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Natural Order

by Brian Francis (Goodreads Author)

4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 · rating details · 272 ratings · 70 reviews

“It’s beautiful,” I said, even though it wasn’t my style. It was cut glass and silver. Something a movie star might wear. Is this what my boy thought of me? I wondered as he fastened it around my neck. He called me Elizabeth Taylor and I laughed and laughed. I wore that necklace throughout the rest of the day. In spite of its garishness, I was surprised by how I felt: glam...more “It’s beautiful,” I said, even though it wasn’t my style. It was cut glass and silver. Something a movie star might wear. Is this what my boy thought of me? I wondered as he fastened it around my neck. He called me Elizabeth Taylor and I laughed and laughed. I wore that necklace throughout the rest of the day. In spite of its garishness, I was surprised by how I felt: glamourous, special. I was out of my element amidst my kitchen cupboards and self-hemmed curtains. I almost believed in a version of myself that had long since faded away.
--From Natural Order by Brian Francis

Joyce Sparks has lived the whole of her 86 years in the small community of Balsden, Ontario. “There isn’t anything on earth you can’t find your own backyard,” her mother used to say, and Joyce has structured her life accordingly. Today, she occupies a bed in what she knows will be her final home, a shared room at Chestnut Park Nursing Home where she contemplates the bland streetscape through her window and tries not to be too gruff with the nurses.

This is not at all how Joyce expected her life to turn out. As a girl, she’d allowed herself to imagine a future of adventure in the arms of her friend Freddy Pender, whose chin bore a Kirk Douglas cleft and who danced the cha-cha divinely. Though troubled by the whispered assertions of her sister and friends that he was “fruity,” Joyce adored Freddy for all that was un-Balsden in his flamboyant ways. When Freddy led the homecoming parade down the main street , his expertly twirled baton and outrageous white suit gleaming in the sun, Joyce fell head over heels in unrequited love.

Years later, after Freddy had left Balsden for an acting career in New York, Joyce married Charlie, a kind and reserved man who could hardly be less like Freddy. They married with little fanfare and she bore one son, John. Though she did love Charlie, Joyce often caught herself thinking about Freddy, buying Hollywood gossip magazines in hopes of catching a glimpse of his face. Meanwhile, she was growing increasingly alarmed about John’s preference for dolls and kitchen sets. She concealed the mounting signs that John was not a “normal” boy, even buying him a coveted doll if he promised to keep it a secret from Charlie.

News of Freddy finally arrived, and it was horrifying: he had killed himself, throwing himself into the sea from a cruise ship. “A mother always knows when something isn’t right with her son,” was Mrs. Pender’s steely utterance when Joyce paid her respects, cryptically alleging that Freddy’s homosexuality had led to his destruction. That night, Joyce threatened to take away John’s doll if he did not join the softball team. Convinced she had to protect John from himself, she set her small family on a narrow path bounded by secrecy and shame, which ultimately led to unimaginable loss.

Today, as her life ebbs away at Chestnut Park, Joyce ponders the terrible choices she made as a mother and wife and doubts that she can be forgiven, or that she deserves to be. Then a young nursing home volunteer named Timothy appears, so much like her long lost John. Might there be some grace ahead in Joyce’s life after all?

Voiced by an unforgettable and heartbreakingly flawed narrator, Natural Order is a masterpiece of empathy, a wry and tender depiction of the end-of-life remembrances and reconciliations that one might undertake when there is nothing more to lose, and no time to waste.(less)

Hardcover, 384 pages

Published August 23rd 2011 by Doubleday Canada (first published August 2011)

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Jan 12, 2013 Sooz rated it 3 of 5 stars

so right from the beginning of this book there is something that doesn't sit right. i can't put my finger on it. i do not know if it is something personal -or- if it is inherent in the story or the writing style. i know i have my own bias against the elderly. AND i am not a mother. does that matter? does that impact how engaging this story is to the reader? i also know i find it very curious that a young male should write first person singular - in the voice of an old woman. does it not sit righ...more so right from the beginning of this book there is something that doesn't sit right. i can't put my finger on it. i do not know if it is something personal -or- if it is inherent in the story or the writing style. i know i have my own bias against the elderly. AND i am not a mother. does that matter? does that impact how engaging this story is to the reader? i also know i find it very curious that a young male should write first person singular - in the voice of an old woman. does it not sit right because he can't quite pull it off? or is it just me? he certainly has made fans of a lot of goodread reviewers.

the question sticks with me. why does the author want to tell this story first person singular?

i persist because this was a pick by my bookclub. i don't think i would have chosen it to read on my own, and i am not sure if i would have continued reading even if i had picked it up. that said, it did grow on me. the author did engage me. there are bits i like quite a bit.

ie: the mythical quality of Freds' father's death. and how Fred's mom makes up a story (another myth) regarding the death of her son.

ie: this bit of conversation:
'most straight men don't make apple-shaped cookies for old ladies'
'yeah why is that'
'i don't know. maybe they don't see the value in it'.

three is a bit too about love wherein Joyce says her son was loved desperately by both his father and her. really? was that love? maybe the key is the word desperately. maybe desperate love can't help but be selfish. controlling. a doomed to fail love. i am keen to discuss this with my book club. we are all women -all about the same age and share economic and social similarities. the one big difference is that i am the only one who is not a mother.

oh ...and i really really like the ending. a lot. endings are huge for me. if a mediocre book has a really good ending, it's value raises considerable in my eyes ... and vice versa. a book i have enjoyed all the way along is greatly diminished in my eyes if the author is not able to give me an ending that feels satisfying. Natural Order has an ending that definitely felt satisfying to me.

(less)

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Jan 04, 2013 Vikki VanSickle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction, canadian, women-s-interest

This was a lovely, stirring read about an old woman reflecting on her life, particularly her relationship with her son, who was gay and died young of AIDS, two things she is still coming to terms with. Brian Francis does an excellent job getting into the head of Joyce, who is a complex character who struggles between what she feels is right and the mores of the time (1950s-60s). He creates a sympathetic portrayal of how a woman of this era may possibly struggle with her son's sexual identity.

I a...more

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Nov 18, 2012 Shonna Froebel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: canadian

This is a touching novel that explores a woman's feelings around motherhood, acceptance and regret. Joyce is in her eighties and living in a seniors' care facility. The appearance of a young man as a volunteer causes her to dig into her memories and think about the past. She thinks about the young man she had a crush on as a teenager and the sad end to his life she was told. She thinks about her own son, who died years ago, and her relationship with him. She thinks of the various times in their...more

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Apr 04, 2012 Jenny Gayfer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Natural Order was a solid read. It pulled on all my emotions and captured my attention. It very much brought to mind the two years that my Mom was in extended care. It was bang on in the portrayal of daily life. The book gave me a vast picture of a persons entire life and reminded me that we are not impervious to age - it is coming to us all, and it is here already for some of those I love. It's a reminder that the person on the inside does not change, even though on the outside life ages them....more

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Feb 08, 2012 Neil Mudde rated it 5 of 5 stars

Absolutely fantastic story, even though the old age factor got to me at times, no doubt due to the fact I just turned 72, and have worked in a long term care home for over 20 years, and today I volunteer in one.
The story is about the Mothers, specifically the Mother of John, the length she went through to make believe things were not as they really were, John was a gay man,her husband Charlie who truly loved his son, was lied to by her constantly, especially in the end when John is dying of aids...more

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Jan 21, 2012 Teena in Toronto rated it 3 of 5 stars

I liked the writing style of this book. It was quick and drew me into the story.

I wasn't crazy about the way the story bounced around, though, about Joyce's life. I don't mind flashbacks but this was all over the place with different events in her life. Sometimes it wasn't obvious right away at what point in her life we're at.

Joyce Sparks isn't likeable at all. Just out of high school and living in a small town in Ontario, she falls in love with Freddy and is blind to the fact that he is gay. Af...more

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Nov 21, 2011 Christine rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reads

Joyce Sparks lives at Chestnut Park Nursing home. She is finding it more and more to difficult to get around each day and she knows this will be the last place she lives. When Timothy, the new male volunteer, shows up in her room trying to engage her in social activities, or at the very least, in a conversation she puts up her usual “grumpy old lady” barrier. She can’t maintain it though because, darn it all, he bears such a striking resemblance to her first love, Freddy Pender.

Everyone in the s...more

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Sep 11, 2011 Louise rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: literature-fiction

Joyce Sparks lived with her husband, Charles, and son, John, in Balsden, Ontario, Canada, a small town of 40,000 people. Now 86 years old, Joyce resides at the Chestnut Park nursing home and shares a room with 82 year old Ruth Schueller. Ruth can’t communicate with Joyce because she is mute. Marianne, Joyce’s niece takes care of all her finances. Marianne is Helen’s daughter, who was Joyce’s sister.

Joyce met her husband, Charlie, at the dance pavilion one summer night. He was shy and she was lon...more Joyce Sparks lived with her husband, Charles, and son, John, in Balsden, Ontario, Canada, a small town of 40,000 people. Now 86 years old, Joyce resides at the Chestnut Park nursing home and shares a room with 82 year old Ruth Schueller. Ruth can’t communicate with Joyce because she is mute. Marianne, Joyce’s niece takes care of all her finances. Marianne is Helen’s daughter, who was Joyce’s sister.

Joyce met her husband, Charlie, at the dance pavilion one summer night. He was shy and she was lonely. They married 6 months later but a few months into the marriage Joyce began to wonder what they had in common. Joyce was still fixated on her pre-marriage friend Freddy Pender who everyone said was “fruity”. However, Joyce and Charlie stayed together and had their son, John.

John was an odd boy from the beginning and when in kindergarten his teacher, Miss Robinson, approached Joyce. She pointed out that she was “concerned” because John liked to play with dolls, the kitchen set, and lined up with the girls to be chased by the boys when playing tag. Joyce does not dare tell Charlie any of this. Did Joyce ever suspect that her own son might be a homosexual? You bet she did but chose instead to keep the Curly Q Sue doll she bought him hidden from Charlie, her family and friends, only allowing John to play with her when Charlie was at work.

Joyce tried all of John’s life to demand privacy and secrecy. Even from her own husband she hid his homosexuality. But in her own mind, she only focused on him being gay and never really expanded her mind about John in other ways. Admitting to anyone, even herself that John died of AIDS was an impossibility. She allowed a 4-letter word to carry so much weight.

I loved this book and read it in one sitting. All the characters were well-developed and everyone seemed “real”, to be human. From her sister, Helen, to her friend, Fern and Mr. Sparrow, and to Freddy and Walter, they all had their own voice and a real uniqueness about them.

Having said all that, I was really disappointed with the ending of the book. First, I didn’t expect the story to end where it did and secondly, it ended very abruptly. I felt a bit ripped off at the end, but I suppose you could always imagine in your mind your own ending. A great book overall and I would highly recommend it to anyone, as I really did love it.

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Feb 02, 2013 Lucinda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: canadian, contemporary-fiction

Brian Francis' novel is a careful and compassionate examination of what happens when love and intolerance are combined. Regret, fear, frustration, self-deception, pain... It is almost too difficult to understand the struggles of this mother (in the 1950s to the 1980s) whose son is gay. I say almost because there is still a lot of bigotry and fear against/ toward gay and lesbian people (not to mention queer or transgendered) today. I think it has been said that it is still one of the biggest insu...more

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Jun 24, 2012 Alexandra rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

A librarian personally (and very enthusiastically) recommended this book to me, as she had just finished reading it herself. After reading the book, I can see why she over-rode the holds to give it to me!

Natural Order centres on the life of Joyce Sparks, a woman who had come of age in small-town Ontario during the 1950s and is living out the end in a retirement home. The book explores her complex relationships with the loves in her life: her high school crush and her son, respectively-- as well...more

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Sep 02, 2011 Kathy Mcdonald rated it 4 of 5 stars

Natural Order is the story of Joyce Sparks who lives in Balsden Ontario for her entire life. Joyce's story is compelling, very readable but also sad. And it speaks of the time that she lived in. Her teenage crush Freddy Pender wears a white suit at the head of the cheerleaders in the homecoming parade - he leaves town soon after that; even his mother cannot accept who he is. Joyce soon comes to hear that Freddy has died when he is swept off the bridge of the cruise ship he is working for. And hi...more

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Jul 02, 2011 Miranda rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

I won an arc of this book in a goodreads.com first reads giveaway.

3.5 stars

I really loved this story. It was sad and honest and even had a few parts that made me laugh.

Natural Order is about a mother and her son, their secrets, and the “natural order” of life. Although the secret isn’t said outright from the start, the reader understands what it is early on in the story. It’s the way it is handled and the different actions of the various characters that make this story. The story was very belie...more

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Jul 07, 2011 Brenna rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, july-reads, arc, random-house

Summary: Natural Order begins with Joyce in a nursing home. She's elderly and reflecting back on her life, and in particular the life of her only son who died in his 30s. The book is a collection of memories which stand out to her, and how they impacted her as she grew up.

