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The Wards
The Wards are a working-class Newfoundland family on the cusp of upheaval. The children are becoming adults, the adults are growing old, and the new dog was probably stolen. When a sudden illness forces the Wards together, can they finally learn to be close-knit?
This unsettling, at times hilarious novel explores the instability of nuclear families and the depths of dysfunction.
Family is family—you don't get to choose.
This unsettling, at times hilarious novel explores the instability of nuclear families and the depths of dysfunction.
Family is family—you don't get to choose.
240 pages, Paperback
Published June 10, 2022
90 people want to read
About the author
Terry Doyle
2 books19 followersTerry Doyle is from the Goulds, Newfoundland. In 2017 Terry won the Percy Janes First Novel Award and was a finalist for the NLCU Fresh Fish Award. His work has appeared in Riddle Fence, untethered, Leopardskin & Limes, and the Newfoundland Quarterly. Terry's debut short story collection, DIG, is available now from Breakwater Books.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 30, 2022
This book may have a simple plot, but there are quiet currents of some heavy topics that run underneath. It talks about gender ideals, how we get our worth, mental and emotional abuse, substance abuse, parenting and mental health topics like trauma and depression, just to name a few.
Somehow he calls out the toxicity around the treatment of those topics without any judgement and without even calling any of it by name. It's just simple insertions of past events or beliefs as explanation of current, obviously damaging, actions.
This gentle, easy to grasp, approach opens up readers to explore where similar events or beliefs may be driving their actions too.
The Ward's are essentially my family. This had a whole other layer of helping me release shame for my family and how I learned to act too. I have more compassion for myself and I interact differently with the empathy and understanding this gave me.
I think this is such an important book for all the toxic, yet normal, things it talks about. That is on top of being deeply validating and healing for me personally.
Thank you
Somehow he calls out the toxicity around the treatment of those topics without any judgement and without even calling any of it by name. It's just simple insertions of past events or beliefs as explanation of current, obviously damaging, actions.
This gentle, easy to grasp, approach opens up readers to explore where similar events or beliefs may be driving their actions too.
The Ward's are essentially my family. This had a whole other layer of helping me release shame for my family and how I learned to act too. I have more compassion for myself and I interact differently with the empathy and understanding this gave me.
I think this is such an important book for all the toxic, yet normal, things it talks about. That is on top of being deeply validating and healing for me personally.
Thank you
August 3, 2022
It's hard, depressing, frustrating, warts-and-all family drama...it's the novel version of a kitchen-sink TV drama. It hits all the uncomfortable buttons that will be familiar in any dysfunctional family, and it does so in compelling fashion. This isn't a loveable book, but it's very captivating.
July 29, 2022
An accurate portrayal of the often dysfunctional family dynamic in NL Culture. I read this book in two days and I hope there is a sequel. It was written with a subtle way of depicting the misogyny and patriarchal ways of the “traditional” Newfoundland family without taking away from the complexity of each family member. It was relatable on so many levels, stirring nostalgia and sadness. Eloquently written and true to the characters portrayed. Great read!!
September 3, 2022
The Canadian setting of Newfoundland and the sayings familiar to those residents were a refreshing and familiar place to start.
The Wards are parents who are struggling with what to do with their unemployed, lazy son, Gussy; their daughter, Dana, who is off at university; and their own struggle to survive with health issues, bills, and jobs that take their toll.
When Al Ward is diagnosed with an incurable illness the family must come together to try to support one another.
A look at life's realities - unemployment, lost dreams, family and the fragility of life.
The Wards are parents who are struggling with what to do with their unemployed, lazy son, Gussy; their daughter, Dana, who is off at university; and their own struggle to survive with health issues, bills, and jobs that take their toll.
When Al Ward is diagnosed with an incurable illness the family must come together to try to support one another.
A look at life's realities - unemployment, lost dreams, family and the fragility of life.
March 4, 2023
Terry Doyle’s novel The Wards [Breakwater Books] is the best book I’ve read since Valentine’s Day. And you know what? It is deserving of any accolades it has received and, I dare say, some that it hasn’t.
I’ve lately seen that The Wards —although being longlisted for the 2022 BMO Winterset Award — isn’t among the finalists.
Well, that’s a friggin’ shame, eh b’ys?
How often have I said that one cannot control what pops into one’s mind while one is reading? More than ten times, for sure.
While I read The Wards, Erskine Caldwell appeared in my noggin. More particularly, Caldwell’s God’s Little Acre, a novel about a farming family in Georgia in the early twentieth century.
I don’t know, of course, but the Waldens might have been the original dysfunctional family decades before the phrase was coined. (BTW, Mr. Google tells me the term 'dysfunctional family' was first coined by Nathan Ackerman in 1958.)
B’ys, an aside: The Wards and the Waldens are both dysfunctional families. These family names have given me uneasy pause in light of the initial sound my own family name.
Frig sake.
Gussie Ward, the dysfunctional son who has had trouble with the law because he was caught robbing parking meters, becomes aware of a couple of things while his father is dying (Okay, so I’ve dropped a spoiler. What odds. You ought to have read the book before now anyway.). Gussie’s awakening awareness is one of my favourite ain’t-that-the-truth moments in the book.
Listen. “He cried because his father was dying. But he cried too because he saw for the first time that he would also die. The abstraction was becoming concrete. Life did not go on and on and on.”
See, truth hammered home.
I embrace the bits of books that I can relate to, especially if they give me the tee-hees — like this book’s dog and tinsel incident.
It’s coming on Christmas in Newfoundland, so tinsel is plentiful.
Look. “The dog was, at that moment, in the yard pooping (“pooping”, not ______, in consideration of delicate eyes and ears) out a string of tinsel.”
Tee-hee.
When I was a callow bay-boy in the years shortly after Confederation pupped, I watched with amazement as our family’s cat pooped … well, not tinsel, but baloney rinds with parts of the Maple Leaf letters, despite their preceding travels, still clearly visible.
Since the dog is unable to finish the job, so to speak, the tinsel is left dangling. Recognizing puppy’s plight, Aunt Paula grabs her scrubbing gloves and runs into the yard to finish delivering the tinsel.
Bay-boy again — I never ever helped Puss complete her baloney rind task, but …
… but, as a fully-aged codger, I confess that I have — on more than one occasion — wiped a visiting Boston terrier’s arse.
Truly.
Tee-hee?
As well as recently reading The Wards, I read one of Terry Doyle’s stories called What Kind of Dog Is He? It’s a gem-dandy story about a feller troubled by his dog’s change of personality (Is it OK to say "person"-ality for a dog?).
At the end of the story, the guy (If he has a name, I don’t remember it and I’m too lazy to check.), in a kind of “or else” statement, warns his dog to, “Smarten up.”
This thought followed …
… instead of providing scrubbing-glove assistant to the tinsel-eating hound, Aunt Paula might have advised it, after consideration of its ingesting baloney rinds and the consequently difficulty of expelling tinsel from its alimentary canal, to “Smarten up.”
Before I go. If I were being launched into deep space and could take only two books with me, I would consider making The Wards my second choice.
Sorry, Terry ‘ol man, Sirens of Titan would always be my first choice.
Thank you for reading.
I’ve lately seen that The Wards —although being longlisted for the 2022 BMO Winterset Award — isn’t among the finalists.
Well, that’s a friggin’ shame, eh b’ys?
How often have I said that one cannot control what pops into one’s mind while one is reading? More than ten times, for sure.
While I read The Wards, Erskine Caldwell appeared in my noggin. More particularly, Caldwell’s God’s Little Acre, a novel about a farming family in Georgia in the early twentieth century.
I don’t know, of course, but the Waldens might have been the original dysfunctional family decades before the phrase was coined. (BTW, Mr. Google tells me the term 'dysfunctional family' was first coined by Nathan Ackerman in 1958.)
B’ys, an aside: The Wards and the Waldens are both dysfunctional families. These family names have given me uneasy pause in light of the initial sound my own family name.
Frig sake.
Gussie Ward, the dysfunctional son who has had trouble with the law because he was caught robbing parking meters, becomes aware of a couple of things while his father is dying (Okay, so I’ve dropped a spoiler. What odds. You ought to have read the book before now anyway.). Gussie’s awakening awareness is one of my favourite ain’t-that-the-truth moments in the book.
Listen. “He cried because his father was dying. But he cried too because he saw for the first time that he would also die. The abstraction was becoming concrete. Life did not go on and on and on.”
See, truth hammered home.
I embrace the bits of books that I can relate to, especially if they give me the tee-hees — like this book’s dog and tinsel incident.
It’s coming on Christmas in Newfoundland, so tinsel is plentiful.
Look. “The dog was, at that moment, in the yard pooping (“pooping”, not ______, in consideration of delicate eyes and ears) out a string of tinsel.”
Tee-hee.
When I was a callow bay-boy in the years shortly after Confederation pupped, I watched with amazement as our family’s cat pooped … well, not tinsel, but baloney rinds with parts of the Maple Leaf letters, despite their preceding travels, still clearly visible.
Since the dog is unable to finish the job, so to speak, the tinsel is left dangling. Recognizing puppy’s plight, Aunt Paula grabs her scrubbing gloves and runs into the yard to finish delivering the tinsel.
Bay-boy again — I never ever helped Puss complete her baloney rind task, but …
… but, as a fully-aged codger, I confess that I have — on more than one occasion — wiped a visiting Boston terrier’s arse.
Truly.
Tee-hee?
As well as recently reading The Wards, I read one of Terry Doyle’s stories called What Kind of Dog Is He? It’s a gem-dandy story about a feller troubled by his dog’s change of personality (Is it OK to say "person"-ality for a dog?).
At the end of the story, the guy (If he has a name, I don’t remember it and I’m too lazy to check.), in a kind of “or else” statement, warns his dog to, “Smarten up.”
This thought followed …
… instead of providing scrubbing-glove assistant to the tinsel-eating hound, Aunt Paula might have advised it, after consideration of its ingesting baloney rinds and the consequently difficulty of expelling tinsel from its alimentary canal, to “Smarten up.”
Before I go. If I were being launched into deep space and could take only two books with me, I would consider making The Wards my second choice.
Sorry, Terry ‘ol man, Sirens of Titan would always be my first choice.
Thank you for reading.
January 14, 2023
A portrayal of a more or less typical family, and what happens when tragedy hits. Very well-developed characters; strong sense of St John’s; believable storylines told in easily digestible chunks - I very much enjoyed it.
August 4, 2023
Honestly very refreshing to read something relatable to east coast Canadian culture. The third part of book dragged on a bit and I wasn't very satisfied with the ending, but the book and a whole was really well developed.
July 29, 2022
Humor is an important ingredient when writing about dysfunctional families.
August 2, 2022
Enjoyed the characters & relationships… left a bit hollow at the end.
I own this
I own this
November 6, 2022
Couldn't get into it.
December 4, 2022
Good story, seems like you really know the characters.
January 5, 2023
Universal humanity written with a Newfoundland accent.
January 10, 2023
NL Reads 2023.
Loved this. Took a little while to get into it, but once I did I couldn’t get enough. It’s all so relatable.
Loved this. Took a little while to get into it, but once I did I couldn’t get enough. It’s all so relatable.
February 28, 2023
Realistic and satisfying.
June 14, 2023
Wow, I absolutely loved this book. 10 stars ! The best novel I've read in a very long time. Simple, spare writing jam packed with emotion - I didn't want it to end.
October 26, 2022
Kept my interest all the way through but a bit disappointing and hollow at the end. So many dysfunctions in this family but probably typical of most families on the east coast (Newfoundland) or so I hear. Great characters and much food for thought.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews