Canada is a book that is at once thrilling and extraordinily readable. It is a brilliant novel, one that any reader will not soon forget. It has all the makings of books that I love - strong characterizations, good action, inner turmoil, philosophy and emotional angst.

The novel begins: "First I'll tell about the robbery our parents committed. Then about the murder, which happened later. The robbery is the more important part since it served to set my and my sister's lives on the courses they eventually followed." The story is told by Dell Parsons in the first person. It starts when he is fifteen years old and is told when he is 66 years old. The year that the story begins is 1960.

Dell and Berner Parsons are fraternal twins, Berner older by six minutes. They have lived a life traveling around with their father who is a captain in the military until they reach Great Falls, Montana where Bev Parsons, Dell's father, gets in trouble and loses his captain's stripes and is demoted to lieutenant. Rather than remain in the military, he quits. He then begins one job after another selling used cars. Their mother, Neeva, is a Jew from Tacoma, the daughter of immigrants who expected her to marry much better than she has. She and her parents are pretty much estranged and Neeva's parents have never met Dell and Berner. Neeva thinks of herself as a poet and is a weak-willed woman.

Bev and Neeva are not well-suited to one another and got married because Neeva got pregnant after a one-night stand with Bev and they decided that marriage was the right thing to do. The marriage is not a good one and they live parallel lives rather than interacting in any depth.

Dell starts to get into illegal dealings with the Cree indians, supplying meat for the railroad lines and then getting part of the proceeds. Things quickly go bad and Dell owes $2000. It is then that he decides to rob a bank, though to be truthful, he's thought of himself as a bank robber for many years. Dell scouts out a bank and Neeva is the driver. They get away with very little money and get caught shortly.

Neeva has put a plan together to get Dell and Berner to Canada with her friend to be taken care of by her friend's brother, Arthur Remlinger. Berner runs away before the plan can take effect but Dell is taken to Canada where he resides in Saskatchewan for several years.

It is a puzzle to Dell why he is there as Arthur pays little attention to him and he exists by doing odd jobs here and there in the little town. He is looked after primarily by Charles Quarters, a great freak of literature. Charles is a dwarf-like man of great strength who likes to wear make-up from time to time and has an underlying personality that houses great rage.

Most of the story takes place in the 1960's during the time that Dell is in Saskatchewan. The bank robbery itself takes place in 1960.

This is a wonderful novel filled with characters that I felt like I could reach out and touch, they were so real and true to life. The actions that emanated from the plot were right-on perfect and took my breath away.

I've only read one book by Richard Ford and that was many years ago. I plan to read his other novels as it is rare that I run into a writer of such brilliant caliber.