This book makes you think, and it definitely makes you feel. It's about relationships and how we view other people, as well as how we treat them. It's about how we learn to deal with life and its difficulties.

The story was he...more

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Feb 14, 2012 Marilyn rated it 5 of 5 stars

I just simply loved this book! It explored the relationship between a mother and her son; the pain that both parties felt as it became clear that the son was homosexual and how each of them dealt with this reality. The mother tries so hard to shield her son and husband from the truth yet in doing this harms the husband/son relationship. The son, in turn, feels that he cannot come out of the closet to his parents and in turn, robs himself of his relationship with his parents. So, in essence, ever...more

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Sep 24, 2012 Liz Leroux added it

This book is a treasure, sad at times but able to touch the reader with deep emotion. I really enjoyed the insightful character development and the descriptive writing style. Highly recommend it.

1 like · like · see review

Sep 05, 2011 Alexis rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

A beautiful book that I keep thinking about. This is quite different from "Fruit", which was a humourous first novel. This book is a story about an 86 year old woman and her relationship with gay men. The main character, Joyce, is in a nursing home and is remembering her life. She tells many stories about a childhood crush, and about her own relationship with her son, who was gay. Joyce struggles to accept her son for who he is.

The author did a good job of showing the tension inside his main cha...more

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Jan 05, 2012 Ashley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Joyce sparks is a old lady now. Living in a home re-living her regrets everyday in her head. Joyce sparks tried to control every apsect of her life and in the end lost it all. When an issue could not be confronted it was ignored and shoved away under a rug. What would people think of her and her son if they only new.

This book is a good read. Definatly something I would pick up but not something I would usually keep reading. Its full of a few more disappointments then I would have expected. It j...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Mauberley added it

A good story about a largely dislikable mother and wife. Joyce Sparks refuses to believe that her beloved son is gay. Moroeover, she cannot imagine that her husband is capable of loving that son. Joyce's cold-heartedness ultimately ruins her life and the last part of the novel describes an extraordinarily selfish quest for forgiveness and redemption. The mother, Joyce Sparks, is very well drawn but the other characters are sadly little more than shadows. I so wish we could have learned more abou...more

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Jan 16, 2012 Chantale rated it 3 of 5 stars

Humorous and heartbreaking. Dragged a little in spots. Joyce is a headstrong mother who tries to protect her son and ends up smothering him. She is looking back on her life and regrets how it turned out. Throughout the book she denies and then begins to recognize and come to terms with who her son really was. The story is juxtaposed between memories of the past and the present day.

Recommend A Better Mother by Jen Sookfong Lee which also partly takes place during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980's a...more

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Sep 07, 2011 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: beautiful-and-heartbreaking, queer, canadian

While not as good as Fruit, Natural Order proves Brian Francis was no one hit wonder. An absolutely fantastic read. Joyce Sparks is a fascinating character. Any queer person knows someone like this, and it was remarkable to see life from their point of view. It is told in a non-linear format, set during the entire life span of Mrs. Sparks. More specifically it deals with her interactions with three gay men; her first crush, her son, and a volunteer in her nursing home. Her reactions to these men...more

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Oct 21, 2011 Dee at EditorialEyes rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: best-of-2011, literary-fiction, reviewed-on-my-blog, autographed, canlit

~*~
For this review and others, visit the EditorialEyes Blog.
~*~
4 out 5

Let’s get this out of the way at the beginning of the review: Natural Order by Brian Francis is really sad. Its sadness is worth sinking into, however; it’s a nuanced and multilayered exploration of loss, of aging, of the sins we commit against those we love the most, and of human failings in all their multifarious abundance.

Told from the perspective of octogenarian Joyce Sparks, the story unfolds almost exclusively in the sma...more ~*~
For this review and others, visit the EditorialEyes Blog.
~*~
4 out 5

Let’s get this out of the way at the beginning of the review: Natural Order by Brian Francis is really sad. Its sadness is worth sinking into, however; it’s a nuanced and multilayered exploration of loss, of aging, of the sins we commit against those we love the most, and of human failings in all their multifarious abundance.

