Bring Me One of Everything

by Leslie Hall Pinder

Bring Me One of Everything is a novel which weaves real-life facts and fiction into an eloquent tale of suspense and intrigue. The title of the book is based on what the management of the Smithsonian is said to have demanded when sending ethnographers to native villages to gather artifacts for its collection: "Bring me one of everything." The novel is several layered stories centered around a troubled writer, Alicia Purcell, who has been commissioned to create the libretto for an opera about an anthropologist named Austin Hart. He earned fame in the 1950s for cutting down and bringing back to museums the largest remaining stand of totem poles in the world. They belonged to the Haida tribes who inhabit the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia. Hart's subsequent suicide creates the mystery Alicia attempts to solve as she consults present-day tribe members, Hart's friends and family, and his personal journals. Added to the complications of her search are Alicia's imperious though ailing mother, a cast-off lover, a narcissistic composer, and her own demons of disaffection. But an overarching question dogs her and the reader: why she is so obsessed with Austin Hart and this quest?

Genres: Fiction

350 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2012

Reviews

[Sherrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Pablo Beauchemin · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[My Book Addiction and More MBA · Rating 4 out of 5]

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)

Reviewed By: Jeanne Stone-Hunter

My Book Addiction and More

[Stephen Dorneman · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Tiffany · Rating 1 out of 5]

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.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It had me in it's thrall but I feel the ending was weak and predictable.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

#readswellwith The World is as Sharp as a Knife and Images Stone BC
http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/b...

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good concept but I think "Bring Me One of Everything" could have gone through another draft or two. Also, there were a surprising number of typos.

[Paulette]

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