent ‘trips’ back andforth to the Jacks brothers. Wewant to know who Birdie is, andwhat she has got to do with thechaos and carnage in the livesof the Jacks twins.Needham’s combination of“Lucy’s” modern communicationmethod of blogging withthe somewhat passé action of letterwriting by Birdie makes fora welcome juxtaposition.Plots can sometimes benefitfrom being convoluted, as longas the author leaves us crumbsto find our way out of the maze,but there’s a great deal aboutFalling from Heights that is perplexing.Why has Needhamgone to so much trouble to caricatureJeremy’s drinking buddy,a well-known alcoholic actorwho played in a long-running televisionseries? And why is he includingreal events and peoplefrom Greenpeace?And what about those environmentalconflicts he introduces?Whoever would haveguessed that Jon Jacks, the onetime alcoholic and aimless fatherwe meet at the beginning,would also have been involvedin Greenpeace and environmentalactivism?And, of course, who really isthe mother of these twins andwhere the heck is she?Flashes of a Lexus, a missinggirl, and her no-good boyfriend,also keep flicking throughoutthe novel, piquing our curiosityand further knitting togetherthis dark story.Symbolism is everywhere,from the ravine’s encroachmenton the family yard, to the crackingcement in the fishpond, tothe unfinished treehouse forRobert’s daughter. PossiblyNeedham began writing as apoet before he wrote An InvertedSort of Prayer, his other novel,about an ex-hockey enforcer,that was published shortly beforethis one. 978-0-9739558-1-1Cherie Thiessen regularly reviewsfiction from Pender Island.fernie writers conference 0807.15 - 07.27Intensive workshops. 07.15 - 07.27. SCREENWRITING | FILM EDITING | SHORT STORY | POETRY | NOVELProfessional Writing Seminar. 07.25 - 07.27Previous participant registration and scholarship applications open early January 08. General registration February 01.08.ELK VALLEY REALTYwww.ferniewriters.org | keith@ferniewriters.org | 250.423.6132
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29 <strong>BC</strong> BOOKWORLD SPRING <strong>2008</strong>reviewsFICTIONCrusty attorneymakes anothercomebackBY JAMES TYLER IRVINEKill All The Judges by William Deverell(M&S $34.99)Having won the 2006Arthur Ellis Award forhis novel April Fool,William Deverell has againbrought his lawyer protagonistArthur Beauchamp out of retirementfor Kill All The Judges,a title that harkens back toDeverell’s Kill All The Lawyers,published in 2001.Deverell’s 15th book openswith a deranged court clerk whofires a pistol at a presiding judgebut the intended bullet is takenin the heart by a police officerwho heroically jumps in its way.This incident is creative nonfiction,a story within the novel,written by one of its main characters.As the title suggests,there are several judges whomeet their demise in the story.One succumbs to food poisoningfrom eating a portion oftainted duck a l’orange, anothervanishes off a wharf, anda third’s curiosity mysteriouslyends his life.Arthur Beauchamp is askedto step into the main trial in thenovel at the last moment (aftermuch resistance on his part) toact for the accused in the murdercase of a judge who may havesuspicious ties to the federalgovernment in Ottawa.In typical Deverell fashionthere is plenty of humour thatthreads its way through thisnovel. Felicity, who desperatelywants to be a poet, speaks innearly perfect verse tones. “Justlike a greeting card!”Beauchamp says.Some butter ends up on thefly of a man’s pants as result of alittle under the table accident,and poor Arthur discovers incriminatingevidence in hisgrandson’s possessions. Otherhot evidence is found in the localcommunity centre.✫The novel has its tense moments,too, particularly duringthe trial of the accused. A nearsightedretired theatre diva isasked to identify a suspect fromthe witness box. She is not ableto see past the end of her noseand must make her way slowlyaround the silent room. Everycharacter who has raised suspicionsthroughout the novel is sittingin the courtroom followingor avoiding her gaze.Many of the memorable charactersthat joined Beauchamp inApril Fool return here andDeverell presents his charactersas if they were old acquaintancesor new friends. Beauchamp fanswill remember lawyer BrianPomeroy, Margaret Blake (thelove of Arthur’s life), crabby centenarianWinnie Gillicuddy andNelson Forbish, the ever-pryingfor-detailseditor of The Bleat, toname just a few.Margaret has moved from savingeagles to wanting to stretchher political aspirations nationwide.Poor Brian Pomeroy hasbecome tired of his professionand the trials of his everyday lifeand sets off on a different path.Wentworth Chance, whoworks with Arthur, is a new characterto Beauchamp mysteries—young, green and keen. Headores the legal professionand aspires to follow inCOUPLAND‘S BOX STORE BLUESThe Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland(Random House $32)Sometimes you just can’t improveupon the hype. The jacket for DouglasCoupland’s new novel aboutthe angst-ridden lives of employees in aStaples outlet, The Gum Thief (RandomHouse $32), offers an excerpt that neatlycaptures the interplay between pathosand humour in Coupland’s ongoing critiquesof modern <strong>No</strong>rth American society.Once again, Coupland and his charactershave melded into one narrative voice:“I work in a Staples. I’m in charge of restockingaisles 2-<strong>No</strong>rth and 2-South: SheetProtectors, Indexes & Dividers, <strong>No</strong>tebooks,Post-it Products, Paper Pads, Specialty Papersand ‘Social Stationery.’ Do I hate thisjob? Are you nuts? Of course I hate it. Howcould you not hate it? Everyone who workswith me is either already damaged or elsethey’re embryos waiting to be damaged,fresh out of school and slow as a 1999 mo-MOREKILLFROM BILLWilliamDeverellDouglas Couplanddem. Just because you’ve been born andmade it through high school doesn’t meansociety still can’t abort you. Wake up. Letme try to say something positive here. Forbalance. Staples allows me to wear blacklipstick to work.—Bethany” 978-0-307-35628-4Beauchamp’s footsteps.Chance plays abig part in this novel,and this reviewerhopes to read more storiesabout him again.Arthur remainscrusty but compassionate.Like many of us,he does not know howto say “<strong>No</strong>” and frequentlywishes hehad. He would ratherbe relaxing, fishing,spending time with hisgrandson or readingfrom Virgil’s Aeneid. Ishe really WilliamDeverell in disguise?The question is part ofthe appeal for this series.✫Figuring prominentlyin the story isthe intersection ofMain and Keefer inVancouver’sChinatown and a poshcondominium in whatappears to be FalseCreek. Glimpses ofGastown, Maple LeafSquare and GaribaldiIsland, where much of the noveloccurs (or is it really <strong>No</strong>rthPender Island where Deverellmakes his home?) also form partof the landscape of the novel.Kill All the Judges provides adelightful, witty and satisfyingread. And the culprit…well sorry,that’s a secret that must be kept.✫Deverell was born in Reginain 1937 and by 1964 he waspracticing law in British Columbiaand continues to do so. Thetelevision series Street Legalwhich ran for eight seasons onC<strong>BC</strong>-TV was co-created byDeverell, who also wrote its pilotepisode. 0-7710-2721-4James Tyler Irvine is a booksellerin Vancouver.Incidental Music by Carol Matthews (Oolican $18.95)Carol Matthews’ debut collection of fiction,Incidental Music, consists of seven linked storiesabout several couples, mainly Tannis andher husband Stephen. Before she wed, Tannis’s fatherhad told her “There has to be give and take in amarriage. You’ll find the lasting value of a marriageappears not at the beginning but later, towards theend. It is a journey, not a destination.” The couplego on to cope with aging and abandonment, buoyedby the consolations of maturity and a lasting union.Music also connects the lives of Matthews’ characters.Born in Vancouver, Carol Matthews was an instructorand dean at Malaspina University-College, whereshe has continued as an Honorary Research Associate.Her first book, The First Three Years of a Grandmother’sLife (Ryerson, 2006), is a collection of herquarterly columns from Relational Child and YouthCare Practice, written from her perspective as agrandmother, and self-illustrated. She lives on ProtectionIsland, along with her husband, Mike, andVictor, their “poet dog.” 978-088982-234-4S HORTIESSpook Country by William Gibson(Penguin $32.50)William Gibson’s follow-up to hislast novel Pattern Recognition (2003)is Spook Country, which takes place inthe present day and primarily involvesa journalist, a junkie and a troubleshooterfor manufacturers of militarynavigation equipment. 9780399154300Conceit by Mary <strong>No</strong>vik(Doubleday $29.95)Mary <strong>No</strong>vik’s first published novelConceit is about Pegge Donne, thedaughter of the poet John Donne, whoaudaciously rebels against her father’splans for her arranged marriage. Thenovel’s backdrop is London in the 17thcentury. 978-0-385-66205-5The Book of Beasts by Bernice Friesen(Coteau $21)The Book of Beasts by BerniceFriesen of Hornby Island is the comingof age story of Seamus (James)Wilberforce Young, a half-English andhalf-Irish boy who is taken to his mother’sIrish village in 1965 after her mother’slengthy alienation from his family.Recently Seamus’ sister was killed in acar accident and his mother soon decidesto leave her husband. At hisgrandmother’s bidding, James pursuesthe priesthood only to undergo a lossof faith. 978-1-55050-387-1Bernice FriesenThe Silent Raga by Ameen Merchant(D&M $32.95)The Silent Raga, the first novel fromBombay-born Ameen Merchant isabout a Brahmin musical prodigy whoflees an arranged marriage to be witha Muslim Bollywood star. Merchant nowlives in Vancouver. 1-55365-309-2Radiance by Shaena Lambert(Random House $19.95)Shaena Lambert’s first novel Radianceconcerns the relationship betweenan 18-year-old survivor of theHiroshima atomic bomb blast, KeikoKitigawa, who is brought to the UnitedStates in 1952 for charitablereconstructive surgery, and her suburbanhostess, Daisy Lawrence, who hasbeen assigned the task to pry the girl’straumatic story from her to serve thepropaganda needs of the committeethat has sponsored her visit. WithMcCarthyism on the rise and experimentsto develop the hydrogen bombunderway in the U.S., the complex intimacythat arises between the “Hiroshimamaiden” and her host motherhas its own frission born of whisperedconfessions and wrenching betrayals.978-0-769-31150-8Shaena Lambert
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