Told from the perspective of octogenarian Joyce Sparks, the story unfolds almost exclusively in the small, single-industry town of Balsden, Ontario. Joyce is in a nursing home, commentating tartly on her fellow ‘inmates,’ the staff, and her surroundings. Her voice is one of the most authentic I’ve read in a long time—she’s a snappish, sharp old woman, more brittle than frail. Both her son and her husband are dead, and she doesn’t seem to have any friends. The only person who visits her is a young gay man who volunteers at the home and calls forth some of Joyce’s reminiscences. She could be my own grandmother when she refers to “the Filipina nurse” or the woman across the table who dribbles food down her front at each meal. She’s weak physically, bright mentally, but crippled by the guilt she’s been dragging around with her for most of her adult life.

Joyce tells us her story across several different timelines, and Brian Francis shifts us effortlessly between her soda-jerk era teenaged years, her motherhood, and the years between the deaths of her son and her husband, and her time in the nursing home. She touches on her infatuation with Freddy, her obviously gay schoolmate whose flamboyance and “differences” are whispered about and hushed up. Joyce sees him as an escape artist, someone not afraid to be un-Balsden. His suicide after leaving town and falling in with a “bad crowd” in Hollywood is greeted as almost inevitable by the people back home. Joyce’s own naiveté about Freddy—he couldn’t have been that way, things might have been different if only he had chosen her—follows her throughout her life and her dealings with her own son. Joyce is left in Balsden, married to a man she chooses out of loneliness, visiting Freddy’s mother out of a bizarre sense of responsibility, and becoming increasingly frightened yet stubbornly unseeing of her small son’s “tendencies.” Along the way, we also meet her bossy older sister Helen and her best friend for life Fern, her across-the-street neighbour Mr. Sparrow, and her stalwart, silently suffering husband Charlie. Each character is authentic and three-dimensional. Each has his or her own fears and beliefs and heartaches.

These aren’t flashbacks but remembrances. Joyce is piecing together her own fractured life, living through her guilt and torn between what-ifs and inevitabilities. What if she had escaped Balsden? What if she hadn’t been influenced by Freddy’s suicide? Would she have been less hard on her son? Would she have allowed him to grow up to be who he wanted to be, without the terrifying desire to “protect” him? We don’t know, and neither does Joyce, because she can’t see it happening any other way. This is her story and this is how it was. She couldn’t have reacted differently in any of these situations, because how else could she have reacted?

She’s a reliable narrator to a fault: Francis has crafted her flaws flawlessly. This is a woman who drags the past around with her like a deadened limb. She can barely move for the guilt she feels, for the remorse toward her son, her husband, what could have been. Joyce cleaves to the idea that she is alone because she deserves to be, because she drove everyone else away.

And this is a gutsy move: in many ways Joyce is supremely unlikeable. Even as you’re reading through her understanding that what she did caused all of the destruction in her life, you want to grab her by her shoulders and shake her. Her unenlightened views on homosexuality, her meddlesome nature (no matter how well intentioned), and her ability to drive away and segregate her son, whom she adores and alienates by equal measures, are enough to make you scream. She is so 1950s small town. Her dry date squares, her inability to tell her kindly older neighbor that she can never eat all of the fresh vegetables he gives her, her stubborn refusal to see that homosexuality isn’t an abnormality…these traits are utterly true to life and utterly frustrating. She can have no redemption. Her loneliness is of her own making.

Where the novel falls down a bit is in this mire of guilt. It can become, if not tiresome, then certainly tiring. Every page is Joyce telling us what a terrible mother and wife she’s been. Metaphors and language are at times a bit heavy-handed as well. The parallels between Freddy and his mother and Joyce and her son are a bit too pat, a bit too coincidental. If their stories were told and no names were given, you wouldn’t know which of the two women were being described, and this takes away from the rest of the well-crafted realism.

Where the novel succeeds, beyond its exploration of the difficulties of being gay for most of the twentieth century, and especially in a small town, is in its portrayal of the very elderly. Freddy’s mother in her nineties, and then a few decades later Joyce in her 80s, and everything they have to deal with, are portrayed in a heartbreaking and alarming way. The rest of Joyce’s life has whooshed by, but she’s stuck in an interminable morass of days in the last home she’ll ever know, where the staff care only because they are paid to, the food is terrible, and the activities are banal. As the baby boomers age, and write about aging parents and growing older themselves, we’re going to see more and more of this type of fiction. Joan Barfoot’s Exit Lines and Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants explore similar themes.

