Kaspoit!

by Dennis E. Bolen

Kaspoit! is a novel of our times, told in the language of our times. It's set in the Lower Mainland of Vancouver. The time is now and gangland crime is rampant. Seemingly random murders and takedowns are exploding at a disturbing rate. Criminals are brazen, the cops are jaded, and someone is trying to lay the blame for the disappearance of dozens of women on the head of one man. Shakespearean in its intricacies of plotting and resplendence of vivid characters, the story puts speculative illustration to some of the most brutal Western Canada crimes of the recent past. The story is told almost entirely in dialogue, the scant narrative passages are brief and poetic, written in an invented form of imagistic neologisms. This mode of prose transmits the action at an accelerated, psychologically penetrating pace that hurls the reader through the varied and complicated scenes with a velocity not seen in standard fiction.

208 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2009

About the author

Dennis E. Bolen has published six novels, two books of short fiction and a poetry collection; holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and was fiction editor at sub-TERRAIN magazine for ten years; has been a part-time editorial writer and reviewer for The Vancouver Sun; literary reviewer for the Georgia Straight; freelance critic for numerous publications.

Reviews

[Margit · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off, you should know that this book is written entirely in dialogue with italicized neologisms to describe character actions. There is no exposition. There are no quotation marks. There is no attribution. It feels like multiple close third person points-of-view, even though there is no character internalization. This style leads to a very fast-paced read.

The author's style takes some getting used to, and it's often confusing and unclear who is speaking, since he doesn't use attribution (although he uses names in dialogue to clarify who is in each scene). I like his use of dialects, but the italic neologisms he uses for beats (to describe actions) are at times so confusing as to be nonsensical. However, I do appreciate the sense of immersion Bolen's style facilitates. He paints a vivid picture of the underworld of one of Vancouver's gangs.

Once I got into the rhythm of the prose, it became easier to read. The ending wasn't a total surprise, but I was slightly confused by it. Definitely an interesting study in experimental fiction. It gave me good insight into the current gang atmosphere in Vancouver, where my current working novel is set (in 2047, when four gangs rule the city after an economic collapse). I will definitely consider how Bolen used language when editing the dialogue of some of my more minor gang member characters.