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Blackstrap Hawco
Fifteen years in the making, this book is the one Canada’s “heavyweight champ of brash and beautiful literature” was meant to write. An epic masterwork about Newfoundland’s working class, Blackstrap Hawco spans more than a century in gorgeous and widely varied prose, reminding us that even when writing about the degradation of identity and language, Harvey does it magnific...more
Hardcover, 848 pages
Published
September 2nd 2008
by Random House Canada
(first published June 19th 2008)
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The blurbs on this book compare the author to James Joyce, William Faulkner and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Pretty heady company but the comparisons are not without merit. This is an epic novel in every sense of the word. It's 829 pages long, spans the years 1886-2007(set mainly in Newfoundland) and is composed of many different writing styles; from straight forward narrative to meandering ramblings that are in fact reminiscent of Joyce.
Harvey is in fact a very daring author who isn't afraid to take...more
Harvey is in fact a very daring author who isn't afraid to take...more
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At over 800 pages it was too long, but pretty good. I wavered at times in my commitment, and more than several pages were just skimmed. A more judicious pruning by the editor was in order. A gardener’s hand needed, to prune so as to encourage overall healthy growth. Otherwise a book grows lanky and uninteresting.
Yet another in the barrage of Newf-lit. The author refers to it as a “transcompositive narrative”. Ie, a blending of facts and fiction, but so thoroughly mixed it is like a suspension o...more
Yet another in the barrage of Newf-lit. The author refers to it as a “transcompositive narrative”. Ie, a blending of facts and fiction, but so thoroughly mixed it is like a suspension o...more
wow!! read town that forgot.....and was blown away by that,so bought this. It takes some reading and I have only just started pt 2 so won't comment further except to say-yes-it can be frustrating and puzzling at times-sometimes i was near tears with the beauty of it,and other times i thought Harvey had to be on something!parts are often written in a completely different style to match each character-v. clever!
there is such a rawness here always tinged with stoicsm and - very occasionally- warmth...more
there is such a rawness here always tinged with stoicsm and - very occasionally- warmth...more
I put this book on my BookCrossing wishlist a few years ago, having read and appreciated this author's earlier book, Inside. Well darned if my BookCrossing buddy, gypsysmom, didn't grant my wish.
Now there's one thing to wanting to read and wanting to have read a book and another to actually reading it, especially if the book is about 830 pages and you're a slothful reader like me. So it sat on my shelf for a few years until guilt set in. When a person gives you a book you profess to want, it's o...more
Now there's one thing to wanting to read and wanting to have read a book and another to actually reading it, especially if the book is about 830 pages and you're a slothful reader like me. So it sat on my shelf for a few years until guilt set in. When a person gives you a book you profess to want, it's o...more
Aug 09, 2011
Kim
added it
I can't say a truly enjoyed this read, although maybe some parts. It took me forever, not one of those books you can just read a few pages of once in a while. And the author's use of his own invention "transcomposite literature" just seemed weird and sensationalistic.
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International bestselling author Kenneth J. Harvey's books are published in Canada, the US, the UK, Russia, Germany, China, Japan, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark and France. He has won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, the Winterset Award, Italy's Libro Del Mare, and has been nominated for the Books in...more
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