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Salvage King, Ya! : A Herky-Jerky Picaresque
Fiction. Amazon.ca's 50 Essential Canadian Books selection. Finalist, ReLit Award. Debut novel from the author of 19 Knives and New Orleans Is Sinking . SALVAGE KING, YA! is a gritty, down-to-earth story of a hockey player's last few years in the minors. Drinkwater, an almost-got-to-the-NHL tough-mouthed romantic is skidding through the tail end of his 30s on a high-octane journey of self-actualization. Chip-toothed and soaring he struggles to come to terms with the conflicting aspirations of his youth and the reality of inheriting the family junkyard. Roving. Luminous. Rowdy. Funny.
" funny, cluttered, driven, as if Denis Johnson had written a hockey novel"— The Stranger
"If it's the best hockey book ever written, does that make it The Great Canadian Novel?"— The Danforth Review
"a brilliant work... a postmodern Canadian classic"— National Post
"A wonderfully fierce and funny book... imagine Hunter S. Thompson on hockey skates"— Vancouver Sun
" funny, cluttered, driven, as if Denis Johnson had written a hockey novel"— The Stranger
"If it's the best hockey book ever written, does that make it The Great Canadian Novel?"— The Danforth Review
"a brilliant work... a postmodern Canadian classic"— National Post
"A wonderfully fierce and funny book... imagine Hunter S. Thompson on hockey skates"— Vancouver Sun
316 pages, Paperback
First published January 16, 1997
About the author
Mark Anthony Jarman
36 books24 followersMark Anthony Jarman is the author of Knife Party at the Hotel Europa, My White Planet, 19 Knives, New Orleans Is Sinking, Dancing Nightly in the Tavern, and the travel book Ireland’s Eye. His novel, Salvage King Ya!, is on Amazon.ca’s list of 50 Essential Canadian Books and is the number one book on Amazon’s list of best hockey fiction.
He has won a Gold National Magazine Award in nonfiction, has twice won the Maclean-Hunter Endowment Award, won the Jack Hodgins Fiction Prize, and has been included in The Journey Prize Anthology and Best Canadian Stories and short-listed for the O. Henry Prize and Best American Essays.
He has published in Walrus, Canadian Geographic, Hobart, The Barcelona Review, Vrij Nederland, and reviews for The Globe & Mail. He is a graduate of The Iowa Writers’ Workshop, a Yaddo fellow, has taught at the University of Victoria, the Banff Centre for the Arts, and now teaches at the University of New Brunswick, where he is fiction editor of The Fiddlehead literary journal.
A.S. BYATT on Mark Jarman:
At last. It is very irritating to discover a wonderful book published too long ago to be an official "book of the year". I was talking to a German friend, a few years ago, and we were trying to think of the greatest short story ever. We agreed enthusiastically that it was Henry James's "The Beast in the Jungle". Martin then said reflectively, "Unless it is 'Burn Man on a Texas Porch'." I had never heard of that, nor of its author, Mark Anthony Jarman, a Canadian. (Canadians specialise in great short stories - Munro, Atwood.) Jarman's collection is called 19 Knives, and it is brilliant. The writing is extraordinary, the stories are gripping, it is something new. And now I can say so.
—The Guardian, November 24, 2007
He has won a Gold National Magazine Award in nonfiction, has twice won the Maclean-Hunter Endowment Award, won the Jack Hodgins Fiction Prize, and has been included in The Journey Prize Anthology and Best Canadian Stories and short-listed for the O. Henry Prize and Best American Essays.
He has published in Walrus, Canadian Geographic, Hobart, The Barcelona Review, Vrij Nederland, and reviews for The Globe & Mail. He is a graduate of The Iowa Writers’ Workshop, a Yaddo fellow, has taught at the University of Victoria, the Banff Centre for the Arts, and now teaches at the University of New Brunswick, where he is fiction editor of The Fiddlehead literary journal.
A.S. BYATT on Mark Jarman:
At last. It is very irritating to discover a wonderful book published too long ago to be an official "book of the year". I was talking to a German friend, a few years ago, and we were trying to think of the greatest short story ever. We agreed enthusiastically that it was Henry James's "The Beast in the Jungle". Martin then said reflectively, "Unless it is 'Burn Man on a Texas Porch'." I had never heard of that, nor of its author, Mark Anthony Jarman, a Canadian. (Canadians specialise in great short stories - Munro, Atwood.) Jarman's collection is called 19 Knives, and it is brilliant. The writing is extraordinary, the stories are gripping, it is something new. And now I can say so.
—The Guardian, November 24, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 15, 2014
I came across Salvage King, YA! while hunting for fictional stories about hockey. (It was playoff season...I might have a bit of an obsession.) While the protagonist is a hockey player, I was a little disappointed to find that the book isn't so much about the sport as it is about a man dealing with the end of his career and some other major life transitions. I'll admit that I may not have given it a fair chance because what I wanted from it was so specific.
