Publisher's Weekly Starred Review. Twenty years after her last novel, On Double Tracks , Pinder again shares her remarkable and unique prose gifts in this intensely-moving novel that explores the mysteries of the human heart and soul. Canadian Alix Purcell is at a crossroads, having left her lover and her job at a publishing house. An unusual opportunity presents itself when she's approached to write the libretto for an opera based on the life of Austin Hart, an anthropologist who took his own life in the mid-19th century shortly after his controversial decision to cut down an enormous stand of totem poles and have them shipped to museums. Having contemplated suicide herself, Purcell feels an affinity for her subject and a passionate desire to unravel the truth about what led him to such a dark place. Her quest coincides with a precipitous decline in her mother's health, which forces her to try to heal long-standing rifts between them. Pinder's ability to craft memorable lines (The roadway to my history was always under construction), only enhance her unflinching look at a woman's struggle to find both peace and professional satisfaction. Publisher s Weekly April 4, 2012
This book is gripping, spiritual story which tells a story in a place (Canada's northern British Columbia) and time (from the early days of colonization until now). And the story really is gripping. I really enjoyed reading about the history of the Totem Poles. The time is the 1950's. and the Smithsonian Museum is searching out this piece of history to preserve it. Not knowing that they are taking the culture of Haida tribe. Alicia is trying to find out what happened to the anthropologist Austin Hart. And what caused him to take all the poles.Wonderful story told by the author! If you like history along with a good mystery, you should pick this book up.
A fascinating novel about a woman trying to write a libretto for an opera about a famous west coast anthropologist, (Austin Hart) who killed himself. The book centers on her research to trying to understand who Hart was and why he killed himself. The book with such a different plot is strangely interesting. The protagonist is a very internal character (actually an obsessive overthinker) and the book lives mostly inside her mind. There are many interesting insights into west coast Haida art and its collection.
Leslie Hall Pinder is a phenomenal writer. She weaves the stories of Alicia Purcell, Austin Hart, the native tribes, Alicia’s mother and Austin’s family members into a well-constructed novel. Her characters are gritty, not usually completely likeable and all very real. They are the epitome of dysfunctional. Alicia is successful in the publishing business and an acclaimed poet. She accepts the job writing the libretto for the opera in part because she was strangely affected by Hart’s suicide many years earlier. The job brings her back to her childhood home only to find her mother ailing. As Alicia spends time researching the libretto, she and her mother work through a lifetime of animosity and misunderstandings.
The story of the native tribes’ decline before, and especially after, the taking of the totem poles is not the major focus of the story and yet is a very powerful component. Pinder doesn’t overanalyze history while doing an amazing job of portraying the struggles of an entire people. She doesn’t preach to the ruling class for their role in the tribe’s demise. She portrays the facts as she sees them and leaves us to find our own interpretation.
Her characters find a sort of redemption – Alicia with her mother, Hart’s family through Alicia’s research, etc. – but their anguish is not tied up in a neat little bow. There is no “happily ever after” here, just a “perhaps we’re better off from here on out”. BRING ME ONE OF EVERYTHING is a journey worth every reader’s time.
Submitted for an honest review.
Rating: 4.5
Heat Rating: None (minor discussion of sexual topics)
This is a complex literary novel that dives deep into the psyche of the main character, a writer who immerses herself into the life and family of a famous anthropologist who killed himself. It is the story of despair and deception, of a mother-daughter relationship at the end of the mother's days, of Native American culture and history and hints of magic realism, and much more. Flawed by uneven editing, too many talky characters that live too much in their own heads, and a surface plot that seems unrealistic at times, still this book was too compelling a read, the main character too interesting, for me to give it any less than four stars.
Honestly, I skimmed most of this book. It was pretty tiresome. A few times, I enjoyed the imagery or a turn of phrase, but otherwise it was a slog. I agree with the other reviewer who said it felt like a first draft. Too much explaining through dialogue for my taste, and nothing unexpected in the plot.