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6th out of 10 books
—
19 voters
The Town That Drowned
by
Riel Nason (Goodreads Author)
Living with a weird brother in a small town can be tough enough. Having a spectacular fall through the ice at a skating party and nearly drowning are grounds for embarrassment. But having a vision and narrating it to the assembled crowd solidifies your status as an outcast. What Ruby Carson saw during that fateful day was her entire town buildings and people floating under...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
October 7th 2011
by Goose Lane Editions
(first published September 30th 2011)
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I recently finished reading The Town that Drowned, by Riel Nason, a Red Maple selection for 2013.Through the eyes of a 15 year old girl, Ruby Carson, Nason tells a story set in her own childhood home, New Brunswick and put it together with much effort, however, I thought it was still lacking in some of the trademark qualities of an exceptional book.
The Town that drowned is about [a 15 year old girl] Ruby Carson, in the mid 1960's, in a small town in New Brunswick, and her struggles through hard...more
The Town that drowned is about [a 15 year old girl] Ruby Carson, in the mid 1960's, in a small town in New Brunswick, and her struggles through hard...more
I was recommended this book due my love of YA lit, but this book was so much more than that. This book took a huge idea, the flooding and demise of a small town, and grounded it in small, quiet, well-written characters. Ruby Carson's small town is being flooded due to the creation of a nearby dam. The idea of flood waters and fresh starts is not a new one, but Nason is able to navigate all the literary metaphor and biblical significance with ease. Through Ruby, we meet her high-functioning, auti...more
**I won this book from Goodreads as a First Reads free giveaway**
I loved this book!
Author Riel Nason has a calm, gentle way of telling a story. It reminds me of how on the television show "The Waltons" John Boy the author (as narrator) reflects on the story he is writing of his family's past. Main character teenage Ruby Carson is the voice of this story which is set in the mid 1960's in small town Haventon, New Brunswick. From her point of view, she tells the story of her town's demise. There a...more
I loved this book!
Author Riel Nason has a calm, gentle way of telling a story. It reminds me of how on the television show "The Waltons" John Boy the author (as narrator) reflects on the story he is writing of his family's past. Main character teenage Ruby Carson is the voice of this story which is set in the mid 1960's in small town Haventon, New Brunswick. From her point of view, she tells the story of her town's demise. There a...more
Riel Nason's debut novel is a true maritime gem. It is the coming of age story of Ruby Carson, a young girl struggling to find her identity and to fit in at school in a small rural town along the Saint John River in New Brunswick, Canada. Ruby has always been different than the other girls and is an easy target for her classmates to pick on and tease. To make matters worse, she falls through the ice during a community event and has a vision of her town being covered in water. In the vision she s...more
Must read. Had heard some buzz about this book and got our local library (Central Oregon, U.S.A.) to order it. Now I'll have to buy my own copy. The New Brunswick (Canada) government seizes land to build a dam and hydro-electric project. What happens to the town that will eventually be flooded and the people who live there is told through the eyes of Ruby who is 14 when the story starts. The writing is funny, sweet and, at times poignant.
Ruby Carson is dealing with a lot. She tries to protect her autistic brother from teasing, her best friend has moved away, she's bullied at school for being weird, and she's fallen in love with a boy from out of town. While at a neighbourhood skating event, she falls and hits her head and has a vision that the town and some of her neighbours are underwater. When the government makes an announcement the townspeople will be relocated and the town flooded to make way for a dam, she begins to secret...more
I will start by confessing to a predisposition towards loving anything written by a 'local author.' There's just something comfortable about imagining the story occurring in familiar places - that 'something' that allows the reader to put him/herself into the story, as though we're standing on the sidelines, perhaps just on the other side of the bridge, observing the events. So yes, I was already leaning towards liking this book. I felt it necessary to confess to that so that I could then assure...more
I was lucky enough to receive a pre-release copy of this book from Allen and Unwin in Australia, this is the review I provided to them ...
This is a hauntingly beautiful novel that captured me from its first pages and kept me reading to its end in one sitting.
This is a coming of age novel written from the perspective of self-described outsider, Ruby, who ages from 14 to 16, as the small village of 'Haventon', learns, and responds, to the news that it is to be moved to make way for that, very 196...more
This is a hauntingly beautiful novel that captured me from its first pages and kept me reading to its end in one sitting.
This is a coming of age novel written from the perspective of self-described outsider, Ruby, who ages from 14 to 16, as the small village of 'Haventon', learns, and responds, to the news that it is to be moved to make way for that, very 196...more
I thought it was really cute, sweet and funny. It's about a teenage girl from a small town in New Brunswick that is soon to be flooded when they government builds a new dam. It takes place in the 60s, which is a time period I enjoy reading about, and I also enjoy reading about small town life. Also, her younger brother has autism which is something we should all be reading more about.
When Ruby fell into the nearly frozen St. John River, she had a vision. She saw her entire town under water. Not only that, she saw some of her neighbours swimming by her, and called out to them as they passed. Her vision, and her speaking out while half immersed in the cold water, has caused some difficulties for her with the other girls in her small New Brunswick town. It doesn't help that her brother, Percy, is also different from everyone else, crying at the oddest things, and speaking in a...more
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Introduction
When survey stakes appear around the town of Haventon people assume it is because the Haventon bridge is going to be replaced. Unfortunately that is not the case. A dam is going to be built. Once the dam is being built the town will slowly begin to flood. Everything will eventually be underwater. Everybody in the town is forced to move into a new town that is being built over the next three years. People are very reluctant to le...more
Introduction
When survey stakes appear around the town of Haventon people assume it is because the Haventon bridge is going to be replaced. Unfortunately that is not the case. A dam is going to be built. Once the dam is being built the town will slowly begin to flood. Everything will eventually be underwater. Everybody in the town is forced to move into a new town that is being built over the next three years. People are very reluctant to le...more
The third Red Maple 2013 selection I've read so far, and the most complex. Believable characters, fully fleshed out, and a plot that deals with plenty of real issues.
It's impossible not to sympathize with Ruby for being bullied and ostracized at school, be happy that she finds ways to cope instead of spiraling into depression, admire her for her protectiveness of her younger brother, who has a form of high functioning autism. The fact that she crosses paths with Troy, her first love, gives her...more
It's impossible not to sympathize with Ruby for being bullied and ostracized at school, be happy that she finds ways to cope instead of spiraling into depression, admire her for her protectiveness of her younger brother, who has a form of high functioning autism. The fact that she crosses paths with Troy, her first love, gives her...more
In all our years together, my book club has never been joined by the author of our chosen book. This month, as we met to discuss The Town That Drowned, we were fortunate to have the novel's author, Riel Nason, with us. Riel and one of the members of my book club have known each other since university, so it made sense for Chrissy to choose this book and to invite Riel to join us while we discussed it.
The Town That Drowned is Riel's first novel, but she has honed her skills writing a regular colu...more
The Town That Drowned is Riel's first novel, but she has honed her skills writing a regular colu...more
This was an extremely interesting book which I connected with immediately. I lived in the Mactaquac Dam floodplain a few miles down river from the setting of this book and my childhood community is no more. The writer very accurately captured many of the same feelings and emotions that those of us who lived in that era experienced. It was truly a walk down memory lane. I remember vividly the sadness that I felt the day I came home from school and the trees that I grew up with surrounding my chil...more
This is an amazing story. A very unique and great idea. Definitely a great read.
Not to mention the different types of characters. Percy, Alton Crouse and Mr. Ball.
The quality of the writing wasn't the best. It did take a while to get to the point.
But was a great read.
I'd definitely recommend anyone over the age of 12 to read this book. This book
is a Red Maple nomination and it's a great nomination. I hope this book is read by many more
people. After reading about werewolves and vampires,...more
Not to mention the different types of characters. Percy, Alton Crouse and Mr. Ball.
The quality of the writing wasn't the best. It did take a while to get to the point.
But was a great read.
I'd definitely recommend anyone over the age of 12 to read this book. This book
is a Red Maple nomination and it's a great nomination. I hope this book is read by many more
people. After reading about werewolves and vampires,...more
“The Town That Drowned” by Riel Nason is a work of fiction by a New Brunswick author about a town allowed to be flooded when the Mactaquac dam was built in the 1960s. I love reading Canadian fiction, especially when the story takes place in an area I know and love, the Saint John River Valley! Reading names and locations from “home” makes this book are the more special. It also helps that the story is unique, well written and has characters that are compelling and complicated. The author keeps y...more
There has been quite a buzz about this book so I decided to check it out. To put it bluntly, I think it is one of the best coming of age stories I have read in quite some time. It was well written, it was easy to relate to the characters, and the story line was engaging. I think Nason's strength lies in her abiltity to develop all of her characters even though she uses a first person narrative style. I felt as if I really developed a relationship with the "secondary" characters, especially Ruby'...more
The Town that Drowned is a gentle story by debut Canadian author Riel Nason which was recently recognized by several major national literary prizes.
It's the mid sixties and the narrator is fourteen year old Ruby Carson who lives in a small rural town named Haverton on the banks of the St John River which wends it's way through New Brunswick, Canada. Ruby's best friend has moved away over the summer and she is dreading the return to school. Already a target of derision by her peers because of her...more
Ever since I read Riel Nason’s novel The Town That Drowned, I’ve wanted to grab people by some vulnerable part of their anatomy and say, “Read this. You’re welcome.”
With its wise, strong and vulnerable child narrator, this novel reminds me of To Kill a Mockingbird, especially with its—at varying times—microscopic, telescopic, and panoramic take on a rural community in the 1960s after government orders the flooding of an entire town. Resettlement is a subject I can relate to, but I also feel comp...more
With its wise, strong and vulnerable child narrator, this novel reminds me of To Kill a Mockingbird, especially with its—at varying times—microscopic, telescopic, and panoramic take on a rural community in the 1960s after government orders the flooding of an entire town. Resettlement is a subject I can relate to, but I also feel comp...more
Based on actual events in a small New Brunswick town, Nason captures the voice of a young teen girl in the midst of a community change. An outcast for many reasons- including a near-drowning, a government- father, a beautiful mother, and autistic brother, we follow Ruby as she negotiates her changing situation and watches her community react to events in different ways.
