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Crow
When Stacey Fortune is diagnosed with three highly unpredictable — and inoperable — brain tumours, she abandons the crumbling glamour of her life in Toronto for her mother Effie's scruffy trailer in rural Cape Breton. Back home, she's known as Crow, and everybody suspects that her family is cursed.
With her future all but sealed, Crow decides to go down in a blaze of unforgettable glory by writing a memoir that will raise eyebrows and drop jaws. She'll dig up "the dirt" on her family tree, including the supposed curse, and uncover the truth about her mysterious father, who disappeared a month before she was born.
But first, Crow must contend with an eclectic assortment of characters, including her gossipy Aunt Peggy, hedonistic party-pal Char, homebound best friend Allie, and high-school flame Willy. She'll also have to figure out how to live with her mother and how to muddle through the unsettling visual disturbances that are becoming more and more vivid each day.
Witty, energetic, and crackling with sharp Cape Breton humour, Crow is a story of big twists, big personalities, big drama, and even bigger heart.
With her future all but sealed, Crow decides to go down in a blaze of unforgettable glory by writing a memoir that will raise eyebrows and drop jaws. She'll dig up "the dirt" on her family tree, including the supposed curse, and uncover the truth about her mysterious father, who disappeared a month before she was born.
But first, Crow must contend with an eclectic assortment of characters, including her gossipy Aunt Peggy, hedonistic party-pal Char, homebound best friend Allie, and high-school flame Willy. She'll also have to figure out how to live with her mother and how to muddle through the unsettling visual disturbances that are becoming more and more vivid each day.
Witty, energetic, and crackling with sharp Cape Breton humour, Crow is a story of big twists, big personalities, big drama, and even bigger heart.
305 pages, Paperback
First published March 26, 2019
24 people are currently reading
826 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 175 reviews
December 19, 2019
3.5 Stars. This was a gritty, heartfelt, sometimes hilarious debut novel. Stacey Fortune has left a glamorous, sophisticated lifestyle in Toronto to return to her mother’s dilapidated trailer in Rural Cape Breton to die. At the age of 39, she has learned that she has three inoperable brain tumours. She has few good memories of growing up there alongside the eccentric characters she knew in the past. To everyone, Stacey is known as Crow, and they believe the family is cursed. Crow believes one branch of her family tree consisted of criminals and the other half of lunatics.
I had a difficult time connecting with the story and its quirky characters until partway through the story. Any emotional connection and sympathy for Crow’s tragic outlook and empathy for her friends and relatives quickly became submerged in an overdose of profanity, sexual escapades, craziness, drugs, drunkenness, and vile sarcasm. I found all this to be overwhelming. Some might find it added to the Cape Breton humour, but my early reaction was to dislike the characters.
Her loving, but foul-mouthed mother, Effie Fortune, does her best to care for Crow as her health deteriorates. She works long, hard hours as a cleaning lady and is seldom home. Crowe is having some auditory and visual hallucinations, increasingly seeing coloured auras around people. Crow has questions about her family background which her mother has never revealed. The identity of her father is unknown to her, and she wants to know the reason for the suspicion of supernatural or magical powers in her family history.
Crow reunites with two of her former girlfriends. Allie is depressed from her mother’s recent death. Char, a hedonistic, flamboyant wild girl has returned from her travels with a baby conceived with a Congolese criminal, now murdered. Close by is Crow’s aunt, always spreading gossip, but close-mouthed about secrets in her own family. Crowe also reconnects with a handicapped man, Willy ‘The Gimp’ with whom she occasionally hooked-up with in high school.
Crow has been invited to a nearby Buddhist monastery for counselling about dying but refuses to attend. There is an industrial scheme to take the land upon which Effie’s trailer sits. This would create environmental damage. Behind this threat is a ruthless, powerful local family.
As the tangled past of the Fortune family is revealed, Crow learns secrets held by her mother and Aunt Peggy. Her admiration for them grows along with her own feelings of self-worth. I became much more involved in the story, and was compelled to learn its outcome. I would definitely read Amy Spurway’s next book, hopefully with some of the vulgarity reduced. I learned to love and respect these eccentric neighbours and friends for their kindness and caring hearts.
