Gail Anderson-Dargatz’s evocative first novel–a richly atmospheric coming-of-age tale novel set on a remote Canadian farm in the midst of World War...
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Jan 11, 2009
Bonnie
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This is my all-time favourite book written by Gail. I have read it twice.
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Jul 02, 2011
Pikachu
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This book chronicles the life of an extremely dysfunctional family living on a farm in Canada during World War II. It is narrated by Beth Weeks, a teenage girl, and the daughter of the family. She is pretty but doesn't feel pretty, because of the waif-like standards propagated by the media. Men in the village are starting to treat her differently, though, and some of this attention isn't entirely welcome--especially when it comes from her father.
God, there were so many people hitting o More...
God, there were so many people hitting o More...
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Jul 11, 2011
Burd
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Gail Anderson-Dargatz is one of my favorite authors and this is one of my favorite books. It's one of those stories where you get so involved emotionally with the characters. I just could not put it down. I'm definitely going to read this one again one day.
The story is told by a 15 year old girl named Beth Weeks. She becomes close to a Native Indian girl named Nora. Nora knows a lot about the mysterious Coyote Jack. Nora believes Coyote Jack can change shape and turn you into an ani More...
The story is told by a 15 year old girl named Beth Weeks. She becomes close to a Native Indian girl named Nora. Nora knows a lot about the mysterious Coyote Jack. Nora believes Coyote Jack can change shape and turn you into an ani More...
Jun 08, 2008
Marlene
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Absolutely loved this book. One of the small things that appealed to me was that it followed in time logically, rather than skipping back and forth as so many current storytellers seem to like. I really like the deep character development, and the setting was fascinating. It is set on prairie farm, during WWII. Lots of great detail, suspense, conflict. She is a very descriptive writer with wonderful images. Edging close to being in my top ten of all time.
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Oct 10, 2011
Melissa
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This is no warm, fuzzy Little House on the Prairie type of book. The narrator is Beth Weeks, a fifteen-year-old living on a remote Canadian farm during World War II. The book is filled with one mentally ill or socially outcast person after another, scraping an existence out of the hostile countryside. And throughout is the legend of Coyote told by the local Indians, the supposed cause of everyone’s craziness and evil.
Have you ever seen those nature specials where they show the sea t More...
Have you ever seen those nature specials where they show the sea t More...
Sep 03, 2011
Julia
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A very haunting read full of rape, sexual abuse, bestiality, evil spirits, and incest. It's the kind of book that is so disturbing you can't put it down. There were times where I felt extremely uncomfortable (especially during the bestiality part...Caused me to rethink my opinion about a character I respected at first). But even through all the dark, the book was still able to maintain a sense of optimism. You don't get entirely depressed while reading this. I loved the inclusion of the mother's
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Nov 28, 2010
Jim
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This is not a hard read and I can actually see someone reading the whole thing in a single sitting if they got caught up in it. I’m sure in 1997 (which is when it came out in the UK) many women will have taken it on holiday with them. I probably bought my wife it then. I think classing it as “a good holiday read” would be doing this book a disservice though and if you did read it back then I would recommend getting it out and taking your time this time. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
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Jan 22, 2010
Julia
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I was immediately immersed in the setting and the plotline of this story, told by 15 yr. old Beth growing up on a remote farm during WWII in British Columbia. Her story is painful, and yet full of strong friendships and traditions. It is at times brutally honest. I loved the scrapbook that Beth's mother put together with recipes and other meaningful scraps of minutia. The pages were stained with smells and bits of things that told a story. The relationships that Beth had with her Mother, Da
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Nov 24, 2009
Rei
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Haunting in a way that is uncomfortable, this book is one that you can't stop reading after you've started. The gamut of characters and strange situations are juxtaposed with the normality that underlies farm life to create a situation where the supernatural becomes natural and the normality of life on the farm seems abnormal.
Even though this book isn't graphic, it plays with your mind, drawing you into a web of characters and lives that you start to realise you want no part of. Des More...
Even though this book isn't graphic, it plays with your mind, drawing you into a web of characters and lives that you start to realise you want no part of. Des More...
Apr 11, 2011
Erin
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I had to read this novel for my Canadian literature class in university and was pleasantly surprised. If you like novels with a bit of a Gothic feel then you should love this novel. There are some points in the book that are very odd, but nevertheless still worth reading. I have now read two of Gail Anderson- Dargatz’s novels and The Cure for Death by Lightening is by far my favourite. This novel is a great Canadian coming of age story about a girl trying to understand her place in life, in
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Jul 24, 2011
Nat
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I must have checked this book out thirty times throughout my high-school career. It has this perfect blend of mystery, family dysfunction, coming of age, and just the right amount of supernatural presence. Probably because I read it so many times, I can picture every scene and setting in colourful detail in my head. So much so, that - hokey alert - I feel like I lived it.
If you enjoy this book, I do not recommend reading anything else by Gail Anderson-Dargatz. Especially the pitiful " More...
If you enjoy this book, I do not recommend reading anything else by Gail Anderson-Dargatz. Especially the pitiful " More...
Jun 10, 2011
Tina
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Solid 4/5. This novel has a little bit of everything. It is a period drama, a coming-of-age story, it is a little quirky, emotionally engaging, suspenseful, depressing, hopeful, and also throws you a little mystery. Halfway through this novel I was depressed by it a little as the main character goes through A LOT of stuff - awful stuff - and I needed a break. But I'm very glad I continued on, because the novel picks up again, ending on an open ended but not despairing note. Beth is a wonderful c
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Apr 27, 2010
Julie H.
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This book started off super strong, the writing was tight, the foreshadowing of magical realism meets First Nations oral traditions quite promising, the special status given to women's knowledge was tantalizing, but it petered out partway through and positively limped its way across the finish line. Not only was the coyote/trickster theme not scary, this reader felt totally ripped off by how it was resolved. Even the folks who did short stints at period mental hospitals, specifically the wacky
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Dec 14, 2010
Stephanie
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Amazing may be an overstatement, but I did really enjoy this book. A young woman, coming of age, and facing so many situations on her family farm during WWII, in BC. I loved that it is a Canadian book and that the story was interwoven with First Nations mythology. The story-telling was amazing actually, and one strange aspect was that the protagonist's first name was rarely spoken/written....
Nov 30, 2010
Zoom
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I started this book yesterday and couldn't put it down. It's got that quintessential Canadian thing going on - poetry and myth and character and landscape, all blended together and experienced from the perspective of a teenage girl in a difficult family. I like the way that nobody's perfect in this novel. The characters are all well-developed and richly layered.
Apr 06, 2009
Louise
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The story is told by Beth, 15, who lives on a farm in B.C. during the second world war. This is a story about poverty, prejudice, ignorance, love, hate, feuds, shape-shifting, abuse, legends and more. There is so much going on in this story - too much? - I thought so.
I thought the best thing about this book was the mother's scrapbook, it was full of recipes, remedies, pressed flowers, articles, notes and memories. It was her safe and private place, her life.
I thought the best thing about this book was the mother's scrapbook, it was full of recipes, remedies, pressed flowers, articles, notes and memories. It was her safe and private place, her life.
Oct 12, 2011
Vicki
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The atmosphere of real and imagined menace (but, as it turns out, justifiably imagined), and the verging on gothic harshness of rural and aboriginal life during the Second World War makes parts of The Cure for Death by Lightning almost unbearable to read in the opening chapters. But then the spirit and resilience of 15-year-old Beth Weeks, and her eye for hopeful and redemptive signs in the people, the animals and the world around her win you over, and have you turning the pages with no fear, an
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Jan 19, 2011
Née
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Set in the Canadian wildnerness in a small town, this book should work. The writing is decent but I found the story just never picked up speed. There are some great Canadian novels, but I find this one definitely falls more into the "boring Canadian fiction" category unfortunately.
May 16, 2011
Alexandria
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Haunting. I was pulled head over heels into this story. The characters stayed with me for a long time, and the story really stuck with me. Not my style and it gave me nightmares. (nightmares! like really?!) So conflicted, couldnt put it down, but I hate being shaken like that
May 14, 2011
Jenni
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Powerful! If you love writers like Sherman Alexie or Louise Erdrich, you will fall IN LOVE with the writing in this book. Also, the descriptions of the father's mental illness just crawled under my skin. (...and will be staying there for a very long time...)
Apr 06, 2011
Marcy
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I gave this book to my mother and she always raved how much she loved it. I found it after she passed away and decided to read it. I loved the book - read it slowly and wondered how my mother reacted to some of the scenes. It's a very entertaining read.
Jul 10, 2009
kat
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Heart wrenching and real, I really loved the atmosphere the author created. The prose was beautiful and nauseating at once, when describing the cutting open of a cow's stomach, and evocative and stirring when the dark shadows visited Beth during the night.
Oct 10, 2011
Hannah
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It was very harsh - the story that is - and maybe I just wasn't in the mood for harsh. Set in the wild west of America during WW2 (I think) I just wanted something good to happen, but time after time, bad stuff kept happening, and I didn't see the situation ever really getting any better for the main characters.
Sep 07, 2008
Natasha
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The scrap book was a fantastic image. I could smell the old news paper clippings and I will actually want to try some of those recipes. The index in the back makes it easy too! I also felt that this was a good coming of age story in so far as the protaganist encountered all (and more ) of the main events that brings a young woman into adulthood: Sexual discovery and experimentation and then a decision, a clear break from parental authority into her own thinking, and an aquired sense of responsib
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Aug 05, 2011
Elizabeth
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took me awhile to get into it but it was really, really, really good.
Cousin Stephen, i highly recommend this book to you....farming; baking; and great native canadian characters....i know you will love it!
Cousin Stephen, i highly recommend this book to you....farming; baking; and great native canadian characters....i know you will love it!
Mar 08, 2009
Renate
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this book was sort of good, and sort of really weird. it might be fantasy, actually. i'm not sure. there were hints that it could have been fantasy in the book, but they weren't very strong.
May 27, 2011
Stephanie
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Margaret Laurence meets Carson McCullers: a riveting, beautiful, but gruesome coming-of-age novel where mythology crashes headlong into a brutal, realistic landscape. Quintessentially Canadian, yet striking, original, and memorable.
Aug 23, 2011
Roxy
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I am still not sure why this book gets so much acclaim. it was a hard slog to get through. although the imagery was well done, i didn't find the story line captivating. it seemed over indulgent.
Aug 05, 2009
Sarah
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i'm currently re-reading this novel, which i read for the first time in 1997 or '98. i remember thinking it was utterly (no pun intended) great. not so much anymore...
Jun 21, 2010
Rowena
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The book centers on family dynamics with layers of Native American folklore and mythology. But there's just too much controversial family issues and tragedy thrown together.
