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The Cure For Death By Lightning

by Gail Anderson-Dargatz (Goodreads Author)

3.64 of 5 stars 3.64 · rating details · 2,215 ratings · 111 reviews

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 II–reveals an assured and original voice.

The Cure for Death by Lightning is the story of Beth Weeks, a young girl whose life is thrown into turmoil by her abusive father, a mysterious stalker, and her own awakening sexuality. B...more

Published (first published 1996)

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Jan 11, 2009 Bonnie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed-books, recommended, canadian-author

This is my all-time favourite book written by Gail. I have read it twice.

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May 21, 2013 Nenia Campbell rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: x-1990s, ya-baby-ya, magic-realism, heroine-is-pretty-decent, rape-n-violence, family-secrets, historical

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 on poor Bet...more 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 on poor Beth that I started to cringe a little whenever someone made an advance on her. She almost gets raped several times, a man offers to "have fun" with her for money, her gal pal is getting a little too pal-y, and the two hired hands are competing for her affection. Plus, her dad, and several of the other dirty old men in the village are giving her the eye, which was just too disgusting for words. By the time the Swede came along, I was beginning to fear that HE was going to jump on the "We Want To Rape Beth" train. I'm glad he didn't. Ugh.

The part with her getting hit by lightning was interesting. I felt like it added an element of magic-realism to the story. Beth's "dead" lightning arm helped her express herself to others, doing the things she always wanted to do but couldn't quite gather the courage to do (like slapping well-deserving people in the face, etc.); it was as if she could finally stand up to herself for the first time. That was kind of neat.

I definitely think that this is the most messed-up book I've read since "The Thirteenth Tale." I feel like the sexual abuse shtick is overplayed in historical fiction, but at least this one isn't poorly-written and doesn't go nuts with details. I liked the mother's diary, though it was a lot like the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Like Water for Chocolate, in the sense that it was a scrapbook of the mother's life filled with little scraps of memories and slips of recipes. Some of them sounded really tasty. I'm not sure I'd read it again, but I sure don't regret reading. If incest and pedophilia and lesbianism and premature sexual awakenings bother you then this book probably isn't for you.(less)

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Apr 24, 2012 Shannon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: can-lit

I re-read this novel as part of my current quest to discover some new offerings to place on my grade 11 independent study reading list next semester. While I won't be adding it to their list (and I'll explain why momentarily), it was every bit as enjoyable the second time around. The novel unfolds on a family farm in the remote Turtle Valley, BC, in the 1940's. The narrator is 15-year-old Beth Weeks, whose personal coming-of-age struggles are juxtaposed against several bizarre and frightening oc...more I re-read this novel as part of my current quest to discover some new offerings to place on my grade 11 independent study reading list next semester. While I won't be adding it to their list (and I'll explain why momentarily), it was every bit as enjoyable the second time around. The novel unfolds on a family farm in the remote Turtle Valley, BC, in the 1940's. The narrator is 15-year-old Beth Weeks, whose personal coming-of-age struggles are juxtaposed against several bizarre and frightening occurrences in her community: the grisly death of her classmate, which is dubiously blamed on a bear; the appearance of strange portents in the natural world, which are shrugged off by all witnesses; and the increasingly erratic and violent behaviour among the men in the community, including Beth's father. His unpredictable moods (blamed on a head injury he suffered during the Great War)leave the entire family - including the two hired hands - walking on eggshells daily. It soon becomes clear to the reader (with the help of some wonderful aboriginal characters who live on the nearby reservation) that what is plaguing the community is not human: the Trickster, Coyote has returned to Turtle Valley and is wreaking havoc in the community. How can he be stopped, when almost everyone - whites and aboriginals - have forgotten the old ways and no longer believe in 'ghost stories'? I absolutely loved Gail Anderson-Dargatz's rich writing style - just turn to page 158 to see how powerful her figurative language can be. (I was lucky enough to hear the author read this passage aloud a few years ago - it left most of the women in the audience quite flushed!) I also loved that this was a story about women's strength and resilience, set in a time period when women had very little power. Finally, I was delighted by the magical realism within the book (I was reminded of Esquivel's 'Like Water for Chocolate'). Before recommending the book to any of my students, however, I'd warn them of the often harsh circumstances which Beth - being a farm girl - sometimes has to witness in this book. The cycle of life and death on the Weeks farm is often 'red in tooth and claw' and there were several animal deaths in the first third of the novel which could upset a naive reader. For this reason, I will highly recommend it to any person who would like to read it individually, but would not offer it as a class novel. That being said, I am putting myself on the waiting list for Anderson-Dargatz's 'Recipe for Bees' and 'Turtle Island' - I can't wait to read more of her work!(less)

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Jun 08, 2008 Marlene rated it 5 of 5 stars

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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Sep 15, 2012 Siobhán Eloise ✿ rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own, favorites

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This has got to be one my favourite books of the year so far. I bought this book from a charity shop for 20p as I was attracted by the cover.

