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Going Home Again
Shortlisted for the 2013 Scotiabank Giller Prize A wrenching and dramatic story that explores the fabric of sibling rivalries, marriages on the rocks, hurt children, midlife crises―in short, modern life When Charlie Bellerose reunites with his flamboyant brother Nate, after two decades apart, their youthful rivalry seems forgotten. Drawn together again by their failed marriages, trying to survive in a world of long-distance parenting and hopeful reunions, they begin to imagine that they can be a new family of sorts. But Charlie’s chance encounter with his first love, Holly, now happily married, unravels his past and complicates his present, plunging him back to his bittersweet college days in Montreal and the fate of his best friend Miles, and forward into Nate’s dangerous attraction to Holly’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Riley. Yet even Charlie, with all he now knows about his brother, cannot foresee the violence to come. A novel about the mysteries of the human heart, Going Home Again is rich with the exquisite tensions between men and women as they fall in and out of love.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
13 people are currently reading
696 people want to read
About the author
Dennis Bock
7 books133 followersDennis Bock is a Canadian novelist and short story writer. His newest novel, STRANGERS AT THE RED DOOR, was published in September, 2025 and named a Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year.
The National Post ranked it in their top five novels of the fall publishing season.
"The Giller-shortlisted novelist uses the fantastic to tell a thrilling tale of censorship and the artist’s need to tell their story." — The Globe and Mail
“Eerily delightful. . . . Strange, affirming and lovely.... otherworldly beauty..." — Winnipeg Free Press
"What first appears to be a geopolitical thriller turns into a much richer story that delves into the psyches of the main characters. Their predicaments prompt questions that most of us have wrestled with, even in a fast-paced story with unexpected plot twists. The book steers clear of ideological polemics and predictable tropes, yet still celebrates those who risk their livelihoods and lives for freedom of expression. Best of all, there’s a kind of wisdom that Bock imparts in this book that makes it – ultimately – an uplifting read.” Robert Delaney, North America bureau chief, South China Morning Post
“…perfect for lively book club discussions” -- Miramichi Reader
“Extraordinary! Strangers at the Red Door is a novel of remarkable confidence and depth, unfolding across continents, time, and belief systems while remaining deeply intimate and human. At its core, it is a story of searching: every character is looking for something—love, knowledge, forgiveness, meaning—and each undertakes their own odyssey. From ghostwriting to the smuggling of contraband books, from dreams deferred to censorship, Bock's novel is threaded with questions of what is hidden and what is revealed. Coincidence dances with fate throughout, quietly and insistently, drawing lives together in ways that feel both surprising and inevitable. Dennis Bock moves seamlessly between points of view, giving the book a rich, filmic quality while allowing the story to unfold with precision and grace. What lingers is the emotional intelligence of the work. The characters are flawed, stubborn, vulnerable, and utterly alive. There were moments when a single sentence took my breath away, and others when I experienced loss alongside the characters. (I might have wept through the last 60 pages or so - not only because of the emotional impact of the book but also for its sheer beauty.) This is a novel meticulously crafted and deeply felt—a rare book that feels both inevitable and enduring. A masterpiece.” Heidi von Palleske, author of Two White Queens and the One-Eyed Jack
The Good German was published in September 2020 and praised by Margaret Atwood as "a cunning, twisted, compelling tale of deeply unexpected consequences."
Hailed by The Globe and Mail as “Canada's next great novelist,” Dennis has published four other books, including Olympia, The Ash Garden, The Communist's Daughter, and Going Home Again, shortlisted for the 2013 Scotiabank Giller Prize and winner of the 2014 Best Foreign Novel Award in China. His books have also been shortlisted for the Amazon/Books in Canada First Novel Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Prize, the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Regional Best Book), and the City of Toronto Book Award. His collection of stories, Olympia, won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, the Canadian Authors’ Association Jubilee Award, and the Betty Trask Award in the UK. The Ash Garden won the 2002 Canada-Japan Literary Award. His books have been published in translation in nine languages in twenty-three territories.
Dennis grew up in Oakville, Ontario and completed a degree in English literature and philosophy at the University of Western Ontario. He teaches at the University of Toronto and the Humber School for Writers.
The National Post ranked it in their top five novels of the fall publishing season.
"The Giller-shortlisted novelist uses the fantastic to tell a thrilling tale of censorship and the artist’s need to tell their story." — The Globe and Mail
“Eerily delightful. . . . Strange, affirming and lovely.... otherworldly beauty..." — Winnipeg Free Press
"What first appears to be a geopolitical thriller turns into a much richer story that delves into the psyches of the main characters. Their predicaments prompt questions that most of us have wrestled with, even in a fast-paced story with unexpected plot twists. The book steers clear of ideological polemics and predictable tropes, yet still celebrates those who risk their livelihoods and lives for freedom of expression. Best of all, there’s a kind of wisdom that Bock imparts in this book that makes it – ultimately – an uplifting read.” Robert Delaney, North America bureau chief, South China Morning Post
“…perfect for lively book club discussions” -- Miramichi Reader
“Extraordinary! Strangers at the Red Door is a novel of remarkable confidence and depth, unfolding across continents, time, and belief systems while remaining deeply intimate and human. At its core, it is a story of searching: every character is looking for something—love, knowledge, forgiveness, meaning—and each undertakes their own odyssey. From ghostwriting to the smuggling of contraband books, from dreams deferred to censorship, Bock's novel is threaded with questions of what is hidden and what is revealed. Coincidence dances with fate throughout, quietly and insistently, drawing lives together in ways that feel both surprising and inevitable. Dennis Bock moves seamlessly between points of view, giving the book a rich, filmic quality while allowing the story to unfold with precision and grace. What lingers is the emotional intelligence of the work. The characters are flawed, stubborn, vulnerable, and utterly alive. There were moments when a single sentence took my breath away, and others when I experienced loss alongside the characters. (I might have wept through the last 60 pages or so - not only because of the emotional impact of the book but also for its sheer beauty.) This is a novel meticulously crafted and deeply felt—a rare book that feels both inevitable and enduring. A masterpiece.” Heidi von Palleske, author of Two White Queens and the One-Eyed Jack
The Good German was published in September 2020 and praised by Margaret Atwood as "a cunning, twisted, compelling tale of deeply unexpected consequences."
Hailed by The Globe and Mail as “Canada's next great novelist,” Dennis has published four other books, including Olympia, The Ash Garden, The Communist's Daughter, and Going Home Again, shortlisted for the 2013 Scotiabank Giller Prize and winner of the 2014 Best Foreign Novel Award in China. His books have also been shortlisted for the Amazon/Books in Canada First Novel Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Prize, the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Regional Best Book), and the City of Toronto Book Award. His collection of stories, Olympia, won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, the Canadian Authors’ Association Jubilee Award, and the Betty Trask Award in the UK. The Ash Garden won the 2002 Canada-Japan Literary Award. His books have been published in translation in nine languages in twenty-three territories.
Dennis grew up in Oakville, Ontario and completed a degree in English literature and philosophy at the University of Western Ontario. He teaches at the University of Toronto and the Humber School for Writers.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
October 23, 2013
Dennis Bock's Going Home Again intrigued me by its title, suggesting a topic that I relate to in more ways than one. It also sounded like a very different novel from his earlier ones, The Ash Garden and The Communist's Daughter that are both anchored in a historical context and that I liked very much. Going Home Again then is a contemporary story as much as a timeless private and even intimate story about love and loss, winning and losing, and making choices.
The story follows the journey - physical and especially emotional - of Charlie Bellerose, the narrator, who flees Canada for Europe in an effort to distance himself from the recent and not so recent tragedies and upheavals in his life. Now, twenty years later, the middle-aged, successful and confident father of an adored daughter, returns to Toronto, hoping to restart his life back "home". Bock's writing is affecting and personable as he follows the ups and downs of his hero's journey and inner struggles. We see the world through the eyes of Charlie, including his friends, his past and present lovers, and, last but not least, his brother Nate. His depiction of places, such as Montreal, Toronto or Madrid, where he eventually establishes himself in Europe, is lively and colourful.
It is often said that you have to leave home before you appreciate it fully. For Charlie his journey home is much more complex and difficult than that. He and his brother Nate, orphans since a young age, grow up into very different individuals and, not surprisingly, clash in ways that lead to emotional tension and separation. Will reconciliation be possible upon his return? In Europe, Charlie has strived to live "in the moment" but he is not really the type of person to succeed in this endeavor: he is too sensitive and his emotional ties turn out to be stronger than he would like them to be.
Going Home Again was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize 2013. Personally, I was in two minds about my views of the novel. On the one hand, it reads very well and I for one felt engaged with the story and enjoyed the way Bock unravels his protagonist's character, some dramatic twists as well as the backstory over time. On the other hand I felt not totally satisfied with the story and several narrative strands that were left underdeveloped.
The story follows the journey - physical and especially emotional - of Charlie Bellerose, the narrator, who flees Canada for Europe in an effort to distance himself from the recent and not so recent tragedies and upheavals in his life. Now, twenty years later, the middle-aged, successful and confident father of an adored daughter, returns to Toronto, hoping to restart his life back "home". Bock's writing is affecting and personable as he follows the ups and downs of his hero's journey and inner struggles. We see the world through the eyes of Charlie, including his friends, his past and present lovers, and, last but not least, his brother Nate. His depiction of places, such as Montreal, Toronto or Madrid, where he eventually establishes himself in Europe, is lively and colourful.
It is often said that you have to leave home before you appreciate it fully. For Charlie his journey home is much more complex and difficult than that. He and his brother Nate, orphans since a young age, grow up into very different individuals and, not surprisingly, clash in ways that lead to emotional tension and separation. Will reconciliation be possible upon his return? In Europe, Charlie has strived to live "in the moment" but he is not really the type of person to succeed in this endeavor: he is too sensitive and his emotional ties turn out to be stronger than he would like them to be.
Going Home Again was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize 2013. Personally, I was in two minds about my views of the novel. On the one hand, it reads very well and I for one felt engaged with the story and enjoyed the way Bock unravels his protagonist's character, some dramatic twists as well as the backstory over time. On the other hand I felt not totally satisfied with the story and several narrative strands that were left underdeveloped.
October 26, 2013
Almost 300 pages to say "gosh, choices are HARD!" Selfish, rich, entitled characters in a solipsistic universe, fumbling around in their ennui. Other than some well crafted phrases, could someone tell me why I should care?
September 9, 2013
A lot of possibilities in this book to start and the writing is very good, but the threads don't lead anywhere. The protagonist is kind of a schmuck but not a compelling one. The reasons for Charlie's marital malaise let alone its eventual resolution are never satisfactorily explained and this pattern of promise and disappointment occurs throughout the novel making a tough go at times despite the book's brevity. Potentially interesting characters are introduced but rarely achieve three dimensions. Occasionally there is a glimmer of real potential, such as the menace that Charlie's brother Nate lends to the preceedings, or when Charlie, angered by his estranged wife's Xmas plans with their daughter in Paris and her lover, flies to Paris. But then just as quickly, the potential for conflict and character development is slotted away as quickly as possible into inconsequence,as if Bock were afraid to go for the really good bits. Considering the violence--real, lateral, considered, etc.--that pervades the novel, the safety is always on the trigger in terms of telling a really good story. Ultimately,this is a thin book focused on the petite bourgeois concerns of a hapless middle-aged man who just seems to be drifting about--ho-hum.
February 12, 2014
I didn't find this novel particularly compelling or eloquent. I felt that this novel had a much more masculine tone to it than the author's previous works, and I felt blocked by that tone as a reader; I just couldn't relate to the "maleness" of these characters.
Entitled, wealthy, bored men. Left me thinking, "So what? Poor you."
However, as with his previous books, I found Bock's prose easy to consume. Like a bag of chips, once it's opened, you keep eating and eating until they're all gone. You can think about how they tasted later.
3/5
Entitled, wealthy, bored men. Left me thinking, "So what? Poor you."
However, as with his previous books, I found Bock's prose easy to consume. Like a bag of chips, once it's opened, you keep eating and eating until they're all gone. You can think about how they tasted later.
3/5
June 19, 2017
Full disclosure: I know the author of this book as he taught a class in creative writing I took several years ago. I thought this novel was very interesting as it deals with what it is like to be a father today from a man's point of view, in this case a father separated from his beloved daughter and painfully estranged from his wife. The main character Charlie, a fortyish fairly successful language school owner, has come back home to Toronto after years of spending his adult life in Spain as his marriage has failed and he is looking for a fresh start. He has to contend with the pain of divorce and separation from his daughter as well as the adjustment to life in a country he has not lived in for a long time. The story revolves around a year in Charlie's life where he is forced to confront the truth about his first love Holly, his youthful escape from her and subsequent travels in Europe; as well he has to deal with unhappy visits to Spain with his now estranged wife and daughter and with his rocky relationship with his volatile, increasingly destructive older brother Nick. I think what Bock is trying to say is what it feels like to be a man in our modern era. Charlie appears to be a fairly affable character in contrast with his brother who never seems able to come to terms with the death of their parents or his wife leaving him and who in contrast with Charlie, ends up in a very bad situation.This sounds like psychobabble but what Bock shows us is a man willing to try to come to terms with his life not avoid it.
October 20, 2013
"I sat in a lounge chair overlooking the Catalan hills and discovered Herman Hesse, whose writing reminded me of the torment of my own soul. He understood. I could practically feel his hand reaching up through the page. If someone else could know and write so well about what I was feeling, I wasn't losing my mind after all."
That quote from Dennis Bock's Going Home Again seems in many respects central to the novel. As with the character's impression of Hesse, this book too is about the torment of the soul. Instead of feeling the writer's hand reaching up through the page, though, I found myself completely unable to sympathize with the largely self-inflicted crises in the novel. Without any emotional grounding, the stream of almost rhetorical existential questions began to feel ponderous rather than profound.
I wasn't that intrigued by the summary to begin with, but I enjoyed Bock's The Ash Garden enough to give him the benefit of the doubt. While there are some truly profound observations about coming to terms with one's past, I just found myself unable to get past the emotional miasma that to my mind could have been so easily avoided with some simple communication.
That quote from Dennis Bock's Going Home Again seems in many respects central to the novel. As with the character's impression of Hesse, this book too is about the torment of the soul. Instead of feeling the writer's hand reaching up through the page, though, I found myself completely unable to sympathize with the largely self-inflicted crises in the novel. Without any emotional grounding, the stream of almost rhetorical existential questions began to feel ponderous rather than profound.
I wasn't that intrigued by the summary to begin with, but I enjoyed Bock's The Ash Garden enough to give him the benefit of the doubt. While there are some truly profound observations about coming to terms with one's past, I just found myself unable to get past the emotional miasma that to my mind could have been so easily avoided with some simple communication.
April 6, 2014
Gripping. Read in one sitting, long into the night, with utter disregard for all other obligations. Beautifully characterized.
January 27, 2025
So beautifully written
November 5, 2013
This book is a fitting nomination for the pretigious Giller Prize in Canada. I really enjoyed it. It's not a long book, but a lot happens in it. Charlie Bellerose is the main character and this book is his story. It flips from when he was a young college student to present day where he is married with a thirteen year old daughter. Charlie has lead an interesting life. He was born in Canada (Toronto to be exact), and went to university in Montreal. He then travelled the world and ended up settling down in Madrid. Madrid is where he met his wife Isabelle and where they had their daughter Ava. When we meet up with Charlie at the beginning of the book he is going back to Canada to set up a new English language school, and reeling from a breakup with his wife. He and his brother Nate, who lives in Canada, get together in Toronto. Nate was always a gadabout and getting in and out of scrapes, but Charlie thinks he must have grown up bynow since he has two young sons and he also is suffering from a broken marriage. This book is beautifully written. It's a love story in its own way but two tragic events (one from the past and one in the present) link Charlie's past and present together and force him to take a long hard look at himself, and also force him to decide where he's going to go with his life. Brock's prose is so beautifully written and so simply and clearly phrased that I found that I began to care deeply about what Charlie would do as well.
August 21, 2013
This was the first time I've read Dennis Bock, and on the strength of it I've just ordered 'The Communist's Daughter'. So why only three stars? Well, whilst the novel is full of thoughts and insight and it flows beautifully with a convincing and consistent narrative voice, it isn't without its flaws. Not only does it feature one (maybe even two) of those children peculiar to fiction who are both wise and able to articulate that wisdom in a manner far beyond their years, but in Nate (Charles the narrator's brother), Bock gives us a wholly unsympathetic character and expects the reader to care about his 'disappearance' which is used to bookend the main story. Not only did I not care what had become of him, but that whole aspect of the plot feels both contrived and unnecessary: it adds nothing except to highlight the differences between Nate and Charles, and the ending doesn't ring true and feels rushed as though Bock had remembered he had a loose end that needed tying up. Still, the novel is excellent on ideas of family and on what constitutes 'home'.
