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Saints of Big Harbour
Back then it was spring. He had a truck. A girl had given him a picture for his wallet.
1982 starts well for Guy Boucher. But before long he feels the need to move to the town of Big Harbour to get away from his school, family life, and most of all "the supreme and utter retardation of my existence which mostly takes the form of Isadore".
An Acadian adolescent oppressed by boredom and poverty, Guy is made even more miserable by uncle Isadore who lives with Guy and his mother in exchange for use of his pick-up truck. Isadore is determined to make a man of Guy by feeding him drinks at age ten, coaching him to be an aggressive hockey player, and teaching him to box and not flinch when he's hit. Fighting is an accepted way of alleviating the tedium of small-town life, and violence finds its way into hockey games and school dances and bars.
Isadore is not an ideal role model, but he's the only man in the house since the departure of Guy's father. Isadore once moved away to make something of himself, but now is looked after by his sister, spends his disability cheques on booze, is prone to violent tantrums, and yet commands a certain local respect. He waxes eloquent on family values, loyalty and "being a man". He is a large, confident man, a natural storyteller, and people like to follow him. But in spite of his speeches, he is only concerned with himself, ignorant of the needs of others.
Driving the truck to a dance one night, Guy meets the lovely Corinne Fortune. Corinne also has a physical power that makes people want to share the glow of popularity. Like Isadore, Corinne is manipulative, and a compulsive liar who makes up stories for her friends to fulfil her need to be the centre of attention. Infatuated with her, Guy has no idea what trouble she will get him into. Soon there are two older guys hunting him down, and everyone in town believes he deserves it. Big Harbour is not all he hoped it would be.
Saints of Big Harbour shows Guy's story from shifting points of view, from Guy to bookish Pam to the schoolteacher Alison. The narrative is populated by a host of lively characters, such as second cousin Ronald, who regularly delivers "fresh deersteak and a two-litre pop bottle filled with holy water" to Pam's house. There are drinkers and fighting drunks and bitter ex-alcoholics, including those who attend the inappropriately named Alcoholics Anonymous program at the monastery. Isadore's coaching helps Guy stand up for himself, and in the end he must stand up against Isadore in order to make something of his life. His survival of a hard adolescence makes for a heroism all his own.
Saints of Big Harbour handles the bleak subjects of violence, addiction, small-town mentalities and destructive families with insight, irony and humour, in a compellingly accessible style reminiscent of Roddy Doyle.
1982 starts well for Guy Boucher. But before long he feels the need to move to the town of Big Harbour to get away from his school, family life, and most of all "the supreme and utter retardation of my existence which mostly takes the form of Isadore".
An Acadian adolescent oppressed by boredom and poverty, Guy is made even more miserable by uncle Isadore who lives with Guy and his mother in exchange for use of his pick-up truck. Isadore is determined to make a man of Guy by feeding him drinks at age ten, coaching him to be an aggressive hockey player, and teaching him to box and not flinch when he's hit. Fighting is an accepted way of alleviating the tedium of small-town life, and violence finds its way into hockey games and school dances and bars.
Isadore is not an ideal role model, but he's the only man in the house since the departure of Guy's father. Isadore once moved away to make something of himself, but now is looked after by his sister, spends his disability cheques on booze, is prone to violent tantrums, and yet commands a certain local respect. He waxes eloquent on family values, loyalty and "being a man". He is a large, confident man, a natural storyteller, and people like to follow him. But in spite of his speeches, he is only concerned with himself, ignorant of the needs of others.
Driving the truck to a dance one night, Guy meets the lovely Corinne Fortune. Corinne also has a physical power that makes people want to share the glow of popularity. Like Isadore, Corinne is manipulative, and a compulsive liar who makes up stories for her friends to fulfil her need to be the centre of attention. Infatuated with her, Guy has no idea what trouble she will get him into. Soon there are two older guys hunting him down, and everyone in town believes he deserves it. Big Harbour is not all he hoped it would be.
Saints of Big Harbour shows Guy's story from shifting points of view, from Guy to bookish Pam to the schoolteacher Alison. The narrative is populated by a host of lively characters, such as second cousin Ronald, who regularly delivers "fresh deersteak and a two-litre pop bottle filled with holy water" to Pam's house. There are drinkers and fighting drunks and bitter ex-alcoholics, including those who attend the inappropriately named Alcoholics Anonymous program at the monastery. Isadore's coaching helps Guy stand up for himself, and in the end he must stand up against Isadore in order to make something of his life. His survival of a hard adolescence makes for a heroism all his own.
Saints of Big Harbour handles the bleak subjects of violence, addiction, small-town mentalities and destructive families with insight, irony and humour, in a compellingly accessible style reminiscent of Roddy Doyle.
432 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
About the author
Lynn Coady
27 books176 followersLynn Coady is an award-winning author, editor, and journalist. Her previous novels include Saints of Big Harbour, which was a national bestseller and a Globe and Mail Top 100 book, and Mean Boy, a Globe and Mail Top 100 book. Her popular advice column, Group Therapy, runs weekly in the Globe and Mail. Coady is originally from Cape Breton Island, NS, and is now living in Edmonton, Alberta.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
November 24, 2018
Part of my backlog for the Canada-Alaska 2018 reading goal, I always meant to read Lynn Coady because she wins so many Canadian literature awards but seems fairly unknown in the states. This novel feels like a combination of quality small working class town capture (John Irving, Richard Russo) and character study (Gabe Habash came to mind.) Set in imaginary Big Harbour, Nova Scotia, the chapters rotate between characters, and the reader gets to know a handful very well. Part of my interest here is that there is a distinction between a "French" character and the rest of the kids in a school, and he turns out to be Acadian. Themes of masculinity, coming-of-age, alcoholism, and small-towns losing their livelihoods.
December 27, 2012
I'm a big fan of Lynn Coady. I read this in what was possibly the least-apropos spot: a beach in Mexico. Nothing could be further from Akumal Beach than Big Harbour, NS. The book's setting is claustrophobic, and anyone growing up in a smaller town (or semi-rural) in Canada in the early 80s will recognize the fear: of leaving the suffocating blanket of 'home', and the terrifying prospect of actually staying.
Despite laughing out loud several times, I found the book relentlessly depressing, the love-child of David Adams Richards and Mary Walsh. The jacket blurb claims that the story is about Guy Boucher, and it is, but it's more about the weave of characters around Guy, each chapter taking on POVs both first and third person, just a lovely thing to read. The teen stuff hits true more often than not, and I found myself understanding (if not necessarily liking) each character, even when they were behaving unspeakably badly. I really loved this book -- Coady writes so incredibly well, and there are surprises tucked in there, things not said, punches not thrown, enough optimism to cut through the relentless fog of functional alcoholism and listless, feckless youth.
Despite laughing out loud several times, I found the book relentlessly depressing, the love-child of David Adams Richards and Mary Walsh. The jacket blurb claims that the story is about Guy Boucher, and it is, but it's more about the weave of characters around Guy, each chapter taking on POVs both first and third person, just a lovely thing to read. The teen stuff hits true more often than not, and I found myself understanding (if not necessarily liking) each character, even when they were behaving unspeakably badly. I really loved this book -- Coady writes so incredibly well, and there are surprises tucked in there, things not said, punches not thrown, enough optimism to cut through the relentless fog of functional alcoholism and listless, feckless youth.
January 2, 2015
Great writer, but the book didn't hold my interest so much that I plowed right through it. However, layered characters. Isadore was a big, nasty lout and no mention of why he didn't have his own family. He was a good character as were all the teenage girls and their fantasies, letter writing, gossip and high drama. Glad I've now read at least one of Coady's books and will read more.
February 11, 2013
I've been in awe of Coady's writing ability since reading The Antagonist. She is very gifted at bringing many distinct voices to life and making them feel true to life. I will keep reading her work, for sure.
August 19, 2019
Two things: why did anyone like this book? And who the hell wrote the blurb?
December 24, 2025
As the year nears its end, I am dealing swiftly with books that didn’t hold my attention – I discarded them midway. And this is one of those. This novel was a national bestseller when published in 2002, but I had to let it go, a third of the way in, because it lacked the key ingredient of escalating stakes for me.