I was literally hooked right from the very start, even with the descriptive welcoming of the setting and some of the characters, it just fascinated me. The whole story is based during WW2 I believe and set in the farmlands of Canada. There are 4 main characters and then a few characters that we get to know more of during the story.

But we take a look at Bet...more

1 like · like · see review

Sep 03, 2011 Julia Bomalaski rated it 3 of 5 stars

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...more

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May 22, 2012 Kirsty rated it 3 of 5 stars

Gail Anderson-Dargatz was an unknown writer to me; I bought this book from a charity shop on the strength of the title and the comparison with Atwood on the jacket cover (yes, I’m an avid Atwood fan). I found this to be a slow burner – initially I was impatient to get past the opening pages' detailed scene-setting and character introductions. Usually I’m a sucker for detail, yet rather than pulling me into its world, the book’s meticulous descriptions somehow felt like a barrier at first.

But onc...more

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Nov 24, 2012 Sherry (sethurner) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, canada, history, mind-and-spirit, war-holocaust

"The cure for death by lightning was handwritten in thick, messy blue ink in my mother's scrapbook,under the recipe for my father's favorite oatcakes:

Dunk the dead by lightning in a cold water bath for two hour and if still dead, add vinegar and soak for an hour more."

This coming-of-age novel starts with the preceding sentence. The narrator, a rural Canadian teenage girl named Beth Weeks, tells the story of her troubled family during several years during World War II. There are troubles - on a p...more

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Nov 28, 2010 Jim rated it 4 of 5 stars

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.

You c...more

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Jan 22, 2010 Julia rated it 5 of 5 stars

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, Dad, Ol...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 24, 2009 Lindsay Goto rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, novel

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. Despite that th...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Autumn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: aboriginal, bc, canadian, family, historical, suspense, women

The rhythmic pace of this novel, set with the living world of the cows and the flax farm, the changing seasons, the war and the family make this book like reading a song. This is truly a Canadian tale, reflecting on the effects of the war on farming families, relationships with neighbours and friends who are Native, and community living that is such an ongoing reality of rural BC.

Having lived in the Central Interior, I could see and smell the landscape that Beth experienced, and also identify cl...more

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Apr 11, 2011 Erin rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 the...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Zoe Brooks rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: magic-realism

I read Gail Anderson-Dargatz's coming-of-age story as part of my magic realism challenge. This review first appeared on my Magic Realism Books blog. What follows contains mild spoilers.

The writing was easily readable, and at times poetic (which is something I like in a book). You get a vivid impression of the landscape of British Columbia. There is a wonderful scene where a storm strips the petals from a field of flaxflowers and covers the farm with them: With blue flax in my cupped hands, blue...more I read Gail Anderson-Dargatz's coming-of-age story as part of my magic realism challenge. This review first appeared on my Magic Realism Books blog. What follows contains mild spoilers.

The writing was easily readable, and at times poetic (which is something I like in a book). You get a vivid impression of the landscape of British Columbia. There is a wonderful scene where a storm strips the petals from a field of flaxflowers and covers the farm with them: With blue flax in my cupped hands, blue flax on my hair, my face, my dress, I looked over a world that was blue and as strange as a dream. This scene could be thought of as magical, but the author in an interview explained that she had experienced just such an event. This beauty is contrasted with the routine brutality of killing farm animals and the ravages of the local wildlife, especially coyotes, on those same animals and possibly even children. There is a particularly gory description of a sheep which Beth finds after it has been attacked by coyotes: Coyotes go for the genitals and the soft belly of a sick sheep. They nip like a dog at the legs and face until the sheep falls. Then they eat her alive. This ewe was still alive, and her genitals were eaten away.

I found myself empathising with the narrator, Beth Weeks, who was in many ways a familiar and quite ordinary teenage girl. But Beth shouldn't be ordinary. Things happen to her and they happen around her, horrendous things, and yet she remains pretty constant. Even when she sees or experiences something shocking, such as catching someone she is fond of having sex with a cow, there's very little reaction. Big issues are skirted around, half referred to, apart from the violence against animals. We are left to fill in the gaps. Maybe this is the narrator's way of coping, but as a result when I got to the end of the book and went over it in my head I was shocked by what I had read. The book contains: self-harm, rape, missing children, suicide, lesbianism, incest, child abuse, bestiality, insanity, and violence against humans and animals. Poor Beth and her community have got the lot. Too much so for the novel to be completely credible or indeed focused. How could I possibly have read it so easily? Alas one of the reasons was the way magic realism was used in the book.

