The Dancehall Years: A West Coast saga from Bowen Island, 1939

by Joan Haggerty

Both an epic adventure and an interracial drama, this spellbinding novel brims with gorgeous writing. The complex family saga begins one summer on Bowen Island and in Vancouver during the Depression and moves through Pearl Harbour, the evacuation of the Japanese and three generations into the 1980s. Gwen Killam is a child whose idyllic island summers are obliterated by the war and consequent dramatically changed behavior of the adults around her. Her swimming teacher, Takumi, disappears along with his parents. The Lower Mainland is in blackout, and Gwen’s beloved Aunt Isabelle painfully realizes she must make an unthinkable sacrifice.

The island’s dance hall, a well-known destination for both soldiers on leave and summer picnickers, becomes the emotional landmark for time passing and time remembered.

Genres: Fiction, Canada

352 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2016

Reviews

[Dreamjeanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

What am I missing? Reviews seem so positive but for me this book was downright tedious to read with no real interest.

[Magdelanye · Rating 5 out of 5]

just so you know... I do not own a kindle, and I certainly didnt read this in a kindle edition.
somehow, its the only option today it seems, even tho it invites me to change it NB at last I have fixed this and hopefully it will stay fixed.

This is historical fiction of the most verifiable order, concerning events that occurred within the lifetime of some who are still living, and in a place I know and love.

JH has brought alive the story of the Canadian maltreatment of the Japanese forced from their homes during world war II. Cleverly and fluidly written, it is no way a diatribe but a pensive exploration of the impact of ignorance and unlikely connections.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haggerty’s prose ranges from lush and entrancing to terse and compelling, swooping from grand descriptions of the towering landscape to the minutiae of intimate relationships and interactions.

Read my complete review here: http://bookgagabooks.ca/2016/08/22/th...

[Barbara Brydges · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the first part of this book and was sure I’d give it five stars for the beautiful writing and its sense of place and time. However I got bogged down by part three when it completely becomes Gwen’s story. Although Gwen’s is the first voice in the novel, the first section is really Isabelle and Takumi’s story, and their story has such resonance that I wanted it to remain central. It’s the universal dreadful story of how neighbours can turn on neighbours, when encouraged to do so by their leaders - very much the case with Japanese Canadians during WWII.
Perhaps if the dynamics of Gwen’s own childhood had been made more obvious, I would have understood her fragility better - but her parents, Percy and Ada, were always opaque to me, so that Ada’s sudden transformation into a brave woman who’d overcome her fear of flying for the sake of her husband seemed utterly false.
The last section does satisfactorily pull all the threads of the novel back together again, for which I was grateful. And overall I’m very glad I read this novel, so my criticisms need to be read as disappointment that an outstanding book wasn’t quite what it could have been.

[Caroline Mcphail-Lambert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sad saga of generations living, loving, learning, and loss on Bowen Island, Vancouver and northern & southern areas of North America's West Coast. Ending left me not understanding it, but otherwise the story kept me engaged.

[Iona Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written and evocative.

[Satbir Thind · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it hard to follow the characters and the story line.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been mulling over my thoughts on this book over the past couple of days, as it is a fluid family saga. The writing is beautiful and I loved reading a story where I am very familiar with the setting.

[Kerry Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this one. An amazing summer read. Review to come!