For those who like to reminisce about growing up on the East Coast of Canada in the 80s, I guess this book might strike some chords. Still, as my reality was somewhere else at that time, all I got out of it was teenage angst in a relatively safe world where the most danger you could face was a wild hockey puck to the nose. Guy, our teenage hero, lives with his mother and younger sister and his mother’s younger brother, whom she is guilted into looking after, Isidore. Isidore is a drunk, a bully, and is unemployed, and his only asset is the truck that he can’t drive as his licence is suspended (for drunken driving, of course). Marianne, his sister and Guy’s mother, sees an advantage in the truck, for she can get Guy to drive it and take her into Big Harbour, the closest big town, to work as a nanny. Guy finds it advantageous so he can pick up chicks, or so he thinks.
Isidore wants to teach his nephew to play hockey, rough hockey. But the more Guy turns rough, the more he is roughed up. Isidore’s drinking buddy is Alison, who is Guy’s English teacher. Conflicts of interest and breaches of protocol are rife when Alison ends up drunk, often at Guy’s home. How does one equate an authority figure in school with a drunk passed out in the living room? In addition, Isidore hates television and looks intent on destroying the new TV set Marianne buys with her hard-earned money.
Chapters detailing Guy’s home and school life alternate with chapters of the peripheral characters: Isidore, Alison, Corrine (Guy’s current crush) and Pam (Corine’s best friend), and I’m sure other denizens of this rural part of Nova Scotia. However, I found the writing episodic, and despite the occasional humour infused into the narrative, there were no escalating stakes (perhaps there were later on in the unread part of the book, but I wasn’t waiting to find out), and I wasn’t really interested in dysfunctional teen and adult life held together by alcohol. This theme has been overdone and seems to represent first-world boredom in a country where even the down and out had a safety blanket in the 1980s.
To its credit, the writing is fresh, quirky, and irreverent, and the author attempts to get into the heads of all the principal players. But I was tired of the repeated rounds of character development going on. Now that we had the important players step on stage, I wanted the story to take off, and for 140 pages it had not - so I took off instead.
My leaving this book unfinished left me questioning whether reading tastes, and mine in particular, have been deeply influenced by social media. This long-winded book that still hadn’t got to the point by page 140 (out of 416 pages) was probably okay for reading tastes in 2002, but today, we would expect the premise to be delivered within the first five pages. Perhaps there is nothing wrong with the book, but the fault lies with us, the readers who have had our attention spans shattered in the nano-second world of the tweet and Instagram post? And also due to publishers demanding instant gratification lest readers like me abandon ship midway?
For those who like to reminisce about growing up on the East Coast of Canada in the 80s, I guess this book might strike some chords. Still, as my reality was somewhere else at that time, all I got out of it was teenage angst in a relatively safe world where the most danger you could face was a wild hockey puck to the nose. Guy, our teenage hero, lives with his mother and younger sister and his mother’s younger brother, whom she is guilted into looking after, Isidore. Isidore is a drunk, a bully, and is unemployed, and his only asset is the truck that he can’t drive as his licence is suspended (for drunken driving, of course). Marianne, his sister and Guy’s mother, sees an advantage in the truck, for she can get Guy to drive it and take her into Big Harbour, the closest big town, to work as a nanny. Guy finds it advantageous so he can pick up chicks, or so he thinks.
Isidore wants to teach his nephew to play hockey, rough hockey. But the more Guy turns rough, the more he is roughed up. Isidore’s drinking buddy is Alison, who is Guy’s English teacher. Conflicts of interest and breaches of protocol are rife when Alison ends up drunk, often at Guy’s home. How does one equate an authority figure in school with a drunk passed out in the living room? In addition, Isidore hates television and looks intent on destroying the new TV set Marianne buys with her hard-earned money.
Chapters detailing Guy’s home and school life alternate with chapters of the peripheral characters: Isidore, Alison, Corrine (Guy’s current crush) and Pam (Corine’s best friend), and I’m sure other denizens of this rural part of Nova Scotia. However, I found the writing episodic, and despite the occasional humour infused into the narrative, there were no escalating stakes (perhaps there were later on in the unread part of the book, but I wasn’t waiting to find out), and I wasn’t really interested in dysfunctional teen and adult life held together by alcohol. This theme has been overdone and seems to represent first-world boredom in a country where even the down and out had a safety blanket in the 1980s.