I will say that the writing style is absolutely gorgeous. Mark Anthony Jarman manages to make every sentence read like it's a line from a poem, and every paragraph is packed with vivid imagery and inventive uses of vocabulary. The author also has the incredible ability to weave in images and ideas that are only mentioned for a sentence or two every few chapters, yet manage to be so striking that they stay in the back of your mind even during the chapters where they don't appear.
Where Salvage King, YA! falls short is in its execution of plot. There are actually many major events that occur throughout the novel, and the character development handles large changes with convincing subtlety, but this is all overshadowed by the writing. The plot points often feel as though they have been touched on too quickly, and the timeline can be difficult to follow, at times.
Salvage King, YA! gets 3 stars from me because I loved the writing, but I'm not entirely convinced that it should be a novel. The story seems forced into this format and I think it would be a lot more natural as a collection of short stories or maybe even prose poetry. That said, I understand adapted versions of some of the chapters have been published as short stories in a large selection of major Canadian literary magazines, so I may just need to seek those out, instead.
I will say that the writing style is absolutely gorgeous. Mark Anthony Jarman manages to make every sentence read like it's a line from a poem, and every paragraph is packed with vivid imagery and inventive uses of vocabulary. The author also has the incredible ability to weave in images and ideas that are only mentioned for a sentence or two every few chapters, yet manage to be so striking that they stay in the back of your mind even during the chapters where they don't appear.
Where Salvage King, YA! falls short is in its execution of plot. There are actually many major events that occur throughout the novel, and the character development handles large changes with convincing subtlety, but this is all overshadowed by the writing. The plot points often feel as though they have been touched on too quickly, and the timeline can be difficult to follow, at times.
Salvage King, YA! gets 3 stars from me because I loved the writing, but I'm not entirely convinced that it should be a novel. The story seems forced into this format and I think it would be a lot more natural as a collection of short stories or maybe even prose poetry. That said, I understand adapted versions of some of the chapters have been published as short stories in a large selection of major Canadian literary magazines, so I may just need to seek those out, instead.
August 27, 2008
This book captured my attention from its opening sentence: "There is something sad about wind and fences." The wind blows on through fences throughout the novel, as Drinkwater, a washed-up hockey player nearing obsolescence, comes to terms with his fading career, his future career operating his family's junkyard, and his relationships with three women: his ex-wife Kathy, his fiancée The Intended, and his mistress Waitress X.
The unusual feature of this novel is its lack of characters. Drinkwater's string of hockey coaches and fellow players are known simply as "coach" or "the goalie," and one is not distinguished from another. His Intended and Waitress X are never named, and character development is almost entirely lacking. This novel is about Drinkwater himself, and it is sustained entirely by Jarman's remarkable prose. Jarman normally sticks to short stories, where his writing shines without the need to sustain the reader over 80,000 words or more. That Salvage King, Ya! pulls it off is quite a feat.
The unusual feature of this novel is its lack of characters. Drinkwater's string of hockey coaches and fellow players are known simply as "coach" or "the goalie," and one is not distinguished from another. His Intended and Waitress X are never named, and character development is almost entirely lacking. This novel is about Drinkwater himself, and it is sustained entirely by Jarman's remarkable prose. Jarman normally sticks to short stories, where his writing shines without the need to sustain the reader over 80,000 words or more. That Salvage King, Ya! pulls it off is quite a feat.
September 26, 2012
I have no idea what I think about this book. It was half-brilliant and half-terrible; too many women and scene descriptions, perhaps, not enough hockey?
July 12, 2011
I love The Good Body by Bill Gaston. I love King Leary by Paul Quarrington. A fellow lover of hockey lit told me this one is just as good.
Jason Blake, who wrote the most comprehensive account of hockey in Canadian literature, asserts that this is the best hockey novel. I can see why. I'd definitely include it in the company of King Leary and The Good Body (high praise).
Jason Blake, who wrote the most comprehensive account of hockey in Canadian literature, asserts that this is the best hockey novel. I can see why. I'd definitely include it in the company of King Leary and The Good Body (high praise).
October 30, 2013
I had a hard time trying to get through this book. I was not particularly pleased with the style in which the story was being told. It was hard to follow at times. My best advice is to look at each paragraph as an individual story, and by the end of the novel, you should have some sense as to of what its about... hopefully.
April 17, 2009
This book is insanely beautiful and I need to read it again. I was racing through because the pace is frenetic and forward-moving, but the metaphorical level is so dense and the language is immaculate. LOVE LOVE LOVE!
October 22, 2022
A beefy Canadian hockey novel full of cheerful references to sports, alcoholism, mortality and infidelity. Lots of funny turns of language and cozy heartbreak.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews