The Grey Islands: Brick Books Classics 2

by John Steffler

Deluxe redesign of a seminal book by Canada’s former Parliamentary Poet Laureate.
Includes new material.

On the occasion of the press’s 40th anniversary, Brick Books is proud to present the second of six new editions of classic books from our back catalogue. This new edition of The Grey Islands features a foreword by scholar Adrian Fowler and a detailed and insightful look back at the book and the time of its inception by Steffler himself. Featuring a new cover and design by the renowned typographer Robert Bringhurst.

The Grey Islands is the story of one man’s pilgrimage to a remote island of Newfoundland’s northern peninsula. Using a broad range of styles, The Grey Islands delivers the bite of raw experience and embraces existence at the edge in all its terror and beauty.

Bent, I circle the building grubbing and rooting. Every shingle and stick I lift yields bait. Things Carm ate and didn’t eat, turned to worms. A kind of organic shadow of the man.
—from “The Grey Islands”

Praise for The Grey Islands:

“[The book] illustrates… how the outsider becomes an insider by becoming a supplicant, renouncing the role of saviour and honouring the culture of the people among whom he has decided to make his home.” —Adrian Fowler, from the Introduction.

Genres: Poetry, Canada, Fiction, Audiobook

207 pages, Paperback

First published April 13, 1985

Reviews

[HomeInMyShoes]

The wind. The sea. The rock. A much appreciated meditation on a place I lived for a few years.

[Lara Maynard]

Aaagh! I was just a couple characters away from a finished review for this audiobook when I hit "restart now" instead of "restart later" on a virus software update popup. Will write it again later when I'm a little less pissed off at myself and technology.

[Nick]

Great free-verse with supporting prose. Perfect for reading all day by a fire in the Pacific Northwest winters.

[Erika Westman]

Exceptional work. Why had I never heard of John Steffler before? Delivered in poems and short prose, the story follows a husband-father-urban planner on his lone quest to find himself or run away to the remote and abandoned Grey Islands of Newfoundland. There, he encounters characters, ghosts, fish, and questions about his life choices.

One of the most memorable scenes takes place on a fishing boat: knee deep in cod, he learns to gut the fish and realizes there's nothing but a thin layer of skin that separates his blood and the blood of the fish, that it is all the same. The Grey Islands is very much of its place, but universal too, imbued with the love and doubts we all share.

[Barbara Sibbald]

On the occasion of Brick Books' 40th anniversary, it has reissued this Canadian classic by the former Parliamentary Poet Laureate. Part pilgrimage part eco exploration, Grey Islands reveals the thoughts and journey of a townie who spends a summer on the east coast of Newfoundland. This is a marvelous read as we journey with the narrator to discover himself amid the beauty, poetry and harsh reality of island life.
I marked more than 30 passages that I found poignant; more than I could possible recount here. You'll have to read it yourself.

[J Uribe]

Such an interesting collection of life on a small Newfoundland island. Located in Division no. 9, Subdivision F, a once thriving island is now (in 1985) home to one. Collection includes the one man's perspective in his solitude but also the varied recollections of the peculiar people who call Newfoundland home. Poetic beautiful language. I enjoyed this in audiobook form.

[Shelly Seward]

3.5 stars. I really enjoyed the storied prose.

[H]

Stunning description of Newfoundland, the geography, the culture and folklore.

[Lauren Quinsey]

Beautifully written, gloomy like the weather, sad, but also uplifting

[Pamela Stanford]

Bay did I luv earring de newf accent from de audiobook version, brings ya right der on da rock wid em ;)

[Jack]

Overdrive Audiobook

[Alexander Weber]

Night on the island is full of power. In the dark the land and sea are released from the spell of logic and industry the sun’s light places upon them. The water, the trees and hills rise up. They roam and assume what shapes they wish.

At one point last night I stepped out of the cabin and was startled by the gigantic glaring presence of the moon, its reflection reaching in a broad flashing path down the sea, like a river of cold light falling straight to the cabin door. I had never seen the moon so large or so white, and its light seemed too sharp, too keen and alert: as if grinning – not hungrily exactly – but with knowing, exultant power, like some great animal.

It moved briskly, this creature of light, crippling its body with easy energy. And I stood swallowed up, gazing into it. But I could not bear it for long. It was too massive and too cold to confront alone. In a rush I turned to the cabin and opened the door: the relief! the lantern throwing its cone of warm light over the table, my book, the woodstove crackling contently.

I fucking love this book. How many times have I had this kind of experience with the moon? High on mushrooms with Sam and Ryan when we camped outside in -25 weather, sitting on a cliff-side on the northern shore lake Superior while biking across Canada.

The Moon by The Microphones

More: ‘It’s enough to record what’s obvious. Here in the foreground. But always this is what’s hardest to see. The habit of straining your eyes craning to get above obstacles is the biggest obstacle.
The doubt that there’s any value in doing things.

Essentially this book is about a man who goes to live on an deserted island (for what reason?) off the coast of Newfoundland with tragic history, becomes scared he might encounter a mad man, or worse, that he'll have to encounter himself... he ends up desperately missing his family he left back in Toronto.

I don't know why this book is so perfect. But it is.

[Alessia]

This book sort of confused me. Because it said it was a poetry book, but then there were sections of text that were full paragraphs and followed a novel format. And although I didn't really like alot of the poems, and I found some of his examples were just plain stupid, there was a nice progression with the writing where each block of text showed this nice progression through the charatcer's life and how his perspectives changes over the years. Like I said, didn't really enjoy it, but it was decent enough that I only fell asleep maybe 2 times while reading, and didn't just give up all together. But then again, school books.....what are you gonna do

[Tim Cresswell]

Wonderful discovery - the launch of a new edition in a run down tavern in Ottawa. Brick Books putting out a new edition with Steffler and friends reading from it. I bought is and read it. Both old and new at the same time. On the one had a lone male withdrawing into nature - not so new - on the other a mix of prose, poems, census details - many voices - very modern. Loved it.

[Stephanie]

A good read.

[Elizabeth Murphy]

Steffler's voice is quiet but loud, funny yet poignant, always perceptive, at times, deadpan serious. Loved the audi0book!