Canada

I think we can stop worrying about the Pulitzer prize for fiction next year here is already a great candidate as Canada is really a fantastic read. It was a bit of the surprise for me because although I read some other books by Richard Ford before I never truly connected with his stories. There was something about his style and his narratives that in my mind made him into such a man's writer, but maybe I need to re-read these books. Canada starts with a sentence 'First I'll tell about the robbery our parents committed. Then about the murders, which happened later." so I knew right away that it was not going to be a story of what happened but how it happened and it is exactly so. The narrator of the story is the now retired Dell who goes back in time to remember the year when as a 15 year old boy he got catapulted into a world of adults. The first part of the book is a pretty minute account of what exactly happened when his two seemingly absolutely ordinary parents came up with a wild idea of robbing the bank. The whole plan was so ridiculous that it is hard not to laugh at times but somehow it also sounded so absolutely believable. It all comes to culmination one Sunday afternoon when Dell and his twin sister watch their parents being lead away by the police. The second part of the book is even better as a few days after the whole unfortunate affair Dell ends up in a safety of a small town in Saskatchewan, Canada. However, looks can be deceiving and everything about that place seems to be not quite what one thinks it to be. He will spend there only a few months but these months will mark him for life in even more profound way. There is something sparse and a bit gritty about this novel but the voice of Dell is fantastic and although the bones of the story are spelt out right at the start I found myself completely in the grip of the masterful story teller. Bravo Mr. Ford, you really got my attention