Wedding Cakes, Rats and Rodeo Queens

by Anne Cameron

Having grown up in a home where TV reruns of Gunsmoke were their only insight into what a stable and happy family life could be, it's no surprise that Kitty and her siblings learn to rely on themselves to find success in life through unconventional channels.
There's Seely who masters the art of creating the perfect wedding cake; Savannah who starts her own family with three common-law husbands to share the parenting and the household chores; Glen who finds love and acceptance with an older man; Jimmy who learns to release the spirits in trees through his skills as a woodcarver. And then there's Kitty, who rides the rodeo circuit. Unable to stop blaming herself for a childhood tragedy she didn't create, Kitty seeks consolation through her love of both horses and women.

Genres: Fiction

Paperback

First published April 10, 2002

About the author

Barbara Anne Cameron (born August 20, 1938 in Nanaimo, British Columbia) is a Canadian novelist, poet, screenwriter and short story writer.

Cameron legally changed her name from her birth name, Barbara Cameron, to Cam Hubert and later changed her name from Cam Hubert to Anne Cameron. She has written under these names.

Much of her work is inspired by Northwest Coast First Nations' mythology and culture.

An out lesbian, Cameron lives in Tahsis, British Columbia. She has previously lived in Powell River and has spent most of her life on Vancouver Island.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[dianne b. · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book. So very chock-a-block-full of gratuitous cruelty that you’d think that’s all there is. The momentary withholding of depraved torture seems like kindness, mere neglect begins to look like fondness. When some magical realism steps in to (sort of) protect an innocent - albeit too little, too late - even that pisses people off. Kitty, who is white, begins seeing “Squeyanx” - apparently Native American - stickpeople guide(s) and at one point unconsciously speaks in (native) tongues. This angers her native girlfriend’s great aunt, a tribal Elder. Frigging white people steal everything.

I can’t recall why i ordered this book long ago. Kinda wish i hadn’t. Callousness, greed, selfishness, rape, murder, persecution, sadism - yeah, i know.

[Shirley Adamson · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you ever wanted to read Margaret Atwood but never had the patience to learn how..try Anne Cameron and her novel "Wedding Cakes, Rats, and Rodeo Queens". A journey through the harsh impoverished childhood of Kitty, her siblings, her helpless drunken mother the tough old Gran who loves them and Jimmyspook. A story woven together like a mismatched string of beads, each beautiful on its own but strung together jarring. The characters seem to be the distorted reflection of self or someone you might think you know well. The writing style is mesmerizing, the story line chaotic but somehow a story is told. This Canadian author, born in and still living in B.C. also wrote "Daughters of Copper Woman", "A Whole Brass Band", "The Journey" and "Kick the Can". Ann Cameron has written poetry, scripts for film, television and radio, Her 1997 film "Dreamspeaker" won seven Canadian film awards. She wrote "Wedding Cakes, Rats and Rodeo Queens" in 1994.