The Last of the Crazy People

by Timothy Findley

The Last of the Crazy People is Timothy Findley’s first novel, the compelling story of an eleven-year-old boy’s private world of bewilderment and conflict. His mother won’t leave her room, his adored older brother is drinking, and his father is obsessed with the family’s disintegration, but seems unable to fix it. Left to himself, Hooker broods on events -- and takes terrifying steps to end the confusion.

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Canadian Literature, Gothic, Classics, Family, Mental Health

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 18, 1967

About the author

Timothy Irving Frederick Findley was a Canadian novelist and playwright. He was also informally known by the nickname Tiff or Tiffy, an acronym of his initials.

One of three sons, Findley was born in Toronto, Ontario, to Allan Gilmour Findley, a stockbroker, and his wife, the former Margaret Maude Bull. His paternal grandfather was president of Massey-Harris, the farm-machinery company. He was raised in the upper class Rosedale district of the city, attending boarding school at St. Andrew's College (although leaving during grade 10 for health reasons). He pursued a career in the arts, studying dance and acting, and had significant success as an actor before turning to writing. He was part of the original Stratford Festival company in the 1950s, acting alongside Alec Guinness, and appeared in the first production of Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker at the Edinburgh Festival. He also played Peter Pupkin in Sunshine Sketches, the CBC Television adaptation of Stephen Leacock's Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town.

Though Findley had declared his homosexuality as a teenager, he married actress/photographer Janet Reid in 1959, but the union lasted only three months and was dissolved by divorce or annulment two years later. Eventually he became the domestic partner of writer Bill Whitehead, whom he met in 1962. Findley and Whitehead also collaborated on several documentary projects in the 1970s, including the television miniseries The National Dream and Dieppe 1942.

Through Wilder, Findley became a close friend of actress Ruth Gordon, whose work as a screenwriter and playwright inspired Findley to consider writing as well. After Findley published his first short story in the Tamarack Review, Gordon encouraged him to pursue writing more actively, and he eventually left acting in the 1960s.

Findley's first two novels, The Last of the Crazy People (1967) and The Butterfly Plague (1969), were originally published in Britain and the United States after having been rejected by Canadian publishers. Findley's third novel, The Wars, was published to great acclaim in 1977 and went on to win the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction. It was adapted for film in 1981.

Timothy Findley received a Governor General's Award, the Canadian Authors Association Award, an ACTRA Award, the Order of Ontario, the Ontario Trillium Award, and in 1985 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. He was a founding member and chair of the Writers' Union of Canada, and a president of the Canadian chapter of PEN International.

His writing was typical of the Southern Ontario Gothic style — Findley, in fact, first invented its name — and was heavily influenced by Jungian psychology. Mental illness, gender and sexuality were frequent recurring themes in his work. His characters often carried dark personal secrets, and were often conflicted — sometimes to the point of psychosis — by these burdens.

He publicly mentioned his homosexuality, passingly and perhaps for the first time, on a broadcast of the programme The Shulman File in the 1970s, taking flabbergasted host Morton Shulman completely by surprise.

Findley and Whitehead resided at Stone Orchard, a farm near Cannington, Ontario, and in the south of France. In 1996, Findley was honoured by the French government, who declared him a Chevalier de l'Ordre des arts et des lettres.

Findley was also the author of several dramas for television and stage. Elizabeth Rex, his most successful play, premiered at the Stratford Festival of Canada to rave reviews and won a Governor General's award. His 1993 play The Stillborn Lover was adapted by Shaftesbury Films into the television film External Affairs, which aired on CBC Television in 1999. Shadows, first performed in 2001, was his last completed work. Findley was also an active mentor to a number of young Canadian writers, including Marnie Woodrow and Elizabeth Ruth.

Reviews

[Jennifer (formerly Eccentric Muse) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book plodded along stealth-like, with an intriguing although unreliable narrator: the 11-yr-old Hooker, whose mute confusion and sadness were so very painful to bear witness to but who was also in some ways inaccessible for much of this very short novel. It was hard to know where the story was going - and even whose story it was - until the end, when the book turned dark and then darker still. In the last 50 pages, Findley spins kaleidoscopically around the family, finally giving the reader an inside look at each character's tragic isolation and personal hell.

Findley's playwright sense for mining the drama out of common-place domestic scenes, along with his fearless exploration of the themes of madness, family dysfunction and social stigma - not to mention the crazy-mommy-and-damaged-son motif - are all particularly strong here in his first novel.

It packs a wallop.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't believe that this isn't a southern novel. It has all the elements:
eccentric, brooding characters CHECK
deposed aristocractic family CHECK
rambling old house in a field CHECK
Distressed race relations CHECK
Questionable names for characters and pets CHECK

I love this book that is mysteriously set in Canada. It's equal parts Faulkner's South, Flannery O'Conner's twisted morality and J.D. Salinger's existential dialogue. The writing is spare and exact. There is this tension throughout the book between the inaction of a diseased family and what you know must be coming, ratcheted up notch by notch and all through these tiny and exact physical details. If I could compare the tension in this book to a film it would be House of Yes and the Graduate.

[lapetitesouris · Rating 4 out of 5]

"He felt the old longing to know things and not to wonder anymore. He wondered what all secrets were. In all houses, all families, was it true that no one really loved? Was fear, then, was craziness absolutely everywhere?"

I love you, Timothy Findley.

[Lux · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first Findley tale I had ever read and this is where my long time love affair with the author and his works began. A powerful story with extreme resluts, but beautiful and moving nonetheless.

[livia]

the only reason why i want to read this is because mr. gord downie got the name "little bones" from the cat in this book. that is literally the only reason i haven't heard of it before today

[Megan Ayres · Rating 4 out of 5]

I originally bought this book because it seemed similar of 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' to me when I read the blurb, and I really enjoyed that book. As it turned out, it wasn't at all like 'Kevin' but it was good nonetheless, and I really enjoyed it. It's not a long book, but it's interestingly written.
It follows the life of a young, isolated boy called Hooker, who doesn't really understand why his mum spends all her time in her room and the things his brother talks about. Hooker doesn't really understand much, except for Iris, his cats, and his animal graveyard. But that's not enough for a growing boy, and faced with inexplicable circumstances and questions that never have a reply - Hooker imagines his own answers.
This book will probably require re-reading, it was a little hard to get through at times. Which, in all likelihood, is probably a stylistic feature used to echo Hooker's alienated and confused mental wanderings. However, overall this book was a little unnerving, and completely enrapturing.

[tamarack · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've heard nothing but amazing things about Timothy Findley -- but perhaps I should've started with "Not Wanted on the Voyage" (if only it'd been in at the library!).

Last of the Crazy People is a bizarre story. Our protagonist is a young boy whose mother has locked herself in her bedroom in anger, whose older brother who is in a constant struggle with adult society, whose father isn't, whose aunt obsessively straightens her hair pins and tries to control the living, and whose somewhat-ally is their Black maid. He buries dead animals and tends to his cats.

It wasn't an uplifting book, but it wasn't categorically "dark" either. The writing was good but didn't totally involve my underdeveloped attention span. ...Not much of a review -- I think I'll have to read more of Findley before I come to a conclusion.

[Jon Coutts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Findley's an efficient writer, and I love a novel that can fit in your back pocket. This was a deeply sad child's-eye view of a messed-up adult world where everyone covers for the spoiled white man, and it backfires.

[Devon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd anticipated loving this book as the subject of crazy families seen through children's eyes is usually a safe bet. And I've loved so many of Findley's books.

Half way through I realized reading it was like straining to listen to a soft-spoken person telling an animated story in a loud environment: much of it was lost, even after leaning in and straining to hear. This one was the sacrificial lamb of his novels--a believable story but written in a way that it needs to be heard, rather than read. Were TF still with us (alas!), he would have done an amazing job recording this as an audio book (as he trained first as an actor) and would have brought the story so much more alive. Or in his later years after many more books to his credit, he would have reworked it into a terrific screenplay. (Still, I love TF and I'm no worse off for having read it.)

It may help readers to hear/see TF speak to get the sound of his voice in your reading "ear" before setting off with this one. If interested in TF, there is a delightful old NFB documentary on him (on youtube) called Timothy Findley: Anatomy of a Writer.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book felt a little...pointless. The tempo was slow (although I realized it was written in the 60’s and I find older books slower), and I just did not understand the ending (why?!) but having said all that, the writing was great. I will still read his novel Not Wanted on the Voyage :)

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

i read this on vacation a few months back.

great book. very slow burn, but you feel all of it. every nuance and beat hits. waiting for this to become a film adaptation (though, not sure who could pull it off)

[Brett Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, while being absolutely engrossing, overwhelmingly brutal, heavily emotional, and elegantly written, was also a very convoluted one. You are left almost as confused as Hooker in the wake of events that seem to blend together in a destructive and malevolent haze of the crazed adult world.

I will admit, personally, that I had a problem with how overloaded the story was with sub-text because of this narrative style. It is often-times difficult for me to keep up with certain character archs when there is all guessing and no real absolutes. And though, while sub-text and mystery is part of great writing, I feel that an equal balance of "show and tell" is also essential to a great story.

Despite this, whole paragraphs of this book left me utterly entranced with what Findley could materialize out of words--as if, through the grim reality of his story, he could pluck out magical moments of grace amidst the horror of exceptional loneliness and isolation.

[Jase Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mesmerising. Findley's portrayal of an 11yo in 1964 is utterly persuasive, as we're absorbed by how he sees the world of his eccentric and dysfunctional family, and the book draws to its horrendous and inevitable conclusion

[Jennifer Rilstone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt like this was more of a sketch than a novel, although it had all the plot elements of a novel. It is a rare pleasure to enjoy clean prose. My takeaway was to really think about the effects of trauma on children, and the importance of talking about things to provide context.

[Lara Samulenok · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a good book. Slow in some places, the climax seems to come at the end. Much of the book leading up to the end isn't directly related or consequential to the ending. Different from his later books in style and polish, but still similar lines, feel, and vague descriptions.

[Michael Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Madness and dysfunction comes to life in this tale, as seen from the eyes of a young boy trapped in the front row.

[Dawn O'Rourke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written...somewhat disturbing, just like usual ;)

[Trevor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gripping. Painfully, perfectly slow. Loved the perspective of the eleven year old boy. This should be made into a film directed by Sarah Polley.

[Paula Dembeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was Timothy Findley’s first novel published in Britain in 1967, after initially being passed over in Canada. It is a dark a story but a very good one, well written, sensitive to the issue of mental illness and compelling in the way it explains the world experienced by a bewildered young boy trying to understand what is happening to his family.

Hooker Winslow is eleven, the youngest member of his well to do family living in southern Ontario in 1964. He is a lonely boy with few friends who spends most of his time with his cats, brooding and thinking about his family. He is intelligent and does well at school but is glad the academic year has come to an end and the summer has finally arrived. He is to go to Markham College in the fall and looking forward to this new experience, anxious to leave a place where it seems everyone knows his family’s troubles.

Iris Browne, the household’s black maid, has been with the family for over thirty years, faithful to the Winslows through all their struggles. Iris helped raise and care for the two children and is close to both of them but especially to Winslow. The two often spend time talking in the kitchen and Winslow always feels comfortable with her. Despite the relationship Iris has always had with the two boys, the rest of the family only see her as hired help, someone who cooks, cleans and helps care for Jessica who remains locked in her bedroom.

It has been months since Winslow has seen or talked to his mother Jessica, ever since she delivered a still born baby and locked herself in her room. His father Nicholas moved into the den and he rarely speaks to anyone in the family except his sister Rosetta, a spinster who lives with them. Rosetta suffered a stroke when she was younger and is now disfigured, but she runs the household and makes most of the decisions. Nicholas is an investor who buys and sells stocks and works in the city. He leaves every day for work, fastidiously dressed and outfitted with his cane and gloves. When he returns home, he sits with his sister, sips sherry and together they talk and she decides things; he ignores his family and rarely speaks to them. Gilbert is Hooker’s older brother a twenties-something intelligent young man who has dropped out of school, spends his days in the library with a glass of liquor and does not work. He smokes, writes poetry, ponders events in history and occasionally talks to Hooker, who is the only one who listens to what he has to say.

In the Winslow home, the doors are always closed and the shades drawn. Everyone seems to be walking on eggshells or staying in their refuge: Gilbert in the library, Rosetta in her office, Jessica in her bedroom, Iris in the kitchen and Hooker in the loft in the barn where he watches everything that goes on and tries to figure things out.

The atmosphere in the family home is tense and Gilbert’s recent drunken outbursts have put more stress on the family. It feels like things are reaching a breaking point. Hooker wants to understand why his family appears to be in so much pain and wishes he and the people he cares about could just be happy. As he ponders questions he cannot answer, he reminds himself he cannot remember when either he or the rest of his family were happy.

The narrative is a slow thoughtful move through time, hinting along the way the events to come that will affect all of them. Most of the story is told through Hooker’s eyes with the conscious sensitivity of a child as he struggles to interpret his impressions, half heard conversations, raised and angry voices coming from his mother’s room, the drunken humor of his brother and the depressive demeanor of his father.

Death appears to be everywhere as Findley presents the reader with images of dead cats, the death of Lee Harvey Oswald on TV and a photograph of a dead soldier in a neighbour’s drawing room. Hooker sees these jumbled images as the tension increases, trying to sort out his inner confusion, concluding that death must be is a merciful release from pain. His irrational logic makes for a compelling, gut wrenching story as he decides his entire family is crazy and he is the last of them, so he tries to do something that will finally give his family peace from their suffering.

This was a strong debut novel and helped fuel Findley’s celebrated career as a novelist after starting out a career as an actor. The prose is strong, stripped down and simple, but powerfully conveys this story with an oppressive tone and hidden dark corners. It presents a thoughtful and sympathetic portrait of a sensitive young boy who does what he feels he must to bring peace to his family.

[Jerry Lehan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before reading this book, I had read several reviews. Mostly calling it depressing. And so I kept checking myself while reading - is this depression me? Do I even feel melancholy? It didn’t and I wasn’t.
I find Findley’s writing to be quiet. It’s all very quiet. Maybe you’ll read it and maybe that will make sense.
His characters stay with me. I had read The Wars a year or two ago and I still think of it. The same way I’ll probably continue to think about the characters in Crazy People.
The only bit that bothers me about Findley’s writing is when it’s painfully obvious that he has his end before he’s even begun. The foreshadowing and all of that bullshit. Frankly, I think he shines in the places between the lines of his blue print. My 4 stars are for those exact places. Not the blue print. I wouldn’t say that he drafts blue prints well.

[Chrissie]

***************************

*The Wars 5 stars
*Famous Last Words TBR

Thank you, Dan Witte, for recommending the above books to me!

*The Piano Man's Daughter TBR (looks good)
*The Last of the Crazy People TBR (recommended by Sandy)

[Angélique (MapleBooks) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is phenomenal!
The book is a gripping account on how mental illness and a dysfunctional family can completely confuse a child and lead to tragedy. The atmosphere is so disturbing from page one. It's so extremely well written, you get very uncomfortable reading about each character's suffering and distress, despite the complete unability to communicate it to others.
It's a very, very dark novel, reminding me of Jane Eyre for some reason, but so worth reading. I'll definitely read other works by Timothy Findley!

[Cassandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't seem to follow the storyline for a good portion of the book but my mind have have just been distracted whilst trying to read. It's not something I would recommend to people nor read again but if you want to I can't you *shrug*
It was just kind of a sad and depressing story about a boy with the weirdest name and his messed up family. When I finally got to the end it was just like "oh...okay then" and that was it.

[Rex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I may have spoiled myself by reading one of Findley's later works first. I was fascinated in getting to know the evolution of his imagery between this novel and Headhunter. However, I felt that the epilogue was a tad out of place.

[Pauline Lumeau · Rating 4 out of 5]

j’ai adoré comment était faite la construction de l’histoire et de l’intrigue.
On est plongé dans une histoire de famille pas très fun à travers les yeux d’un enfant de 11 ans… Mais tout est raconté par un narrateur extérieur et cela donne un espèce d’assentiment à tout cela… jusqu’à la fin…

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Findley's first novel and is indicative of the great novels he would create throughout his writing career. This is a coming of age narrative about a dysfunctional family, heartbreaking and tense, until the final awful and inevitable scenes.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can appreciate Findley's place in the cannon, but I didn't enjoy reading this book.

[Oli Arnoldi · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*s

[Daniel Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The definition of Ontario Gothic Lit.

[leigh ☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

i didn't think i could finish this book bc it was so draggy but now im sitting on the bus in shock bc what was that ending....