Brian Francis’ Joyce is the most successful of any of these narrators. She is such a believable, perfectly rendered character, and her world of the nursing home is at once tragic and mundane. Joyce’s is a sad, no-nonsense life, one that will break your heart but that is absolutely worth visiting.(less)

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Jan 07, 2012 Gavin Stephenson-Jackman rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone

This is an excellent read.

by Canadian author Brian Francis chronicles a mother's acceptance of her late, gay, son through a series of flash backs through their lives brought back to her when a volunteer, Timothy, starts to visit her in her nursing home.

The writing style draws you into the story and the time frames easily. There are some bits of humour that really hit home for me as they perfectly describe people in my own life. I fully understand Joyce's reluctance to acknowledge her son's h...more

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Apr 28, 2012 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

I won an arc of this book in a goodreads.com first reads giveaway.

I loved this book. It is a sad story but told in a manner that kept me wanting to know more. The story switches from a few stages in Joyce's life, from being an adolescent to her last breath. She was a mother unable to accept her son's sexual preference until her last years. As a reader I was able to feel Joyce's constant internal battle between being a loving mother and rejecting him. She is so afraid that her son or her family...more

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Oct 11, 2012 Pat added it

Wow! What an amazing novel. This author is telling the story from an elderly woman's view point...spans 70 years of her life from a young teenager in love with a "different" boy to her life as wife and mother of her own 'different" son. Timeless story deals with the many traditions we have and hold onto in a changing world. You really get a feel for what it's like to be a senior living alone and also in a nursing home. This story will stay with me for a long time to come.

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Jun 26, 2012 Leah Turner rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: toronto-book-club

Very well-written, great pace. Being a young woman, I wasn't sure I could connect with an elderly woman or appreciate the emotion behind her relationship with her son, but Francis does a wonderful job of making the characters and their emotions relatable. The flashbacks to the different phases of Joyce and John's lives are the key here to allowing readers at all life-stages connect with the characters.

Parts of it have the intensity and likeness of a mystery story without the typical elements of...more

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Oct 01, 2011 Janet Joy rated it 4 of 5 stars

I grew up in a small town. I know these characters so well. Brian Francis has captured their voices perfectly.
Natural Order is one of those books that makes you laugh out loud and then tears your heart out and reduces you to weeping while you desperately try to find a kleenex to mop up the copious amounts of tears. I LOVE this kind of book and I loved the emotional journey it provided.

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Mar 20, 2012 Carole rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2012

Brian Francis does a great job of describing the difficulties parents can have in accepting their children as they are. He writes about regret and redemption in a way that is sad but uplifting at the same time. The narrative structure of an elderly woman looking back on her life is reminiscent of Margaret Laurence's "The Stone Angel" and it works very effectively in "The Natural Order" as well.

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Sep 06, 2012 Ninian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Well writing, if sometimes frustrating. Actually, the book itself is not frustrating, but the main character frustrated me with her inability to say what she was thinking and feeling and her rejection of the people who cared for her the most! Very sad and difficult relationship between mother and son. It made me appreciate the open and caring relationships I have with my sons.

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Nov 04, 2011 Marnie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. Joyce Sparks, who is now 86, reflects on her relationship with her son John, who is gay. By refusing to acknowledge his sexual orientation she somehow hopes things will be okay and the “Natural Order” will prevail. The book also provides insights into how harshly gays were viewed in the 1980s.

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May 21, 2012 Charlene rated it 4 of 5 stars

A good book but not very memorable. The story is about a mother near the end of her life looking back on her relationship with her son and the relationships of other mothers had with theirs. The story jumped time lines often but did it very well. Not a book that can be put down for long.

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About Brian Francis

Brian Francis’ second novel, Natural Order, was published in hardcover by Doubleday Canada in 2011. The paperback was released in August, 2012.

Natural Order made Best Books of 2011 lists for the Toronto Star, Kobo Books and The Georgia Straight. The novel was short-listed for the Ontario Library Association's 2012 Evergreen Award and 2012 CBC Bookie Awards.

Natural Order tells the story of Joyce Sp...more

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Fruit: A Novel About a Boy and His Nipples

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Quotes from Natural Order

“I can't believe she's lived this long. God must be avoiding her.” — 8 people liked it

“They're horrible little creatures. All snot and smelly feet and pestering questions."

"Then why did you go into teaching?"

"It was either that or sit at home with Mother all day. I picked the lesser of two evils.” — 2 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11290015-natural-order?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320482873l/11290015.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11290015-natural-order?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Natural Order by Brian Francis[/url]

Natural Order

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