Compelling through the first 75 pages, Nason gives Ruby and Percy beautiful and authentically child-like voices. But I felt like...more
Compelling through the first 75 pages, Nason gives Ruby and Percy beautiful and authentically child-like voices. But I felt like...more
This is a feel-good summer read. It's a coming of age story of a young woman whose life is interrupted by both her best friend moving away and her home town being flooded by a new dam.
It's a story of rather typical life in rural New Brunswick along the Saint John river. The characters and conflict are believable and personal, and we are carried along in a bucolic setting and style of prose. It has a nice balance of dreaminess and tension.
The voice feels perfect. It's simple prose: I did, she sai...more
It's a story of rather typical life in rural New Brunswick along the Saint John river. The characters and conflict are believable and personal, and we are carried along in a bucolic setting and style of prose. It has a nice balance of dreaminess and tension.
The voice feels perfect. It's simple prose: I did, she sai...more
Could not put it down. Characters were so real and author dealt with Aspergers in the characer of Percy and hoarding with the character of Miss Stairs--disorders that were not talked about in the 1960's. Also bullying and being different were other themes in the novel. Bullying occurred within all generations. Loss was the major theme -- loss of home, friends, way of life, land , possessions,loved ones , routines but with these losses came survival and starting again. A recommended read for all...more
Apr 14, 2013
VWrulesChick
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
books-read-in-2013,
canadian,
contemporary,
fiction,
historical-fiction,
ya-reads,
romance,
paperback
Small towns can be hard when you have been branded. Meet Ruby in Haverton, New Brunswick where her (weird) brother has branded her and an incident at the town's skating party will further cast her out from her schoolmates. Change is in the air, but none of the townspeople know what it is until the 4 Horsemen show up. She may have seen the future, but the future is murky like the water of the river that flows past them. Follow Ruby as she partakes in a weird and wonderful adventure where love and...more
It starts off a bit odd and I wasn’t sure what to expect but in the end I loved it. It’s Canadian historical fiction with a tiny touch of the paranormal.
“Set in the 1960s, The Town That Drowned deftly evokes the awkwardness of childhood, the thrill of first love, and the importance of having a place, any place, to call home”.
The struggles of the town as a whole are beautifully reflected in Ruby’s story. The heart of the novel is Ruby’s relationship with her little brother, who appears to be in...more
“Set in the 1960s, The Town That Drowned deftly evokes the awkwardness of childhood, the thrill of first love, and the importance of having a place, any place, to call home”.
The struggles of the town as a whole are beautifully reflected in Ruby’s story. The heart of the novel is Ruby’s relationship with her little brother, who appears to be in...more
This read feels very "Canadian" in its narration and style, but that is said with respect. Was more than pleasantly surprised to find that the narrator's brother appeared to have autism and this added a whole new level of interest to me, as I found it so fascinating to compare how different society was in the 60's compared to now for people with special needs and their relation to the world they live in.
I thought this was a great read on so many levels. I learned a little about the shaping of N...more
I thought this was a great read on so many levels. I learned a little about the shaping of N...more
A wonderful coming of age story set in New Brunswick along the the Saint John river in the late 60's. Ruby and her younger brother Percy are both a little different, each there own way. When the government decides to build a dam along the river the community where they live has to be relocated since it will be flooded by the new dam. Ruby and Percy both deal with this in different ways as do the rest of the community.
This book has never made me feel so proud and so ashamed of the New Brunswick way. The story and the character are strong and moving as we follow a town for two years are their world is changed in many different ways. What made this story especially great for me is that it is a fictionalised tale of a local event that is both sad and uplifting. RECOMMEND HIGHLY!!!
This is a unique story. I really enjoyed the details about characters the author provides to the reader. You really feel you know them. The historical elements of this book are interesting and the concept that a town would be lost due to the construction of a dam is really something to consider. The story is almost so simple that it is complex. I know that sounds strange but read the book, you'll understand.
I thought this book had lots of detail but it was very slow. I don't think some of the events were entirely necessary and that is what made it seem very slow/long. Most of the major events in this story weren't talked about or hadn't happened until the end. I didn't entirely hate this book but so far, it hasn't been my favourite out of all the red maple book that I've read.
This book was right where it should be, the writing and story well-matched to give a young girl's account of human nature's resistance to change. Though rooted as a coming of age story, the fascination comes from her village's preparation and resistance to the coming of change that is inevitable as technology and government planning aim to wipe her village from the map. And the memories, routine, everything you feel to depend on right along with it. As it turns out, the most equipped to deal wit...more
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| My Second Novel (Rationale) | 2 | 8 | Mar 10, 2013 09:53am |
The Town That Drowned is Riel Nason's debut novel. It won the 2012 Commonwealth Book Prize for Canada and Europe and the 2012 Margaret and John Savage First Book Award. It was a finalist for the 2012 Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book Award, and was longlisted for the 2013 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. It is currently a finalist for the 2013 Ontario Library Association Red...more
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