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Inukshuk
by
Gregory Spatz (Goodreads Author)
John Franklin has moved his fifteen-year-old son to the remote northern Canadian town of Houndstitch to make a new life together after his wife, Thomas' mother, left them. Mourning her disappearance, John, a high school English teacher, writes poetry and escapes into an affair, while Thomas withdraws into a fantasy recreation of the infamous Victorian-era arctic expedition...more
Paperback, 220 pages
Published
June 19th 2012
by Bellevue Literary Press
(first published June 12th 2012)
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Inukshuk is a book that is worth reading. On the surface it is a story of teenage angst - a son (Thomas) trying to become the person he wants to be, living with his teacher father (John Franklin), who is coming to terms with separation from his wife and life in a new community. But the book also contains a parallel story from real life of the ill-fated Franklin expedition to find the North-West Passage through the Arctic.
Thomas believes that he is directly descended from the historical Franklin,...more
Thomas believes that he is directly descended from the historical Franklin,...more
Inukshuk is a very creative story of a father and son, each lonely after being essentially abandoned by their wife / mother. The loss of the mother is the epicentre of the story. Thomas, 15 years old and obsessed with the 19th century Franklin expedition of the Arctic, recreates the hardships encountered by the ill-fated sailors through his imagination and by playing with his health. He tries to control what he can, his body and thoughts, amidst many changes beyond the control of a child. This i...more
I’m not sure why I didn’t love this book. The writing is concise and the dialog is excellently crafted. The story is that of a family living in an area that’s completely foreign to me – and largely to them as well – which is a scenario I typically find intriguing. Yet, for some reason, I was underwhelmed with this book.
Maybe it was the angsty teenager, who was so passionate about creating a realistic sea-faring world that he gave himself scurvy and documented his own decline. Perhaps it was the...more
Maybe it was the angsty teenager, who was so passionate about creating a realistic sea-faring world that he gave himself scurvy and documented his own decline. Perhaps it was the...more
Book: Inukshuk
Author: Gregory Spatz
Published: June 2012 by Bellevue Literary Press, 220 pages
Date Read: January 2013
First Line: ”He was on lunch duty when it happened, jacketless because of the Chinook wind and composing in his head a line or two about the color of the sky reflected in the wet school-yard pavement, the ice-rimmed, quickly vanishing puddles, clouds whipping past upside down…sun oil water.”
Genre/Rating: Literary fiction; 1.5/5 teeth falling out of one’s gums due to scurvy (arrr, m...more
Author: Gregory Spatz
Published: June 2012 by Bellevue Literary Press, 220 pages
Date Read: January 2013
First Line: ”He was on lunch duty when it happened, jacketless because of the Chinook wind and composing in his head a line or two about the color of the sky reflected in the wet school-yard pavement, the ice-rimmed, quickly vanishing puddles, clouds whipping past upside down…sun oil water.”
Genre/Rating: Literary fiction; 1.5/5 teeth falling out of one’s gums due to scurvy (arrr, m...more
from publisher
Read 5/29/12 - 6/23/12
3 Stars - Recommended to fans of multiple story lines, Arctic Expeditions, and Vitamin C deficiencies
Pgs: 220
Publisher: Bellevue Press
Every good writer must suffer as those within his story suffer. Become the characters, live as they lived, even if it means avoiding each and every food that contains traces of Vitamin C so you can purposely give yourself scurvy. At least, that is Thomas Franklin's hope.
Thomas - an angsty teenage boy (show me one who isn't) - be...more
Read 5/29/12 - 6/23/12
3 Stars - Recommended to fans of multiple story lines, Arctic Expeditions, and Vitamin C deficiencies
Pgs: 220
Publisher: Bellevue Press
Every good writer must suffer as those within his story suffer. Become the characters, live as they lived, even if it means avoiding each and every food that contains traces of Vitamin C so you can purposely give yourself scurvy. At least, that is Thomas Franklin's hope.
Thomas - an angsty teenage boy (show me one who isn't) - be...more
Interior voices of father - high school teacher - and son - attends same school - plus the boy's added voice of the Franklin expedition to the inland passage by Greenland that got stuck in ice - it comes alive for him as he deprives himself of Vit c and develops scurvy in a suicidal self hatred. Both men have girlfriends who play minor parts. They both come around to growth. Remarkable the the history characters become like the 3rd voice. Read more of Spatz, who teaches at E. WA.
Loved this. The parallel stories of father and son compliment each other without feeling too similar, or too separate. Place in this novel felt like a third main character, and the descriptions were lush and beautiful.
It was an interesting story on how a boy deals with his mother leaving by submersing himself into a fantasy world from the arctic expedition led by British explorer Sir John Franklin. The father deals with things in his own way, and doesn't notice his son getting sick while trying to give himself scurvy so he can relate more to the people in his story. Would he go to far before his dad noticed???
In compliance with FTC guidelines, I am disclosing that I received this book for free through Goodrea...more
In compliance with FTC guidelines, I am disclosing that I received this book for free through Goodrea...more
It was well-written, and the last 60 or so pages grabbed me a lot more than the rest of it, but I suppose it just wasn't my thing.
I'm going to buy some orange juice RIGHT NOW. Ye gods.
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. Like my two stars say - It was ok. To be honest, I skimmed through the pages where the boy is plotting his film. I didn't follow the characters on the ship as well as I should have. It didn't interest me.
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GREGORY SPATZ is the author of the novels INUKSHUK (Bellevue Lit. Press, June 2012) FIDDLER'S DREAM and NO ONE BUT US, and of the story collections HALF AS HAPPY (forthcoming, April 16 2013) and WONDERFUL TRICKS. His stories have appeared in many publications, including The New Yorker, Glimmer Train Stories, Shenandoah, Epoch, Kenyon Review and New England Review. The recipient of a Michener Fello...more
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Jul 11, 2012 05:34pm