February 20, 2017
I picked this up in a library binding at work so it had very little information about the book on the cover. It mentioned that it was a Giller Prize finalist and I thought that would be good enough. It wasn't. It's a fairly standard literary tale of an almost middle-aged man having a relationship crisis, plus some red herrings and some serious issues with his brother. A big chunk of it is told out of order, but the language also made me feel like I was at one or two removes from the main character (even in first person), even though the story felt like it would be better suited to a more intimate telling. It's not horrible and there's lots of local colour for Toronto, Montreal, and some cities in Europe.
July 30, 2024
Reads kind of like Bock’s first attempt at a novel, published after successfully submitting a few others, Hemingwayesque at times, in need of a polish to eliminate duplicate observations that somehow escaped the editing process. Otherwise, its apparent flaws (from the few Goodreads reviews I read) are less obtrusive than its charms need compensate against. I liked, in the end, how the narrative skips around, and I’m a sucker for stories that take the kids’ perspective into account (though Bock could’ve tried for more authentic voices). Anyway, a fine literary way to pass the time.
December 31, 2020
A new young writer not far from my home town, Mr. Bock was recommended through one of my feeds and turned out to be an enjoyable read with an original plot that kept me riveted to the end. Yes, it is not a whodunnit or thriller by any means but the writing and story were very intriguing with an original storyline. Will look forward to the next offering from this talented author.
April 19, 2022
I seemed to get into the story at various points but overall nothing lead anywhere. He left his wife and at the end may get back together, the rest was just stuff. Very confusing as to Nates real role in the whole story. There are a million fantastic books out there, leave this one on the shelve.
Sorry Dennis, wish I could have had a nicer review.
Sorry Dennis, wish I could have had a nicer review.
October 23, 2017
By the end of the book, I realized you have to give up on things in order to return home. A difficult lesson of life.
September 20, 2018
I enjoyed this book.
I liked reading Charlie's journey from events in his past to the present and how he tried to root for his brother who was written as an unredeemable character.
I liked reading Charlie's journey from events in his past to the present and how he tried to root for his brother who was written as an unredeemable character.
September 3, 2019
He's obviously a talented writer but I found myself skipping whole pages at a time and not missing much, because not much happens.
April 29, 2021
liked it..but seemed like the ending was unfinished..maybe a sequel was planned??
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August 27, 2021Dennis Bock is a great storyteller. Very entertaining read.
December 6, 2013
I'd rate this 4.5 stars.
As the owner of several language academies across the globe, Charlie Bellerose is a successful businessman, and he has the opportunity to travel all over the world. His personal life, however, isn't as successful at the current point. His recent separation from his wife motivated him to leave Madrid, where he has lived for nearly 20 years, and return to his native Toronto, where he plans to set up another school. This leaves him far away from his 12-year-old daughter, Ava, who is highly intelligent and resentful of Charlie's absence, which can't be ameliorated by a few visits back and forth and periodic conversations via Skype.
If there's a silver lining to his return to Toronto, it's that he's able to forge a new relationship with his older brother, Nate, to whom Charlie had always felt inferior, and his young nephews, Titus and Quinn. Nate is going through a vicious divorce, and is having trouble adjusting to the fact that his soon-to-be ex-wife has begun living with another man, a man with whom his sons feel comfortable.
At a book festival one weekend, Charlie runs into his first love, Holly, with whom he had a relationship during college. Holly is married and has children of her own, but Charlie can't help but think that she might be interested in starting over again with him. Seeing Holly makes Charlie long for his college days and the intensity of their tumultuous relationship, but it also reopens old wounds, as the two experienced a painful tragedy that affected them in different ways.
As he struggles with the feelings—good and bad—that Holly reignites, Charlie also must deal with his desire to be a good father to Ava. Can he be a presence in her life if he isn't living in Madrid? Can he live in Madrid if his wife is dating someone new? At the same time, Charlie must confront his brother's increasing anger toward his soon-to-be ex-wife, and the way his nephews are handling Nate's erratic behavior. It sparks memories of Charlie and Nate's relationship when they were younger, which is unsettling.
Can you ever really have all that you want, or must you make sacrifices in order to have the things that are most important to you? Can you stop someone you care about from destroying their life and those around them, or do you need to step back and allow them to make their own mistakes?
Dennis Bock does a great job delineating the challenges that come from love, family ties, parental obligations, and powerful memories of friendship in Going Home Again. While nothing truly earth-shattering or surprising happens in the book, it's a well-written and emotionally rich story, and I found myself completely engrossed in the plot very quickly.
As the owner of several language academies across the globe, Charlie Bellerose is a successful businessman, and he has the opportunity to travel all over the world. His personal life, however, isn't as successful at the current point. His recent separation from his wife motivated him to leave Madrid, where he has lived for nearly 20 years, and return to his native Toronto, where he plans to set up another school. This leaves him far away from his 12-year-old daughter, Ava, who is highly intelligent and resentful of Charlie's absence, which can't be ameliorated by a few visits back and forth and periodic conversations via Skype.
If there's a silver lining to his return to Toronto, it's that he's able to forge a new relationship with his older brother, Nate, to whom Charlie had always felt inferior, and his young nephews, Titus and Quinn. Nate is going through a vicious divorce, and is having trouble adjusting to the fact that his soon-to-be ex-wife has begun living with another man, a man with whom his sons feel comfortable.
At a book festival one weekend, Charlie runs into his first love, Holly, with whom he had a relationship during college. Holly is married and has children of her own, but Charlie can't help but think that she might be interested in starting over again with him. Seeing Holly makes Charlie long for his college days and the intensity of their tumultuous relationship, but it also reopens old wounds, as the two experienced a painful tragedy that affected them in different ways.
As he struggles with the feelings—good and bad—that Holly reignites, Charlie also must deal with his desire to be a good father to Ava. Can he be a presence in her life if he isn't living in Madrid? Can he live in Madrid if his wife is dating someone new? At the same time, Charlie must confront his brother's increasing anger toward his soon-to-be ex-wife, and the way his nephews are handling Nate's erratic behavior. It sparks memories of Charlie and Nate's relationship when they were younger, which is unsettling.
Can you ever really have all that you want, or must you make sacrifices in order to have the things that are most important to you? Can you stop someone you care about from destroying their life and those around them, or do you need to step back and allow them to make their own mistakes?
Dennis Bock does a great job delineating the challenges that come from love, family ties, parental obligations, and powerful memories of friendship in Going Home Again. While nothing truly earth-shattering or surprising happens in the book, it's a well-written and emotionally rich story, and I found myself completely engrossed in the plot very quickly.
October 26, 2013
"Trying to go back to some better time," Charlie Bellerose finally tells himself, in this emotionally moving novel about family and love and the meaning of home, "is doomed to failure." Instead, this book seems to say, men and women must be prepared to move forward, despite the strength of the past in shaping them. "Family," says Charlie's Spanish father-in-law, is "a conscious act of will, not a habit you simply fall into and take for granted."
The other three novels that have been placed on the short-list for Canada's 2013 Giller Prize are marked by sharp-edged action and strong plots ("Caught," "Cataract City" and "The Crooked Maid.") This book also tells a solid story, but overall it is a much more reflective, even introspective, piece of work -- playing out in the subtle relationships of Charlie with his various friends and lovers and family members over twenty-five years, as remembered by Charlie in flashbacks and as experienced in first-person comments and reports. For such a book to work, the central character narrating the novel must be a thoughtful, somewhat emotional, yet sensitive and discerning person -- and Dennis Bock portrays Charlie superbly in developing such a perspective. Bellerose is also involved in a set of interesting activities and relationships that gives the novel texture and depth -- from setting up a language school to taking drawing classes in downtown Toronto to becoming involved with a woman engaged with NGO development work in rural Asia.
The central focus of the novel, though, is the interplay of emotions and relationships around parental ties with children (especially Charlie's connection with his daughter Ava in Spain, and with his brother's children in Toronto) -- and between women and men (again, particularly Charlie's uncertain relations with his Spanish wife Isabel.) Male-female ties are explored with special sensitivity and skill, it seems to me -- making the novel emotionally moving.
So what is this novel about? I began reading it as a dramatic exploration of what it is like to come back to one's country again after many years away -- can you reconnect with the strands of that past world which were so important to you years before? But that's not how this book leaves me after a second read and much pondering. This seems to me an astute meditation on what home is, what it means, and how important it is to go back to again. It also seems to me a fine achievement that should be a strong contender for the Giller.
The other three novels that have been placed on the short-list for Canada's 2013 Giller Prize are marked by sharp-edged action and strong plots ("Caught," "Cataract City" and "The Crooked Maid.") This book also tells a solid story, but overall it is a much more reflective, even introspective, piece of work -- playing out in the subtle relationships of Charlie with his various friends and lovers and family members over twenty-five years, as remembered by Charlie in flashbacks and as experienced in first-person comments and reports. For such a book to work, the central character narrating the novel must be a thoughtful, somewhat emotional, yet sensitive and discerning person -- and Dennis Bock portrays Charlie superbly in developing such a perspective. Bellerose is also involved in a set of interesting activities and relationships that gives the novel texture and depth -- from setting up a language school to taking drawing classes in downtown Toronto to becoming involved with a woman engaged with NGO development work in rural Asia.
The central focus of the novel, though, is the interplay of emotions and relationships around parental ties with children (especially Charlie's connection with his daughter Ava in Spain, and with his brother's children in Toronto) -- and between women and men (again, particularly Charlie's uncertain relations with his Spanish wife Isabel.) Male-female ties are explored with special sensitivity and skill, it seems to me -- making the novel emotionally moving.
So what is this novel about? I began reading it as a dramatic exploration of what it is like to come back to one's country again after many years away -- can you reconnect with the strands of that past world which were so important to you years before? But that's not how this book leaves me after a second read and much pondering. This seems to me an astute meditation on what home is, what it means, and how important it is to go back to again. It also seems to me a fine achievement that should be a strong contender for the Giller.
October 7, 2013
Well, I decided to let this one digest a little before writing my thoughts on it. Bock's novel goes like this:
A middle-aged man who runs language schools in Europe has just split from his wife and leaves their home in Madrid to 'go back home' to Toronto to figure his shit out. And to set up another language school in Toronto (lol - like Toronto needs another language school!). This return trip separates him from his beloved daughter who has just reached the tender and important age of 13. The guy is conflicted about this. duh.
The return trip also reunites him with his brother, who was kind of a douche when they were younger and with whom he has not really interacted in at least a decade. His brother has just split from his wife, and so they are going through the same kind of stuff together in a way. an opportunity for bonding?
Our protagonist then runs into his 'first love' and all kinds of stuff from his past comes back to him - particularly this love triangle that occurred right before he left for Europe.
So, this books is about first loves, and messy family relationships, and divorce. A lot of material to deal with, but it is kind of all heavily trod material, isn't it? And while there are some really astute, bang-on observations about how we tend to deal (or not deal) with these types of events and relationships, for the most part I found myself underwhelmed. The father-daughter relationship is so full of clichés - she is a poorly drawn awkward precocious sensitive pre-teen (yawn - what about the real meat of adolescence? I mean if you are going to bother including an adolescent put some meat on your character's bones, don't just give the reader a lazy-man's stick figure), as are some of the other supporting characters of this navel-gazing drama. And the main character kind of sucks when it comes to the navel-gazing part.
On the other hand, I feel that the tendency of this protagonist to not get very deep into examining things, even when ostensibly trying to get his shit together (bad expression but it fits this case so well), to be satisfied with those easy pre-packaged answers for some pretty heavy life events and suffering, is also kind of an awesome genius stroke on the part of the author. Because isn't this what people do?
A middle-aged man who runs language schools in Europe has just split from his wife and leaves their home in Madrid to 'go back home' to Toronto to figure his shit out. And to set up another language school in Toronto (lol - like Toronto needs another language school!). This return trip separates him from his beloved daughter who has just reached the tender and important age of 13. The guy is conflicted about this. duh.
The return trip also reunites him with his brother, who was kind of a douche when they were younger and with whom he has not really interacted in at least a decade. His brother has just split from his wife, and so they are going through the same kind of stuff together in a way. an opportunity for bonding?
Our protagonist then runs into his 'first love' and all kinds of stuff from his past comes back to him - particularly this love triangle that occurred right before he left for Europe.
So, this books is about first loves, and messy family relationships, and divorce. A lot of material to deal with, but it is kind of all heavily trod material, isn't it? And while there are some really astute, bang-on observations about how we tend to deal (or not deal) with these types of events and relationships, for the most part I found myself underwhelmed. The father-daughter relationship is so full of clichés - she is a poorly drawn awkward precocious sensitive pre-teen (yawn - what about the real meat of adolescence? I mean if you are going to bother including an adolescent put some meat on your character's bones, don't just give the reader a lazy-man's stick figure), as are some of the other supporting characters of this navel-gazing drama. And the main character kind of sucks when it comes to the navel-gazing part.
On the other hand, I feel that the tendency of this protagonist to not get very deep into examining things, even when ostensibly trying to get his shit together (bad expression but it fits this case so well), to be satisfied with those easy pre-packaged answers for some pretty heavy life events and suffering, is also kind of an awesome genius stroke on the part of the author. Because isn't this what people do?
September 13, 2013
It seemed fitting that on Labour Day I read Dennis Bock’s labour of love, ‘Going Home Again.’ I was instantly swept into the story. It felt as though Charlie was sitting in the chair beside me; how could I not be sympathetic to his trials? He has much to figure out: the breakdown of his marriage; a severed connection with his daughter; a tragic incident from his youth that sparks to life with the appearance of a former lover. In a voice honest and convincing, we are drawn to Charlie for his sense of nobility as well as the bold contrast he strikes against his brother, Nate, a reckless, self-serving force that Charlie must deal with during his new posting in Toronto. There are many twists in the narrative, skillfully revealed at opportune moments, propelling the story forward. Backstory supplies vital details to enhance our understanding of characters’ motivations, melding past and present with a grace characteristic of Bock’s previous novels. We follow protagonist Charlie Bellerose from his university days at McGill to the far-reaching hills of the Spanish sierra, learning as we go of his unfolding relationships. We are continually surprised when our assumptions about characters and past events in Charlie’s life are proven wrong; the “oh!” experience that is always thrilling for a reader.
The narrative style flows effortlessly. Moments of sheer poetry rise from the page. In this love scene: “We undressed in the light of the August moon and shared the ice until our skin and bedding were soaked through and the small, unforgettable shudders leaped between our bodies like little sparks in the night."
‘Going Home Again,’ teaches us about the power of reconciliation and the importance of family. Charlie shows a true commitment to his daughter, their relationship a force in the storyline that holds the reader captive. If and how he might find his way home sustains the reader’s suspense through the escalating final chapters where events take a sudden tragic turn.
‘Going Home Again’ was a pleasure to read and stayed with me days after. I look forward to future novels from Dennis Bock.
Reviewed by Dale-Anne Stewart
The narrative style flows effortlessly. Moments of sheer poetry rise from the page. In this love scene: “We undressed in the light of the August moon and shared the ice until our skin and bedding were soaked through and the small, unforgettable shudders leaped between our bodies like little sparks in the night."
‘Going Home Again,’ teaches us about the power of reconciliation and the importance of family. Charlie shows a true commitment to his daughter, their relationship a force in the storyline that holds the reader captive. If and how he might find his way home sustains the reader’s suspense through the escalating final chapters where events take a sudden tragic turn.
‘Going Home Again’ was a pleasure to read and stayed with me days after. I look forward to future novels from Dennis Bock.
Reviewed by Dale-Anne Stewart
June 9, 2023
About two brothers Charlie and Nate whose marriages simultaneously fall apart. Charlie, who after almost two decades in Spain has come home to Toronto, where he hopes to expand the chain of language schools he runs and gain perspective on his lost marriage and the guilt of leaving Ava is daughter. Up for the Guiller prize.
"Dennis Bock’s third novel, “Going Home Again,” begins ominously: “On the Friday evening before Kaj Adolfsson was killed, I was actually feeling pretty good about things.” But readers expecting Nordic noir will be disappointed. The murder, when we finally hear about it in the last few pages, is a minor plot point. This is not a whodunit but a story about reckoning with the past.
Bock’s previous books covered similar thematic territory. His acclaimed first novel, “The Ash Garden,” is about three characters confronting the legacy of the bombing of Hiroshima, and “The Communist’s Daughter” is a fictionalized biography of the Canadian doctor Norman Bethune, who recalls his life on the front lines in the Spanish Civil War and during Mao’s revolution in China. Now, in his first contemporary novel, Bock narrows his scope to more intimate upheavals: sibling rivalry, lost love and midlife crisis.
“I was coming off a strange year, a bit battered and bruised, but my circumstances were looking up,” the narrator, Charlie Bellerose, tells us in the first paragraph. The novel chronicles that “strange year,” during which Charlie returns to his native Canada after separating from his wife in Madrid. Charlie is the founder of language academies and, desperate for a change of scene, he moves to Toronto to establish a school there. Back in Madrid, he usually spoke Spanish with his family, so his new life requires translation, both literal and figurative, as he adapts to English-speaking bachelorhood."
It was too disjointed and too much writing without a purpose …..which left you bored.
"Dennis Bock’s third novel, “Going Home Again,” begins ominously: “On the Friday evening before Kaj Adolfsson was killed, I was actually feeling pretty good about things.” But readers expecting Nordic noir will be disappointed. The murder, when we finally hear about it in the last few pages, is a minor plot point. This is not a whodunit but a story about reckoning with the past.
Bock’s previous books covered similar thematic territory. His acclaimed first novel, “The Ash Garden,” is about three characters confronting the legacy of the bombing of Hiroshima, and “The Communist’s Daughter” is a fictionalized biography of the Canadian doctor Norman Bethune, who recalls his life on the front lines in the Spanish Civil War and during Mao’s revolution in China. Now, in his first contemporary novel, Bock narrows his scope to more intimate upheavals: sibling rivalry, lost love and midlife crisis.
“I was coming off a strange year, a bit battered and bruised, but my circumstances were looking up,” the narrator, Charlie Bellerose, tells us in the first paragraph. The novel chronicles that “strange year,” during which Charlie returns to his native Canada after separating from his wife in Madrid. Charlie is the founder of language academies and, desperate for a change of scene, he moves to Toronto to establish a school there. Back in Madrid, he usually spoke Spanish with his family, so his new life requires translation, both literal and figurative, as he adapts to English-speaking bachelorhood."
It was too disjointed and too much writing without a purpose …..which left you bored.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 16, 2013
I liked this book a great deal and had a couple of good conversations about it on the weekend with patrons. They were evenly divided - one liked it and one found it hard to read - but we all agreed that the main character was self-centred but interesting. I don't mind an aggravating character and thought that, despite him being a bit egotistical, he was making interesting decisions and showing a lot of growth.
It was a wonderful trip through 20 years of this man's life as he returns to his home town (Toronto) and gets to know his brother and nephews after years away. He reflects upon his childhood, thinks about his marriage and parenthood and revisits the death of a cherished friend from his university days. It felt like a true representation of how all of these feeling swirl together to make this character the man he is and after reading the book I thought about it for quite a while. I did think he grew as a person and that Dennis Bock wrote a beautiful novel filled with the layers a man like Charlie should have. It was easy to follow Charlie as he reminisced about past love and his relationship with his awful brother and I felt the ending was very satisfying. In this I am a direct opposite to a fast-reading patron who felt she had to see how it ended, just because she disliked the main character so much, and she didn't see that the ending 'rang true'.
So, it's a book that is worth suggesting to patrons, if only to have the fun of talking about it when they bring it back. I felt it would be a nice selection for book clubs because Charlie lives an international life and is struggling with parenting. There is a lot in this book for a group to talk about and it would be particularly fun for a group with men and women - so fun.
It was a wonderful trip through 20 years of this man's life as he returns to his home town (Toronto) and gets to know his brother and nephews after years away. He reflects upon his childhood, thinks about his marriage and parenthood and revisits the death of a cherished friend from his university days. It felt like a true representation of how all of these feeling swirl together to make this character the man he is and after reading the book I thought about it for quite a while. I did think he grew as a person and that Dennis Bock wrote a beautiful novel filled with the layers a man like Charlie should have. It was easy to follow Charlie as he reminisced about past love and his relationship with his awful brother and I felt the ending was very satisfying. In this I am a direct opposite to a fast-reading patron who felt she had to see how it ended, just because she disliked the main character so much, and she didn't see that the ending 'rang true'.
So, it's a book that is worth suggesting to patrons, if only to have the fun of talking about it when they bring it back. I felt it would be a nice selection for book clubs because Charlie lives an international life and is struggling with parenting. There is a lot in this book for a group to talk about and it would be particularly fun for a group with men and women - so fun.
Read
January 13, 2014After two acclaimed historical novels, one of Canada's most celebrated young writers now goes contemporary with the vibrant story of a man taking stock of the shape his life has taken, and why, and what-as a husband, a father, a brother, and an uncle-his responsibilities truly are.
Charlie Bellerose leads a semi-nomadic existence, traveling widely to manage the language academies he has established in different countries. After separating, somewhat amicably, from his wife, he moves from Madrid back to his native Canada to set up a new school, and for the first time in his life he forges a meaningful relationship with his brother, who's going through a vicious divorce. Charlie manages to make a fresh start in Toronto but longs for his twelve-year-old daughter, whom he sees only via Skype and the occasional overseas visit. After a chance encounter with a college girlfriend, he works through a series of memories-including a particularly painful one they share-as he reflects on how he ended up where he is. But two tragic events (one long past, the other very much in the present) finally force him to reevaluate his priorities and his relationships with everyone around him.
This book will stay with me for a long time. And that is saying something. I tend to like female authors more than the male authors, I have a couple of male authors I like, but not love. But Dennis has been moved to that list! I liked Charlie. I liked how he tried to take care of his brother. Such simple words but when you put them all together, it just wowed me. Read it, you just must!
Charlie Bellerose leads a semi-nomadic existence, traveling widely to manage the language academies he has established in different countries. After separating, somewhat amicably, from his wife, he moves from Madrid back to his native Canada to set up a new school, and for the first time in his life he forges a meaningful relationship with his brother, who's going through a vicious divorce. Charlie manages to make a fresh start in Toronto but longs for his twelve-year-old daughter, whom he sees only via Skype and the occasional overseas visit. After a chance encounter with a college girlfriend, he works through a series of memories-including a particularly painful one they share-as he reflects on how he ended up where he is. But two tragic events (one long past, the other very much in the present) finally force him to reevaluate his priorities and his relationships with everyone around him.
This book will stay with me for a long time. And that is saying something. I tend to like female authors more than the male authors, I have a couple of male authors I like, but not love. But Dennis has been moved to that list! I liked Charlie. I liked how he tried to take care of his brother. Such simple words but when you put them all together, it just wowed me. Read it, you just must!
January 24, 2015
A somewhat depressing account of the ambivalent relations of Charlie Bellerose, who flees Toronto to join his best friend Miles in Montreal at McGill, where Miles, intellectually gifted & socially apt, has a beautiful new girl friend Holly, whom Charlie is smitten by. They spend a lot of time together until Miles dies falling off a footbridge-which turns out later is suicide precipitated by Holly's admission that she loves Charlie. Though they will form a relationship, it will be marred by Holly's sense of guilt. and Charlie will leave her as he senses that it will always interfere in their love. He owns several language schools. When he goes to Madrid on business, he meets & falls in love with Isobel whom he will marry, & fathers Ava a daughter that he can't live without. However the marriage breaks up when Ava is 12. Charlie returns to Toronto to found another school & connects again with his older brother Nate- a self-indulgent seductive man, whose own marriage has failed, his 2 sons staying mainly with their mother, though Charlie spends a lot of time with them when Nate is away-which is often. Nate's ex-wife has moved in with her Swedish wealthy lover. Charlie meets up again with Holly, who is happily married & has 2 children. When Nate seduces Holly's teenage daughter, Charlie gives up on him, especially when Nate murders his ex-wife's lover & is jailed. When Charlie returns to Madrid for Ava's 13th BD, he renews his relation with Isobel, and later will return permanently to his family there.
October 3, 2013
'Do we fail love or does love fail us?' is a line from Dennis Bock novel Going Home Again. And it is the complexities that surround that question that he builds his poignant novel around.
Page 46
A lot disappears from your memory in two decades. Things slip and fade and finally vanish. Places you've seen, people you knew, those wild revelations you thought would change your life. Where do they go? But there are things about my student days that I still remember perfectly - a view from a window, how an old friend moved when he was in a hurry, the autumn sunshine catching the bright white pages of a book turned open on a desk. Seeing Holly again brought that world back into sharp focus for me. It was like no time at all had passed since that weekend in Montreal when I first met her.
The book deals with a period of life that the protagonist Charlie Bellerose is in flux with. He is recently separated from his wife and his 12-year-old daughter. He comes back to his native Canada and is trying to build a relationship with his brother. And worse of it all, he has bumps into a ex-girlfriend whom he shares some painful memories.
Link to my blog
Page 46
A lot disappears from your memory in two decades. Things slip and fade and finally vanish. Places you've seen, people you knew, those wild revelations you thought would change your life. Where do they go? But there are things about my student days that I still remember perfectly - a view from a window, how an old friend moved when he was in a hurry, the autumn sunshine catching the bright white pages of a book turned open on a desk. Seeing Holly again brought that world back into sharp focus for me. It was like no time at all had passed since that weekend in Montreal when I first met her.
The book deals with a period of life that the protagonist Charlie Bellerose is in flux with. He is recently separated from his wife and his 12-year-old daughter. He comes back to his native Canada and is trying to build a relationship with his brother. And worse of it all, he has bumps into a ex-girlfriend whom he shares some painful memories.
Link to my blog
September 15, 2013
Charlie is a successful businessman living in Madrid with his wife and daughter when Isabel informs him shes been having an affair and their marriage is over. In spite of his need to keep his relationship with his 12 year old daughter strong, he heads home to Toronto to start a new branch of his language schools and to escape. To his surprise he is able to find some sort of family with his brother, long estranged and also recently separated, and the nephews he has never met, though it is clear there is trouble here too. A brief meeting with his first girlfriend sends Charlie into a tailspin of memories as he deals with work and struggles to keep connected to his daughter. But there are tragedies here, way in the past, unresolved, and also ahead. A really good story, ultimately a story about love. The characters, well, mostly Charlie but all are well written, just not all likable, and the plot, pulled me in very quickly and worked its way into my heart.
Helpful hint-- reread the prologue when you finish the book.
Helpful hint-- reread the prologue when you finish the book.
March 9, 2014
It must have been a slow year for Giller nominees. Going Home Again reads easily and is mildly interesting as travelogue, criss-crossing the Atlantic between Canada and Europe several times. However, it does this perhaps too many times for the relatively short length of the novel, managing to fit in Toronto, Montreal, Berlin and Madrid, with side-trips to Niagara Falls and Paris in 256 pages. None of the characters are particularly engaging, and their upper-middle class psychodramas are the stuff of old drama series like Thirtysomething. The not-very-nuanced messages seem to be that family, lovers and ourselves can be disappointing and that being connected to others is messy and difficult. Not Earth-shattering stuff by any means. Everything feels a bit muted and careful. Still, if you want something to while away a few hours at the beach or on a plane you might want to check it out of the library. I think that if I had had to purchase this book, I would have been even less favorably disposed to it.
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