I had a difficult time connecting with the story and its quirky characters until partway through the story. Any emotional connection and sympathy for Crow’s tragic outlook and empathy for her friends and relatives quickly became submerged in an overdose of profanity, sexual escapades, craziness, drugs, drunkenness, and vile sarcasm. I found all this to be overwhelming. Some might find it added to the Cape Breton humour, but my early reaction was to dislike the characters.
Her loving, but foul-mouthed mother, Effie Fortune, does her best to care for Crow as her health deteriorates. She works long, hard hours as a cleaning lady and is seldom home. Crowe is having some auditory and visual hallucinations, increasingly seeing coloured auras around people. Crow has questions about her family background which her mother has never revealed. The identity of her father is unknown to her, and she wants to know the reason for the suspicion of supernatural or magical powers in her family history.
Crow reunites with two of her former girlfriends. Allie is depressed from her mother’s recent death. Char, a hedonistic, flamboyant wild girl has returned from her travels with a baby conceived with a Congolese criminal, now murdered. Close by is Crow’s aunt, always spreading gossip, but close-mouthed about secrets in her own family. Crowe also reconnects with a handicapped man, Willy ‘The Gimp’ with whom she occasionally hooked-up with in high school.
Crow has been invited to a nearby Buddhist monastery for counselling about dying but refuses to attend. There is an industrial scheme to take the land upon which Effie’s trailer sits. This would create environmental damage. Behind this threat is a ruthless, powerful local family.
As the tangled past of the Fortune family is revealed, Crow learns secrets held by her mother and Aunt Peggy. Her admiration for them grows along with her own feelings of self-worth. I became much more involved in the story, and was compelled to learn its outcome. I would definitely read Amy Spurway’s next book, hopefully with some of the vulgarity reduced. I learned to love and respect these eccentric neighbours and friends for their kindness and caring hearts.
April 6, 2023
OMG - it's a right beautiful thing, that!
August 28, 2019
A good story about a girl named Crow returning home to, well, basically die (not giving anything away, this is her first announcement when we begin reading her story). There are many poignantly written moments but I found those to be buried among the steady and constant barrage of sarcasm, trash-talking, cursing, dope-smoking, alcohol-abusing, trailer-living, sex-talking and doing. Crow's life story was funny in the beginning but then I began to grow slightly weary of it as I felt it was a little on repeat for too long.
March 17, 2019
Hilarious, sharp-witted, scathing yet loving profile of a delightful gang of misfits on Cape Breton Island. Crow Fortune is an unforgettable character-I loved it!
July 1, 2019
One of my favourite reads of the year. This book is wonderful!
Gritty Cape Breton humour and heart, kooky characters, and so many unexpected moments, both hilarious and heartfelt. It's excellent!
Gritty Cape Breton humour and heart, kooky characters, and so many unexpected moments, both hilarious and heartfelt. It's excellent!
April 2, 2019
What. A. Read.
This book is harsh, difficult, and filled with flawed characters, which means it is also told with truth. It is brimming with so much heart, you get swept up with the emotion and love that comes from deep inside this community of wonderful, horrible, beautiful, 'screw-ups'. A true East Coast read, with a dash of magic. One unlike any other I've read.
Hilarious, heartbreaking, hopeful - Hard to put down.
You wrote a fantastic book, my friend.
This book is harsh, difficult, and filled with flawed characters, which means it is also told with truth. It is brimming with so much heart, you get swept up with the emotion and love that comes from deep inside this community of wonderful, horrible, beautiful, 'screw-ups'. A true East Coast read, with a dash of magic. One unlike any other I've read.
Hilarious, heartbreaking, hopeful - Hard to put down.
You wrote a fantastic book, my friend.
May 21, 2023
I absolutely loved this award-winning and cheeky debut novel that sees a woman diagnosed with three inoperable brain tumors returning to her Cape Breton home to uncover the mystery of her birth father, reconcile with her mother and write a tell-all memoir exposing family secrets.
Lots of Maritime charm and a quirky cast of secondary characters. Stacey Fortune (aka 'Crow') is one of those literary characters that won't be easy to forget anytime soon. Equally heartfelt, funny and tenderly moving this new audio version narrated by Amanda Barker was excellent and I can't recommend this one enough!
Lots of Maritime charm and a quirky cast of secondary characters. Stacey Fortune (aka 'Crow') is one of those literary characters that won't be easy to forget anytime soon. Equally heartfelt, funny and tenderly moving this new audio version narrated by Amanda Barker was excellent and I can't recommend this one enough!
January 2, 2024
This book was an available download (audio) from my local library and I thought I’d listen for a few minutes and see if it piqued my interest. Well, it certainly did. I could not put it down! I'm sure some some would read this and find it utterly ridiculous in it’s raucous family dysfunctia. But for me, coming from Cape Breton stock, I can tell you that many people (yes, me), live a similarly wild story where aunts are cousins, uncles are brothers, and layers upon layers of family secrets are peeled back as the years go by. Narrated by what sounded like my very own Auntie-Cousin hollering LORD TUNDERIN JESUS I roared laughing, I teared up and I just found this book so surpringsly therapeutic.
August 13, 2019
It's taken me a full month to finish this one - it's sad, but it's also so damn, unexpectedly delightful and witty, I was savouring every morsel. Thanks to Briny Books for the excellent recommendation! Five stars.
March 25, 2019
A great debut novel, with loveable and real Cape Breton characters.
An interesting "coming home" story and a great and touching, yet funny and real read.
An interesting "coming home" story and a great and touching, yet funny and real read.
June 1, 2021
I purchase this book because a friend recommended it.
And it was a good recommendation!
I do really like the cover, the simplicity of the design, the detail of objects dangling from the Crow’s claws.
My first impressions when reading was how fast-paced it is. Many people coming at me, many images, lots of information to take in, and just enough time to think of one and off I go to on another trail. I was almost out of breath.
There’s quick rapid speech, as if time is running out, which it is for the main character called Crow.
She has three brain tumors and the clock is definitely ticking when she comes back to Cape Breton after leaving her home in Toronto, returning to the rural area she grew-up in to write a memoir exposing the dirt on her family, the supposed curse, and the truth about her father’s disappearance.
There is definitely an eclectic assortment of friends and family as the back cover suggests.
The novel is definitely witty, energetic and crackly with sharp Cape Breton humour.
It is Amy’s Spurway’s debut novel, and does as a novel should—entertains well.
The cast of interesting, unusual characters reminded me of Lynn Coady’s novel “Strange Heaven.”
When I was younger I read more fiction that non-fiction, but now that has switched and I feel somewhat unable to now judge fiction properly, that I’ve become so accustomed to the uncertainties in life compared to the often well wrapped up scenarios found in fiction.
There’s a loss of connection for me, but I realize that fault does not necessarily lie with the writer of fiction, but with my personal reading preference.
That said, this book is worth the read!
I congratulate Amy Spurway on her first novel.
And it was a good recommendation!
I do really like the cover, the simplicity of the design, the detail of objects dangling from the Crow’s claws.
My first impressions when reading was how fast-paced it is. Many people coming at me, many images, lots of information to take in, and just enough time to think of one and off I go to on another trail. I was almost out of breath.
There’s quick rapid speech, as if time is running out, which it is for the main character called Crow.
She has three brain tumors and the clock is definitely ticking when she comes back to Cape Breton after leaving her home in Toronto, returning to the rural area she grew-up in to write a memoir exposing the dirt on her family, the supposed curse, and the truth about her father’s disappearance.
There is definitely an eclectic assortment of friends and family as the back cover suggests.
The novel is definitely witty, energetic and crackly with sharp Cape Breton humour.
It is Amy’s Spurway’s debut novel, and does as a novel should—entertains well.
The cast of interesting, unusual characters reminded me of Lynn Coady’s novel “Strange Heaven.”
When I was younger I read more fiction that non-fiction, but now that has switched and I feel somewhat unable to now judge fiction properly, that I’ve become so accustomed to the uncertainties in life compared to the often well wrapped up scenarios found in fiction.
There’s a loss of connection for me, but I realize that fault does not necessarily lie with the writer of fiction, but with my personal reading preference.
That said, this book is worth the read!
I congratulate Amy Spurway on her first novel.
July 11, 2019
Oh my heart.
I had to take my time with this one. I’m not from Cape Breton, but my mother’s entire family is and I spend some of the summer weeks there each year. Cape Breton means so much to me, and so does this wonderful, hilariously sad story.
Amy brings these characters to life, Crow, Peggy and Effie are so realistic it hurts. Everyone has a Peggy in their life or family, and an Effie too. And I related so much with Crow.
I don’t want to give anything away but I definitely recommend this book to EVERYONE. But especially those who hold their hometown (and the characters that go with to) dear and near to their hearts.
I will be recommending this book to EVERY Cape Breton family member I visit in August, and have already purchased a few copies to hand out during my time on the island this summer.
I had to take my time with this one. I’m not from Cape Breton, but my mother’s entire family is and I spend some of the summer weeks there each year. Cape Breton means so much to me, and so does this wonderful, hilariously sad story.
Amy brings these characters to life, Crow, Peggy and Effie are so realistic it hurts. Everyone has a Peggy in their life or family, and an Effie too. And I related so much with Crow.
I don’t want to give anything away but I definitely recommend this book to EVERYONE. But especially those who hold their hometown (and the characters that go with to) dear and near to their hearts.
I will be recommending this book to EVERY Cape Breton family member I visit in August, and have already purchased a few copies to hand out during my time on the island this summer.
January 30, 2020
This is one of my favourite books of late. The author does an incredible job of connecting you with the characters and making Cape Breton come to life - it feels like home. I laughed and cried and read this in a thick East Coast accent in my head which made me so homesick by the end of it. I’ll be recommending this to many and look forward to other work by this author.
December 2, 2019
The voice in Crow is especially distinct. You can really hear the Cape Breton accent on every page. Amy Spurway's debut has created a unique character with Crow.
April 22, 2020
"Meanwhile, I've got a whore of a pile of funeral ham, because in Cape Breton the only way to offer condolences is with food, and there are only three kinds of foods that show you mean it: casseroles, squares, and funeral hams. When the funeral hams go on sale down at the grocery store for ninety-nine cents a pound, you stock up so you'll always have something to bring the family when somebody dies. Flossie Baker brought over the biggest slab of ham I've ever laid eyes on, cheerfully decorated with patterns of pineapple rings and maraschino cherries, all pinned to the meat with cloves. In fact, there's not a lick of room left in the fridge thanks to the gargantuan ham, two cheesy hash brown casseroles, and a tub of goulash. And the pan of deep-fried chicken wings and some kind of noodles. Clearly, there are some rebels down the Middle Rear Road these days."
For 5 weeks, Nova Scotia's public libraries are making a different Atlantic Canadian eBook available for one week with no wait lists. A new eBook launches every Thursday. First up is a debut novel called Crow by Amy Spurway. My work is trying to come up with ways for us to stay connected, while practicing social isolation, so we have decided to start a book club. So, since there will be numerous copies available of these books, this works perfectly. Bonus, we get to read some great stories by local writers that wouldn't necessarily be on our radar.
As a displaced Cape Bretoner, currently unable to go home due to Covid, I was excited when I realized Crow takes place in Cape Breton. My excitement slowly faded when I started to read. My thoughts alternated between wonder and horror. Does Spurway hate Cape Breton or is she writing this way about my favourite place in the world because the main character, Stacey Fortune, hates the place? Does Spurway hate Cape Bretoners? Because every character speaks like the most extreme, darkest version of Mary Morrison I have ever read -- the foul-mouthed, pot-smoking, sexed up version of Mary Morrison. But, I continued. Because of the book club. But it was difficult. I then had suspicions that this was going to be a soap-opera type story. Because things were happening and then more things were happening -- the drama, eh dear? My least favourite kind of story.
But, something changed. I started to get into Spurway's flow. I got over my snotty self and started ta have a time wid da story. I was having a laugh. I was seeing the well-known places Spurway was writing about. I was having all kinds of fun with the language and the inside jokes that only Northsiders know. I knows these people. How could I have ever thought that this love letter to home was a rejection of Cape Breton? I should have kept her dedication foremost in my mind and saved myself the grief: "To the people who are my roots and wings." Yup, m'bye, it's like dat. Fer all of us.
Good stuff!! I am hopeful Amy Spurway continues to write and I can enjoy her stories for years to come.
For 5 weeks, Nova Scotia's public libraries are making a different Atlantic Canadian eBook available for one week with no wait lists. A new eBook launches every Thursday. First up is a debut novel called Crow by Amy Spurway. My work is trying to come up with ways for us to stay connected, while practicing social isolation, so we have decided to start a book club. So, since there will be numerous copies available of these books, this works perfectly. Bonus, we get to read some great stories by local writers that wouldn't necessarily be on our radar.
As a displaced Cape Bretoner, currently unable to go home due to Covid, I was excited when I realized Crow takes place in Cape Breton. My excitement slowly faded when I started to read. My thoughts alternated between wonder and horror. Does Spurway hate Cape Breton or is she writing this way about my favourite place in the world because the main character, Stacey Fortune, hates the place? Does Spurway hate Cape Bretoners? Because every character speaks like the most extreme, darkest version of Mary Morrison I have ever read -- the foul-mouthed, pot-smoking, sexed up version of Mary Morrison. But, I continued. Because of the book club. But it was difficult. I then had suspicions that this was going to be a soap-opera type story. Because things were happening and then more things were happening -- the drama, eh dear? My least favourite kind of story.
But, something changed. I started to get into Spurway's flow. I got over my snotty self and started ta have a time wid da story. I was having a laugh. I was seeing the well-known places Spurway was writing about. I was having all kinds of fun with the language and the inside jokes that only Northsiders know. I knows these people. How could I have ever thought that this love letter to home was a rejection of Cape Breton? I should have kept her dedication foremost in my mind and saved myself the grief: "To the people who are my roots and wings." Yup, m'bye, it's like dat. Fer all of us.
Good stuff!! I am hopeful Amy Spurway continues to write and I can enjoy her stories for years to come.
March 19, 2021
This one didn’t quite scratch my itch but I thought it would.
Right from the get go we learn that Crow Fortune is born to a family of criminals, lunatics and that she is dying from brain tumors.
What was overwhelmingly a miss for me was the use synesthesia wherein Crow can see colors around people. This is a tricky plot element because the colors she sees and attaches specific meaning to are not necessarily the same for me. I mean the color orange can mean different things to different people. Right?
This becomes overused as the story goes on.
What hit for me in this book was the character development other than the above mentioned synesthesia.
My favorite quotes are a Sufi chant, “The ocean refuses no river.” The ocean takes it in, and does its best to integrate and purify whatever comes.
The other is “Because that is what trees do. They take in what would otherwise be destructive, and they use it. They change it. They let it change them. And then, they put something useful back out into the world. Oxygen. Life.”
“This is what we can do. Pretend we are trees when life feels hard. Breathe it in. Soften it. Let it change you. Let your heart, your mind change it. Then offer the world whatever it is inside you that is needed. Peace. Courage. Light. A cup of tea and a good laugh. Don’t hide from the sorrows of the world. Welcome them in. Watch them transform. Be a tree in your life.”
And that my friends was my own pep talk to me as I walk my way through a life change.
Peace.
Right from the get go we learn that Crow Fortune is born to a family of criminals, lunatics and that she is dying from brain tumors.
What was overwhelmingly a miss for me was the use synesthesia wherein Crow can see colors around people. This is a tricky plot element because the colors she sees and attaches specific meaning to are not necessarily the same for me. I mean the color orange can mean different things to different people. Right?
This becomes overused as the story goes on.
What hit for me in this book was the character development other than the above mentioned synesthesia.
My favorite quotes are a Sufi chant, “The ocean refuses no river.” The ocean takes it in, and does its best to integrate and purify whatever comes.
The other is “Because that is what trees do. They take in what would otherwise be destructive, and they use it. They change it. They let it change them. And then, they put something useful back out into the world. Oxygen. Life.”
“This is what we can do. Pretend we are trees when life feels hard. Breathe it in. Soften it. Let it change you. Let your heart, your mind change it. Then offer the world whatever it is inside you that is needed. Peace. Courage. Light. A cup of tea and a good laugh. Don’t hide from the sorrows of the world. Welcome them in. Watch them transform. Be a tree in your life.”
And that my friends was my own pep talk to me as I walk my way through a life change.
Peace.
Read
November 1, 2021The first lines of Amy Spurway’s debut novel Crow set the tone for the whole novel: “I come from a long line of lunatics and criminals. Crazies on the one side of the family tree, crooks on the other, although the odd crazy has a touch of crook, and vice versa”. From this alone, I expect to find some pretty colourful, yet flawed characters in the story and I wasn’t disappointed. The story was a very fast-paced, emotional story that touches upon the sensitive issues of mental health, death, and dying. With an unmistakable Cape Breton voice, it was like no other novel I have ever read.
September 18, 2019
Hilarious book that does the opposite of a lot of promising magical realism books. It actually becomes magical realism in the second half of the book and stays true to the genre til the end. Often I will start a promising book with lots of magical foreshadowing ( Washington Black for eg.) and nothing is delivered. Loved this book.
August 7, 2022
This is the funniest, sweetest, most biting, 100% uplifting story you will read about a snarky heroine with terminal brain tumors. Set in a Cape Breton community, it Beautifully captures the challenges and warm embrace of family and small-town life. If you like the work of Elinor Lipman, you’ll love this book.
May 25, 2019
It is hard for me to give a book 5 stars, because very few live up to 5 stars for me (I think I am comparing to things like Ferrante's Neapolitan novels, which were all 5s). I am giving this a 4 but it is closer to a 4.5. So many reasons I really liked this book – main character Crow comes home to Cape Breton to die when she finds out she has 3 inoperable brain tumours. It is sad, but mostly funny, heartrending, beautiful. Literary fiction written in a way that isn't annoying or alienating (for me, at least). Twinges of Buddhism, clairaudience and more. Beautiful characters, life-affirming even with its deathly themes. GAH! I really loved this book.
January 6, 2022
“Crow” is one of those rare finds in a novel that has you laughing out loud one minute and crying the next. It’s full of deep family emotional grit. Trust me when I say you will never forget reading about their Christmas dinner. I could hear my dear sweet departed mother’s voice in the sayings , beliefs and words of comfort. “ We’re a little witchy ,Jen”
I’m so grateful to have started this book in a brand new year.
If I could give 10 stars - I would .
I’m so grateful to have started this book in a brand new year.
If I could give 10 stars - I would .
January 29, 2022
Being from Cape Breton, I can appreciate how much going home can be a ride of a time; that's the best way to explain this book, it's a ride. It's messy, funny, dark, heartwarming, & emotional...and perfectly Caper all at the same time.
July 15, 2024
As someone who was born and raised in Cape Breton (but not Sydney Mines), I don’t always love books set in the Maritimes. They are often one dimensional or stereotypical. But this book was wonderful and I couldn’t stop listening. The narrator did an amazing job and the story was heart wrenching. (Although it did feel a little Happy Feet for a short bit at the end)
May 29, 2023
This was such a great read. Funny, Heartwarming, sad, all the feelings….and Cape Breton being the setting added extra fun!
January 26, 2024
Good lord, Amy Spurway knows how to spin a yarn and kick you in the pants at the same time!
July 29, 2019
A wildly creative novel featuring an eclectic cast of larger-than-life characters. Highly recommended.
April 3, 2019
Spurway, Amy. 2019. Crow, A Novel. Fredericton, NB: Goose Lane.
I try to read local (CB) literature out of a sense of loyalty, if I can. I can’t read it all, of course, but especially when a CB author gets published by a respected (and selective) house like Goose Lane, I pay attention. The CBU library was kind enough to acquire the book hot-off-the-press.
I wasn’t sure about the jacket copy (“When Crow receives the worst kind of news, she abandons Toronto to return to rural Cape Breton”) and what seemed the promise of a “poor me” diatribe against growing up in CB (yawn). I half-expected the overused trope of coming-of-age despite abuse, yada, yada, yada.
But Spurway executes entertaining turns of phrase, a little like a Ron James monologue, but with punctuation – and a lot more cursing, fornicating, drinking and drugs. A prologue tells you right off what the outcome will be, but to therefore anticipate a pithy “gotcha” turnaround is a false notion. The surprise is no surprise, it concludes as promised – but with a lot more cursing, fornicating, drinking and drugs in between.
The novel’s geographic setting will be transparent to people from the area known locally as “The Northside.” That is, the towns and villages on northward side of Sydney Harbour, Cape Breton, and beyond: Bras d’Or, Baddeck, etc. I know both the geography and culture of the setting intimately, and consequently was at both an advantage and disadvantage. The disadvantage was a cognitive dissonance caused by the mashing-up of geographies. I understand why the publisher would want Spurway to transform the landscape to make it more universal, but for me it was a tad jarring.
As a consequence of that same “local knowledge,” I loved and laughed at many of the characterizations in the novel. There is an inherent (and inherited) personal bitterness on the part of most people here. Don’t let the good natured “come-all-ye” façade of Cape Breton fool you; life hereabouts has hardscrabble roots, and it shows. Spurway conveys some of that by means of an acerbic sense of humour founded on despair. At least, that’s how I read it. Make no mistake, it is cuttingly funny, if you have an ounce of cynicism with in you.
A couple of turns of phrase to relate, that for one reason or another I found poignant:
204 “A volunteer emergency responder named Fricker pulled her body from the car after they towed it out of the icy bay’s depths. She was already dead, but Fricker didn’t waste any time getting her out and wrapped in a blanket. He didn’t let them put her in a body bag right away. He held her hand for a few moments, smoothed down her hair and closed her eyes. Mama would have appreciated that. She was always afraid that death would give her that freshly caught smelt look.”
206 “Meanwhile, I’ve got a whore of a pile of funeral ham, because in Cape Breton, the only way to offer condolences is with food, and there are only three kinds of foods that show you mean it: casseroles, squares, and funeral hams. When the funeral hams do on sale down at the grocery store for ninety-nine cents a pound, you stock up so you’ll always have something to bring the family when somebody dies. Flossie Baker brought over the biggest slab of ham I’ve ever laid eyes on, cheerfully decorated with patterns of pineapple rings and maraschino cherries, all pinned to the meat with cloves. In fact, there’s not a lick of room left in the fridge thanks to the gargantuan ham, two cheesy hash brown casseroles, and a tub of goulash. And the pan of deep-fried chicken wings and some kind of noodles. Clearly, there are some rebels down the Middle Rear Road these days.”
207 “Hunger’s a wonderful sauce.”
212 “I draw the frigid February night deep into my lungs and hold it there before sending a sigh’s worth of my own exhausted, stagnant breath back into the world. As if the world needs more exhausted, stagnant air. I keep trying to suck in some peace, some relief. But all I get is cold and uncomfortable. With snot and tears frozen to my face.
I do recommend the novel. Oh, and while the finality of the ending is no surprise – well it is surprising that there is no surprise – there is lots to surprise you about the truth of personalities Spurway rails about throughout her narrative.
I try to read local (CB) literature out of a sense of loyalty, if I can. I can’t read it all, of course, but especially when a CB author gets published by a respected (and selective) house like Goose Lane, I pay attention. The CBU library was kind enough to acquire the book hot-off-the-press.
I wasn’t sure about the jacket copy (“When Crow receives the worst kind of news, she abandons Toronto to return to rural Cape Breton”) and what seemed the promise of a “poor me” diatribe against growing up in CB (yawn). I half-expected the overused trope of coming-of-age despite abuse, yada, yada, yada.
But Spurway executes entertaining turns of phrase, a little like a Ron James monologue, but with punctuation – and a lot more cursing, fornicating, drinking and drugs. A prologue tells you right off what the outcome will be, but to therefore anticipate a pithy “gotcha” turnaround is a false notion. The surprise is no surprise, it concludes as promised – but with a lot more cursing, fornicating, drinking and drugs in between.
The novel’s geographic setting will be transparent to people from the area known locally as “The Northside.” That is, the towns and villages on northward side of Sydney Harbour, Cape Breton, and beyond: Bras d’Or, Baddeck, etc. I know both the geography and culture of the setting intimately, and consequently was at both an advantage and disadvantage. The disadvantage was a cognitive dissonance caused by the mashing-up of geographies. I understand why the publisher would want Spurway to transform the landscape to make it more universal, but for me it was a tad jarring.
As a consequence of that same “local knowledge,” I loved and laughed at many of the characterizations in the novel. There is an inherent (and inherited) personal bitterness on the part of most people here. Don’t let the good natured “come-all-ye” façade of Cape Breton fool you; life hereabouts has hardscrabble roots, and it shows. Spurway conveys some of that by means of an acerbic sense of humour founded on despair. At least, that’s how I read it. Make no mistake, it is cuttingly funny, if you have an ounce of cynicism with in you.