In an interview with the now defunct magic realism magazine Serendipity the author is quoted as saying: Magic realism is so very useful in exploring the deepest parts of our psyches. Our dreams, after all, are full of magic realism elements, the uncanny. Magic realism draws from, and speaks to, the soul. In the end, though, what drew me to magic realism is the fun. Who doesn't like the chill of seeing a ghost? The thrill of being chased? The wonder of flowers falling from the sky? I love the freedom of knowing that anything can and will happen on the page.

The major magic realism element is the Coyote, a mythical trickster spirit of the Native Americans. Nora, the young half-breed, who is Beth's friend (lover?) explains the Coyote thus: Granny says if a man's got something wrong with him, if he's drunk or gets hit on the head or bushed or something, then Coyote can get inside him and make him crazy, make him do stuff. Bad stuff.

Beth senses that she is being followed by Coyote, she sees the path through the grass as something unseen chases her. The Coyote is blamed for taking possession of a young Indian man when he gets drunk, of Beth's father when he is violent or sexually abusive, of Coyote Jack the local recluse who attacks Beth, of Beth's attempted rapist, and for giving Filthy Billy Tourettes syndrome and fits. Well that's all right then - it's not the individuals involved, it's that nasty Coyote. Is this how magic realism should be used? I feel really ill at ease with this. Maybe it's my west European sensibilities that are to blame, but maybe not.

Perhaps part of the problem is that the author is combining two traditions - the Coyote trickster with the European werewolf and the hybrid Coyote is therefore more evil. The Native American Coyote is not evil as such, indeed he can be a force for good. Nora's grandmother says: Coyote also clears away the rules when they get too muddy.... It's good sometimes to turn everything on its head.

Do things change for the good? Yes, by the end of the book Beth has come out stronger and more confident. But is the change due to Coyote?

The book opens with a description of the page in the scrapbook kept by Beth's mother which features the cure for death by lightning. Also on the page is a tortoiseshell butterfly: My mother said that she'd caught the butterfly and pressed it between the pages of her scrapbook because of its torn wing. "Wonderful," she told me. "That it could still fly. It's a reminder to keep going." Is this butterfly how Beth sees herself: the survivor - the butterfly flying despite a torn wing or is she struck about the irony in her mother's words - the butterfly is no longer keeping going due to the cruelty of humans? This uncertainty runs through the book and left me unclear what to make of the novel.
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Feb 06, 2013 Melissa McCauley rated it 3 of 5 stars

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 I. 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 turtles hatchi...more

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Jul 24, 2011 Nat rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 "sequel" to...more

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Jun 10, 2011 Tina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Tina by: ?

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...more

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Apr 27, 2010 Julie H. rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, book-club-selections

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 t...more

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Oct 16, 2012 Marion Thompson rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: lakers-book-and-bottle-club

Read this based on a book club recommendation but can't say that I enjoyed it, nor would I recommend it to others. The women in this story are toughened by a lifetime of troubles - blackouts and rationing, son and brother going off to war, a cycle of domestic abuse, and the matriarchal survival is also evidenced by the women on the neighbouring reserve. There was evidently nothing going to change for the next generation and I was troubled by the lack of concern for the disappearing children. Bl...more

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Jul 11, 2011 Burd rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

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 animal.

The whol...more

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Dec 14, 2010 Stephanie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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....

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Nov 30, 2010 Zoom rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, canadian

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.

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Nov 19, 2012 lcee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, magical-realism

A very well written, but extremely uncomfortable read. The plot was strikingly original and the characters well drawn, if largely unlikable. I found the ever-present sexual threatening of the main character and repeated mentions of animal cruelty and death difficult to contend with, so I won't be rereading this, but I don't regret reading it the once.

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Apr 24, 2012 Sarah H rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: desert-island-books

I'm sure it had to do with the time and place, but when I read this book about 12 years ago, I was absolutely lost in it. The setting evoked beautifully, and I was so intrigued by the characters and the concept of the trickster... Reading the sequel was a mistake for me: Cure fed my soul in a way that Turtle Valley did not.

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Apr 06, 2009 Louise rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

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.

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Oct 12, 2011 Vicki rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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...more

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Jan 19, 2011 Née rated it 2 of 5 stars

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.

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May 14, 2011 Jenni Nance rated it 5 of 5 stars

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...)

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Apr 06, 2011 Marcy Berg rated it 3 of 5 stars

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.

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Jul 10, 2009 kat rated it 3 of 5 stars

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.

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About Gail Anderson-Dargatz

Gail's novels The Cure for Death by Lighting and A Recipe for Bees were international bestsellers, and were both finalists for the prestigious Giller Prize in Canada. The Cure for Death by Lightning won the UK’s Betty Trask Prize among other awards. A Rhinestone Button was a national bestseller in Canada and Gail's first book, The Miss Hereford Stories, was short-listed for the Leacock Award for h...more

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