To its credit, the writing is fresh, quirky, and irreverent, and the author attempts to get into the heads of all the principal players. But I was tired of the repeated rounds of character development going on. Now that we had the important players step on stage, I wanted the story to take off, and for 140 pages it had not - so I took off instead.
My leaving this book unfinished left me questioning whether reading tastes, and mine in particular, have been deeply influenced by social media. This long-winded book that still hadn’t got to the point by page 140 (out of 416 pages) was probably okay for reading tastes in 2002, but today, we would expect the premise to be delivered within the first five pages. Perhaps there is nothing wrong with the book, but the fault lies with us, the readers who have had our attention spans shattered in the nano-second world of the tweet and Instagram post? And also due to publishers demanding instant gratification lest readers like me abandon ship midway?
August 13, 2017
I'm a little conflicted on this book. For starters, the synopsis on the back cover really misses the mark on the book and only summarizes about the first 150 pages. There is much more going on than that summary suggests. For me, this is a book about three groups of people, Guy Aucoin's family, dominated by a horrific, violent, alcoholic uncle, the larger community, who's citizens are mired in the hopelessness of unemployment and chronic, community-wide alcoholism and random, petty, violence, and Guy's school, a group of teenagers with regular teenage problems exacerbated by the uselessness, helplessness and emasculation of their teachers, mothers and fathers. All is brought to a head by careless words told by Guy to to his uncle to avoid ridicule and abuse. These little lies throw Guy's life into a spiral he has no control over. The book is like watching a slow motion train wreck, you can see it coming chapters ahead, but are forced to watch it draw inexorably closer. Saints of Big Harbour is an interesting book and I did enjoy it. However, it seemed to come off the rails at one point, with more attention given to other characters at the expense of the primary Aucoin family. I feel that the poll could have been tighter, but I did plot through it in less than three days, and that says something. Really a 3.5 star book and definitely a great contribution to CanLit and a Maritime, Acadian literature.
November 19, 2024
For a canadian author that won a fee awards this book doesn't really vibe with me, thought I give it a try it was to much drama typical, didn't like main character has much. Family is dysfunctional. Pam's a loser and a sucker honestly this book was a waste of my time. Barely not much of a hockey generic has expected.
November 18, 2011
4 STARS
"The opening chapter is narrated by Guy Boucher, the novel's hapless teenage protagonist, and it reads as though someone has cleverly translated Adrian Mole into a tiny Nova Scotian town. Guy introduces his family: his impoverished mother, Marianne; his uncontrollable, alcoholic, and incredibly charismatic uncle, Isadore; and his meek, almost unnoticeable sister, Louise. We also meet Alison Mason, Isadore's (male) drinking companion and Guy's sometime English teacher. Despite the bleakness of his surroundings, Guy is a cheerful lad with only one goal in mind: to use Isadore's truck to attend dances in the nearby town of Big Harbour and thereby find a town girlfriend.
And Guy does just this, briefly, spending one night dancing with the beautiful Corrine Fortune. Soon, however, Corrine won't speak to Guy, and not long after, all of the characters' lives fall into chaos. Isadore's drinking habit once again progresses into a rampage, the people of Big Harbour begin hearing rumours that Guy has done something unnamable to Corrine, and Alison Mason begins to drown in drink." (From Amazon)
An excellently dark funny novel! For those who like dark humour.
"The opening chapter is narrated by Guy Boucher, the novel's hapless teenage protagonist, and it reads as though someone has cleverly translated Adrian Mole into a tiny Nova Scotian town. Guy introduces his family: his impoverished mother, Marianne; his uncontrollable, alcoholic, and incredibly charismatic uncle, Isadore; and his meek, almost unnoticeable sister, Louise. We also meet Alison Mason, Isadore's (male) drinking companion and Guy's sometime English teacher. Despite the bleakness of his surroundings, Guy is a cheerful lad with only one goal in mind: to use Isadore's truck to attend dances in the nearby town of Big Harbour and thereby find a town girlfriend.