A couple of turns of phrase to relate, that for one reason or another I found poignant:
204 “A volunteer emergency responder named Fricker pulled her body from the car after they towed it out of the icy bay’s depths. She was already dead, but Fricker didn’t waste any time getting her out and wrapped in a blanket. He didn’t let them put her in a body bag right away. He held her hand for a few moments, smoothed down her hair and closed her eyes. Mama would have appreciated that. She was always afraid that death would give her that freshly caught smelt look.”
206 “Meanwhile, I’ve got a whore of a pile of funeral ham, because in Cape Breton, the only way to offer condolences is with food, and there are only three kinds of foods that show you mean it: casseroles, squares, and funeral hams. When the funeral hams do on sale down at the grocery store for ninety-nine cents a pound, you stock up so you’ll always have something to bring the family when somebody dies. Flossie Baker brought over the biggest slab of ham I’ve ever laid eyes on, cheerfully decorated with patterns of pineapple rings and maraschino cherries, all pinned to the meat with cloves. In fact, there’s not a lick of room left in the fridge thanks to the gargantuan ham, two cheesy hash brown casseroles, and a tub of goulash. And the pan of deep-fried chicken wings and some kind of noodles. Clearly, there are some rebels down the Middle Rear Road these days.”
207 “Hunger’s a wonderful sauce.”
212 “I draw the frigid February night deep into my lungs and hold it there before sending a sigh’s worth of my own exhausted, stagnant breath back into the world. As if the world needs more exhausted, stagnant air. I keep trying to suck in some peace, some relief. But all I get is cold and uncomfortable. With snot and tears frozen to my face.
I do recommend the novel. Oh, and while the finality of the ending is no surprise – well it is surprising that there is no surprise – there is lots to surprise you about the truth of personalities Spurway rails about throughout her narrative.
May 1, 2020
We learn very early on that we shouldn't get too attached to the main character and it's not often a story still keeps me intrigued when the end is the beginning but this did.
People from NS, especially Cape Breton, often come home despite all intents not to and this is the same for "Crow" who comes home to roost.
The chaos continues and keeps the reader intrigued.
A beautiful story of crazy and spunk!
People from NS, especially Cape Breton, often come home despite all intents not to and this is the same for "Crow" who comes home to roost.
The chaos continues and keeps the reader intrigued.
A beautiful story of crazy and spunk!
July 8, 2019
A #BrinyBooks recommendation, and a good one! Split-my-sides funny yet poignant; razor-sharp observations of families and small communities -- what threatens them and what keeps them strong.
June 12, 2023
Kamara- Crow by Amy Spurway review:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Amy Spurway’s debut novel, Crow is a black comedy following Crow (Stacey) Fortune who moves back to her hometown of Cape Breton after learning she has brain cancer. She is faced with the people from her past along with the memories they carry along with them. Spurway brings every character to life through stories and humour.
The first thing I noticed when I started reading was how realistic everything felt, Spurway beautifully captures the feeling of small town Cape Breton. Every character feels alive, they go through their own struggles and as a reader I ended up invested in all of their stories. My personal favourite characters are Allie and Gimp
This is the first black comedy novel I’ve read so I had to get used to such sad topics being portrayed with so many jokes. After getting used to the humour replacing the usual angst I’m used to I started to really enjoy that aspect of the novel because it depends how some people cope using humour.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Amy Spurway’s debut novel, Crow is a black comedy following Crow (Stacey) Fortune who moves back to her hometown of Cape Breton after learning she has brain cancer. She is faced with the people from her past along with the memories they carry along with them. Spurway brings every character to life through stories and humour.
The first thing I noticed when I started reading was how realistic everything felt, Spurway beautifully captures the feeling of small town Cape Breton. Every character feels alive, they go through their own struggles and as a reader I ended up invested in all of their stories. My personal favourite characters are Allie and Gimp
This is the first black comedy novel I’ve read so I had to get used to such sad topics being portrayed with so many jokes. After getting used to the humour replacing the usual angst I’m used to I started to really enjoy that aspect of the novel because it depends how some people cope using humour.
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