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The Friends of Meager Fortune
Growing up in a prominent lumber family in the Miramichi, brothers Will and Owen Jameson know little of the world beyond their town and the great men who work the forest, including their father. But as young men, the boys couldn’t be more different — where seventeen-year-old Will is headstrong and rugged, able to hold his own in the woods or in a fight, Owen, three years h...more
Hardcover, 384 pages
Published
September 19th 2006
by Doubleday Canada
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I discovered this book and author when I was in New Brunswick a year or so ago. He's won numerous book awards, so I bought this one and loved it. Here is the description of the novel from Amazon.
"Mary Jameson, the widow of a lumber magnate, hopes to stymie the prophecy she receives from a fortune-teller—that her oldest son will be powerful and her younger son will bring glory upon the family, but they will be the end of the family. When Will Jameson, the brash older brother, su...more
"Mary Jameson, the widow of a lumber magnate, hopes to stymie the prophecy she receives from a fortune-teller—that her oldest son will be powerful and her younger son will bring glory upon the family, but they will be the end of the family. When Will Jameson, the brash older brother, su...more
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There are many things I find hard to express, and one of them is the effect that any novel by David Adams Richards is likely to have on me. He combines an Elizabethan sense of tragedy with a compassionate yet clear-sighted regard for the human soul. He captures all I know to be true of human beings: their self-deluded solipsism, their fierce love, their capacity for awe and spite and terror and regret and adoration and deceit and suffering and pride and beauty.
This novel focuses on a ...more
This novel focuses on a ...more
My first exposure to David Adams Richards was “Mercy Among the Children”. He impressed me immediately as what I think of as a great storyteller. His novels are the kind you want to curl up in front of a fire with and read for hours at a time.
“The Friends of Meager Fortune” elevated my respect for him to another level. It is arguably an epic work. He vividly and thoughtfully chronicles the harsh world of the New Brunswick lumber trade in the days when men were men and danger was the...more
“The Friends of Meager Fortune” elevated my respect for him to another level. It is arguably an epic work. He vividly and thoughtfully chronicles the harsh world of the New Brunswick lumber trade in the days when men were men and danger was the...more
This is the story of very brave, hardworking, death-defying men who were the lumbermen in Canada when all the work was done by men with horses and wooden sleds. It is a story with many interesting characters, women and men. And as in most stories there is some injustice that happens. I really liked this book and the author is fast becoming one of my favorites.
There are few writers I admire as much as I do David Adams Richards. His books are deeply morale and compassionate. His prose has echoes and rhythms you rarely see these days -- there is something of the King James version of the Bible in his language. I read a few reviews that panned the book because the reviewer found the language 'difficult'. Good Lord, is that what we've come to? So sad. I, for one, fell into every sentence, in this book as I have in the other books of Richards I've rea...more
a good story to illuminate the history of the area. I"m from that area and enjoyed the descriptions of the people and their relationships
a less depressing read from DAR, more fable-like.
One of his best.
I live in New Brunswick and enjoyed the experience of working with draft horses in the woods. you can learn a lot about effective teamwork by working with a team of work-horses. This book deals with the evolution of the logging industy in our area as clear cutting with massive tree-harvesters replaces the selective cutting of working with horses. It was hard and dangerous work but people did it to survive. A interesting part of our history
I haven't finished this book, and I doubt that I will. My wife picked it up cheap in a book shop that sells remainders, and read it. She said that she found the style difficult, and that she had to read each sentence twice.
It's about a logging family in eastern Canada before and after the Second World War, and small town gossip and rumours.
I picked it up for bedtime reading when I was too tired to read anything more demanding and found it too demanding. I too found I wa...more
It's about a logging family in eastern Canada before and after the Second World War, and small town gossip and rumours.
I picked it up for bedtime reading when I was too tired to read anything more demanding and found it too demanding. I too found I wa...more
So far, definitely an interesting novel. I like it at this point and am hooked to see the rest unfold. In the first 22 pages, three deaths occurred, definitely leaving me astounded and curious. Owen is a character I find compelling and realistic, as I did Will Jameson. There seems to be a mystery behind Mary to me that I have yet to unfold. What is to happen is quite another mystery to me as well. Great start considering so many books are predictable these days. (more to add once I've read more)...more
David Adams Richards(except for the name which I can never remember which of the 3 comes first) is one of my favourite authors. This is an excellent book, perhaps not quite as dark as some of the others and with a hint of John Irving in it. Worth the time.
Liked this book for the portrayal of the men in the New Brunswick lumber camps in the 50's (after the second world war anyways) when horses were still being used. Richards portrayal of people, though, is scary with their truth built on the backs of rumours.
An excellent read! It made me think and to evaluate. Be prepared as your ideas of understanding and compassion may be altered somewhat.
An absolutely powerful book, both for the story it portrays and for the elegance of the writing. A true masterpiece
Got too depressing, hard to get into, couldn't motivate myself to keep reading it.
Epic tree-cutting. High drama, poetics and a million little stories.
So far...kinda slow
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David Adams Richards (born 17 October 1950) is a Canadian novelist, essayist, screenwriter and poet.
Born in Newcastle, New Brunswick, Richards left St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, one course shy of completing a B.A. Richards has been a writer-in-residence at various universities and colleges across Canada, including the University of New Brunswick.
Richa...more
More about David Adams Richards...
Born in Newcastle, New Brunswick, Richards left St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, one course shy of completing a B.A. Richards has been a writer-in-residence at various universities and colleges across Canada, including the University of New Brunswick.
Richa...more
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