And Guy does just this, briefly, spending one night dancing with the beautiful Corrine Fortune. Soon, however, Corrine won't speak to Guy, and not long after, all of the characters' lives fall into chaos. Isadore's drinking habit once again progresses into a rampage, the people of Big Harbour begin hearing rumours that Guy has done something unnamable to Corrine, and Alison Mason begins to drown in drink." (From Amazon)
An excellently dark funny novel! For those who like dark humour.
March 24, 2009
Hmmm....what to say exactly about this book. I found it to be a tad weird, didn't like the story all that much and was disappointed since I've come to like "down east" authors. Except this one perhaps?
The character Isadore irked the heck out of me in this novel. He and his teacher friend Alison for that matter. I just found this novel to be a bit odd and didn't care for the use of the foul language by this author.
The character Guy falls into the trap of booze and violence after an awkward courtship goes down the tubes.
The story is really told from several different people central to Guy's life and the story revolves around issues like violence, addiction, adolescence, hostile family relationships, hockey etc.
I think the author could have done a much better job at telling this story.
The character Isadore irked the heck out of me in this novel. He and his teacher friend Alison for that matter. I just found this novel to be a bit odd and didn't care for the use of the foul language by this author.
The character Guy falls into the trap of booze and violence after an awkward courtship goes down the tubes.
The story is really told from several different people central to Guy's life and the story revolves around issues like violence, addiction, adolescence, hostile family relationships, hockey etc.
I think the author could have done a much better job at telling this story.
July 4, 2012
I started reading this book last year and wasn't digging it so didn't get too far into it ... I guess I wasn't in the mood for it. I enjoyed it this time 'round.
I was born in Nova Scotia and moved to Toronto in 1987 ... I lived in a small town similar to the fictional Big Harbour during the 1980s. The dialogue and types of characters were familiar to me, though I couldn't relate to them all. The story is told by different characters which gives various perspectives.
I was born in Nova Scotia and moved to Toronto in 1987 ... I lived in a small town similar to the fictional Big Harbour during the 1980s. The dialogue and types of characters were familiar to me, though I couldn't relate to them all. The story is told by different characters which gives various perspectives.
September 1, 2011
Got sucked into this right quick. Hilarious with a nugget of growing awfulness at its core. I wanted to look away and keep reading at the same time.
[Got this for $1 at Book-Off, the bookstore (used, mostly Japanese) on Hornby.]
[Got this for $1 at Book-Off, the bookstore (used, mostly Japanese) on Hornby.]
July 15, 2012
I should read it again, since it was my first experience in reading an English novel when I read this book for the first time many years ago. I can only say that for my point of view its title, regarding the content of the story, has been chosen elaborately.
November 22, 2014
I did enjoy reading this book but felt it almost covered too much in too little detail, leaving me asking too many questions. Atmosphere was great though. Characterisation good for key folk, but others a little under-developed. But good on how crazy shit can happen out of one small thing.
December 28, 2021
I didn’t enjoy this novel, the characters were half-drawn. There were some funny, sad, true, rural Nova Scotia moments. It seemed as though the author was finding her voice. I love this author’s later works.
December 30, 2008
This was a good book to read at the gym. Interesting and easy to read but the characters weren't that appealing.
January 4, 2009
I read this before and loved it but had no idea what happened, so I read it again.
still five stars. read it
still five stars. read it
January 21, 2011
A solid, wonderful read. A novel that truly understands how to tell a contemporary story in a contemporary Canadian town.
February 9, 2012
Not an entirely bad book, but not great either. The language is rich in culture and embraces the small town way of life
February 11, 2012
Decent enough CanLit, Coady nails small town Canada. Nothing spectacular but better than a lot of fiction up here. I think she's slumming for a newspaper these days, too bad.
February 2, 2014
Not sure if this is my favourite of Coady's novels, but I think it's the one that sticks with me the most.
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November 20, 2015She has an amazing description skill but I was bored all the way!
I didn't look forward to reading this book every time I put it down!
Isadore is an interesting man all through though.
I didn't look forward to reading this book every time I put it down!
Isadore is an interesting man all through though.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews