The Colony of Unrequited Dreams

Newfoundland Trilogy #1

by Wayne Johnston

"The Colony of Unrequited Dreams" is Newfoundland--that vast, haunting near-continent upon which the two lovers and adversaries of this miraculously inventive novel pursue their ambitions.

Joey Smallwood, sprung from almost Dickensian privation, is a scholarship boy at a private school, where his ready wit bests the formidably tart-tongued Sheilagh Fielding. Their dual fates become forever linked by an anonymous letter to a local paper critical of the school--a letter whose mysterious authorship will weigh heavily on their lives.

Driven by socialist dreams and political desire, Smallwood will walk a railroad line the breadth of Newfoundland in a journey of astonishing power and beauty, to unionize the workers--and make his name. Fielding, now a popular newspaper columnist, provides--in her journalism, her diaries, and her bleakly hilarious "Condensed History of Newfoundland"--a satirical and eloquent counternarrative to Smallwood's story.

As the decades pass and Smallwood's rise converges with Newfoundland's emerging autonomy, these two vexed characters must confront their own frailties and secrets--and their mutual (if doomed) love.

The Colony of Unrequited Dreams combines erudition, unflagging narrative brio, and emotional depth in a manner reminiscent of the best of Robertson Davies and John Irving. Set in a landscape already made familiar to American readers by Annie Proulx and Howard Norman, it establishes Wayne Johnston as a novelist who is as profound as he is funny, with an unerringly ironic sense of the intersection where private lives and history collide.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Canada, Book Club, Canadian Literature, Historical, Literary Fiction

576 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Wayne Johnston was born and raised in Goulds, Newfoundland. After a brief stint in pre-Med, Wayne obtained a BA in English from Memorial University. He worked as a reporter for the St. John's Daily News before deciding to devote himself full-time to writing.

En route to being published, Wayne earned an MA in Creative Writing from the University of New Brunswick. Then he got off to a quick start. His first book, The Story of Bobby O'Malley, published when he was 27 years old, won the WH Smith/Books in Canada First Novel award for the best first novel published in the English language in Canada in that year. The Divine Ryans was adapted to a film, for which Wayne wrote the screenplay. Baltimore's Mansion, a memoire dealing with his grandfather, his father and Wayne himself, won the Charles Taylor Prize. Both The Colony of Unrequited Dreams and The Navigator of New York were on bestseller lists in Canada and have been published in the US, Britain, Germany, Holland, China and Spain. Colony was identified by the Globe and Mail newspaper as one of the 100 most important Canadian books ever produced.

Reviews

[El · Rating 5 out of 5]

The embarrassing admission is that I am American. Why do I say that? Well, there are two answers. The first is that because I am American, I don't think I've ever seen a copy of this book during all my years of working in bookstores. I found it recently and I've heard people talking about it recently, so I thought it was a new book. Guys, this book has been on the planet since the late 90s. It hit bookshelves before I was working in bookstores, and I can say I never saw at the library I worked in prior to that either. I think this is because it is a Canadian book, a Canadian author, a Canadian topic, and we don't have those sorts here in the states. (I jest. Sort of.) It's like it just became popular here for some reason.

The second is that because I am American, I know a pathetic amount about Canadian history. Like... zero. We learned about all the states we have united down here, all the people who killed a bunch of other people down here, and we learned that Canada shares the continent with us, but that's all we really have in common: North America. A somewhat shared land, but you still have to sign over your life to cross over to Canadia, and then again on the way back (though the Canadian side is usually nicer than the American side, I will say that). Okay, they say. You can go over there, but just for a bit, don't think about getting too comfortable or we'll come back and getcha!

So I read this entire book and even questioned out loud on the internet how much of this story was based on real Newfoundland history. All my GR Canadian friends are probably laughing at me. The whole book is based on real Newfoundland history. The Joe Smallwood character? Like one of the most important people in real life Candian history. Guys, I'm dumb. I'm sorry. I'm American. That's all I can say.

The other thing I can say to try to redeem myself is that I loved this book. Absolutely. I can see what Canadia wants to keep Johnston to themselves. He writes with a confidence and a beauty that I'm not sure Americans are prepared for. Well, that might be a bit dramatic, but this is a stunning book. That's my first impression, the one I'm putting down here, the one I'll stand by.

The story follows Joe Smallwood through his youngun days and up to his premier days. It's a lengthy book, but it reads so smoothly that you barely even notice. Johnston was artful in how he laid the book out, telling you Smallwood's story through Smallwood's eyes, and then a brief chapter out of the history of Newfoundland, some excerpts from Smallwood's condensed history of Newfoundland, and some from his gal-pal-keep-your-enemies-closer, Fielding's account of the history of Newfoundland. And, my favorite bits, pieces from her journal.

So let's talk about Fielding a moment. Sheilagh Fielding is her name, an invented character unlike Smallwood himself. She has a limp, uses a cane, and is unlike most female characters in literature you will ever read. I saw mention somewhere of Fielding being a Dorothy Parker-like character, and I think that is as fair an assessment as any. She is a rough, charming, bewitching character, and I would have been fine if the whole story was hers. Which, I guess, it sort of was. If a movie is made of this, they'll probably get Jennifer Lawrence to play Fielding.

But it's also Newfoundland's story. (Says the American.) Newfoundland is on every page of this book which makes me want to pack up and move there right now.

I know people will read this and think it was too long, or too meandering, or too something. But it worked for me. All of it worked for me. Don't be turned off by the back cover that calls it a "mystery and a love story". There's a little of each, but it's not at all what you would expect. It's just a really good book. Really. Yes, this is coming from someone who knows jack about Canadian history, so someone with real knowledge might have a different assessment. I somehow doubt it, though. Johnston appears to have done his research. He could have actually lived this life for all I know.

What I do know is this won't be the last book by Johnston that I read.

[BrokenTune · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We are a people in whose bodies old sea-seeking rivers roar with blood."

I had The Colony Of Unrequited Dreams on my Canada reading list. To be fair, the book was not high up on the list as my knowledge of and interest in Newfoundland was pretty non-existent. If I say my interest in Newfoundland was pretty low, imagine how eager I would have been to read a fictionalised biography of Joseph Smallwood, Newfoundland's first Premier and the politician to lead the Dominion of Newfoundland into the confederation in 1949.
Yeah, exactly...had it not been for a CBC group read here on GR, I probably would have missed out on what turned out to be a fascinating read that not only changed my perception of the province but also taught me a lot about Canadian history.

As mentioned, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is a fictionalised biography, and as such it starts off by telling about Smallwood's childhood and his upbringing in an impoverished environment, though he himself was able to attend school and was taught by what seemed British expats with a lot of chips on their shoulders from being stranded in the last outpost of civilisation - i.e. anywhere but Britain.

"All my marks had gone dramatically up, except my mark for character, which had stayed at forty-five. Its being not only so low, but also fixed, never-changing, was the point. It could not change, Reeves seemed to be saying; my other marks could go up or down, as the case might be, but my character, my fundamental self, would stay the same. I might as well have had forty-five stamped on my forehead. I was what I was, my character was my fate and my fate was forty-five."

To be honest, the mention of "forty-five" made me cringe. I read Alistair McLeod's novel No Great Mischief earlier this year and I sincerely hoped that Johnston would not follow that same path that Alistair McLeod chose for his characters, where all events and character traits where blamed on the "forty-five", though in McLeod's case referring to the Scottish Jacobite rising and the Battle of Culloden of 1745.

I was hugely relieved the Scottish topic did not make an appearance in Johnston's book. (Obviously, I'm still scarred from reading No Great Mischief.)
However, the reference to Smallwood's character being criticised and the overall dismissive attitude by his tutors of anything local, anything originating in Newfoundland, seemed to have a profound impact on the young Smallwood - who early on decides that he should write the "great Newfoundland" novel. The literary aspirations of young Smallwood do not come to fruition, however, as he is kicked out of school over a letter he is being accused of writing. Incidentally, Fielding, his childhood friend from the neighbouring girls' school is also forced to leave shortly after. Her leaving, too, happens under unresolved circumstances and she too seems to have been involved in the letter that caused Smallwood's dismissal.

From there on, the lives of both "friends" intertwine all throughout the story. Fielding, an alcoholic already in her youth, sets out on a career in journalism. Smallwood initially joins her but then decides to become a socialist and travel the land for the cause:

"I had bought a Bible in Corner Brook because I hoped my supposed religiosity would impress the sectionmen who fed me and let me spend the night in their shacks. It did, but, more important, it impressed their wives. When their wives went to my suitcase to get any clothes that needed washing, there was the Bible. That Bible, not one page of which I read along the way, kept many a section-man who was otherwise inclined to do so from dismissing me as a Godless socialist and convinced them to sign up with the union. I told them and their wives that when I thought I could not take another step, I took out the Bible and was inspired by reading it to carry on. “I could not have come this far without it,” I shamelessly said, at the same time recalling the many times I had been tempted to lighten my load by throwing it away."

I won't re-tell the story from here on as this would spoil reading the book but eventually Smallwood is in a position where he owns a paper rivaling Fielding's columns and her political satire. It was fascinating to watch the two characters - the semi-historical Smallwood and the entirely fictional Fielding - interact in the course of the story.

In a way, Fielding and Smallwood are complementary to each other: where Smallwood is driven by ambition and will not shy away from any trick in the book, Fielding is pragmatic, direct and proud of her integrity.

"She was called a fence-sitter and was challenged to defend herself, which she did by saying the accusation might or might not be true."

Confrontations between the two are what made the book rather special:

“You lost your job?”
“No,” she said, “I know exactly where it is. As of two months ago, it was taken from me.” “You didn’t lose your job because of the union,” I said, “you lost your job because you wouldn’t join the union.”
“Smallwood,” Fielding said, “are you some sort of agency of fate that it would be pointless of me to resist? If you are, tell me now so I can shoot myself without regret.”

While Fielding was without doubt my favourite character, Johnston masterfully interjects other aspects into the book that are really interesting. For one, Johnston alternates the storytelling through different styles: Smallwood's perspective is told by way of narration from Smallwood's perspective, Fielding's story on the other hand is told through her letters to Smallwood. Both parts are separated with excerpts of real and fictionalised books about the history of Newfoundland.

One memorable event that Johnston manages to web into the story is the sealing disaster of the S.S. Newfoundland that led a group of sealers frozen between two ships - neither allowing them shelter from the icy storms before they had caught the set quota of seals. The scene is not one that can easily be forgotten and Johnston does well to catch the despair and sadness of the event without exaggerating.

Overall, Johnston's writing of the whole book is excellent.

"Where the water stopped, the wind went overland until it met up again with water on the other side, each one, it seemed, driven on by the other. Everything was headed one way — clouds, wind, water, the waves so high the horizon was near and jagged, bobbing as if I was jumping up and down. I was sure the motion of the waves must extend right to the bottom, the whole ocean running like a river infinitely wide. It was impossible not to personify the wind."

However, there were still a few snags that kept me from loving this book more: One was the character of Smallwood. Even though the book is amount him, we don't get to know him well. Of course, not being able to read his character could be befitting of a politician. With Smallwood, though, a lot of things were hinted at but never explored, such as his relationship to his family and people other than Fielding. As a reader of a historical novel I would have liked to have seen more of Smallwood as a person and as a politician, not just as Fielding's counter-part.

"I thought about telling him that Fielding had saved my life, but I could not bring myself to do it, for it seemed to me that the more people there were who knew of Fielding’s heroism, the more indebted to Fielding I would be. I not only felt indebted to her, I felt, for reasons I could not understand, that her having saved my life rendered me morally inferior to her."

With respect to Fielding also, there was an issue that seemed to drag the book unnecessarily. Fielding's secret, the reason she was forced to leave school, and the mystery of the letter that caused Smallwood's expulsion, is revealed at a painstakingly slow pace - and left me somewhat disappointed. Btw, the secret is not what you might think it is - there is a twist, but I didn't feel the mystery element was needed in the novel and just drags it out.

I shall leave with one more journalistic punch up between Fielding and Smallwood:

“Got a phone call from himself yesterday. I made a suggestion. He made, and offered to help me carry out, a suggestion of his own. Said on the record I was off my rocker. Off the record a good deal more. The words Scotch and bitch came up a lot.”

(Editor’s explanation: Miss Fielding and Mr. Smallwood, though they have never met, chat frequently by phone, often sharing a chuckle over the unaccountable rumours that there exists between them some sort of animosity. The words Scotch and bitch came up frequently in their most recent conversation because Mr. Smallwood had phoned Miss Fielding with the happy news that his terrier had just had a litter of puppies, three of whom were female. Miss Fielding, who had been promised the pick of the litter and who has followed with much interest and concern the course of Pokey’s pregnancy these past few months, could not have been more pleased. As for the exchange of suggestions, it demonstrates perfectly the deep-seated friendship that exists between these two, which no amount of professional rivalry can undermine.)"

[Antoinette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a quintessential Canadian book. A book that looks at Newfoundland as a British colony till the time it joins Canada in 1949. The driving force for Confederation was Joe Smallwood, who became the premier of Newfoundland and rulers for many years.

This book started strong- loved getting to know Joe as a boy and in his formative years. When it got into the politics, it bogged down for me. It was too drawn out, IMHO. I would have loved to have known more about his wife and children, but they did not seem to figure too strongly in his life.

If you have an interest in this historical period, I definitely recommend this book.

Published: 1998

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mixing a historically significant character with a fictitious one is an interesting conceit, especially if the fictitious one outshines the real guy.

Joey Smallwood, first premier of Newfounland post-confederation with Canada, is the real person, a kid from the sticks of St. John’s, whose father is an alcoholic and whose mother can’t stop having babies, who dreams big and seeks power, believing that one day he will be the premier of his country (yes, it was a country, a rather bankrupt one, before it became a Canadian province). Sheilagh Fielding, the fictitious character, is a doctor’s daughter from the “quality” side of the social strata; she is a journalist and Smallwood’s nemesis, a cynic oozing irony when she is not boozing on Scotch. Fielding is a metaphor for Smallwood’s Newfoundland: tortured, secretive, betrayed, impoverished, alcoholic, brash. They are in love with each other but are too intellectual and uptight to consummate their passion—they address each other by their last names even during intimate and private moments. In fact, for a politician, Smallwood’s sexual appetite is strangely...well...small. He prefers to sublimate his energy by walking or sailing around the Rock in all kinds of inclement weather, collecting union dues for his socialist cause from uneducated people who would prefer to hide from their neighbours in coves and harbours and spend their time fishing.

Smallwood and Fielding have gaping character holes in addition to physical deformities. He is small, myopic, emaciated, pre-tubercular and is a lousy father and husband who never spends time with his family. She has a game leg, cannot shake off the booze, is tubercular, and is alienated from her family.

A letter sent to the local newspaper that gets 15-year-old Smallwood expelled from his prestigious high school begins the life-long duel between this formidable couple and turns into a mystery that runs through the book, taking on sinister implications as new information is unearthed. Smallwood’s takes to a career in journalism and radio, and uses his media platforms to solidify his political position in the rural areas outside St. John’s. In fact, when the referendum on confederation is finally fought, it is these outlying areas that swing the vote towards a union with Canada—Smallwood’s goal all along. He is obsessed with writing Newfoundland’s history to counter the inaccurate attempts made thus far by others. And Fielding is out to do the same; but she belittles this impossible and inhospitable colony that seems to be run by charlatans and has-beens of the Colonial office.

The novel covers Smallwood’s and Fielding’s lives from age 15 through to their retirement years in a combination of first person narrative (Smallwood), journal entries and unsent letters (Fielding) and short extracts from Fielding’s irony-laden, condensed version of The History of Newfoundland. I laughed during sections of this novel, particularly throughout the “true story” of prime minister Sir Richard Squires’ escape from the mob, aided by our dynamic duo. The unravelling of Fielding’s dark secret was heart wrenching, although reminiscent of most Canadian family dramas that reveal skeletons in closets brought about by lust and impropriety.

Most importantly, I believe this novel is a better introduction to the history of Newfoundland than the books Smallwood and Fielding were trying to either discredit or write themselves.

[Gail Amendt · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best work of historical fiction I have read in a long time. Based on history - that of Newfoundland's entry into Confederation and the architect of that event - Newfoundland's first premier, Joey Smallwood, this is still very much a work of fiction. I'm not sure how much of the Smallwood we read about is real, but he is certainly an engaging, complex and well developed character. His longtime friend/love/nemesis, Sheilagh Fielding is one of my favorite female characters of all time and I'm so glad to hear that Johnston has written another book about her. Wayne Johnston always writes with wit and his word plays are second to none. I can't believe I liked a book about politics this much.

[Ron Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

As Hollywood forgot long ago, romance, terror, and wit are produced by restraint, not excess. What better place to test that rule than Newfoundland, whose ferocious weather inspires a great deal of restraint, indeed. The setting for Wayne Johnston's spectacular new novel, "The Colony of Unrequited Dreams," sometimes slows love and hate to glacial speed, but that only emphasizes the land's awesome power.

Johnston's epic tells the fictionalized life of Newfoundland's first premier, Joe Smallwood. Born on the eve of the 20th century, Joe lives with his 12 siblings under the erratic terror and pleading of their alcoholic father and Pentecostal mother.

When a rich uncle sends Joe to a snobby private school, the boy finally has reason to think he'll make something of himself. Despite his humble background, he manages to navigate this world of wit and wealth with some success. He even holds his own against the biting repartee of Sheilagh Fielding, a bold, bright young woman whom everyone refers to by her last name.

Graduation and the social status it will afford are only months away when Joe is accused of writing a slanderous letter about the school to a local newspaper. At a crucial moment in the boy's mock trial, Fielding interrupts and confesses, a move that shocks Joe most of all and locks him in a frustrating, life-long attraction to this deadly sarcastic young woman.

Despite her confession, the cruel headmaster continues to hound Joe until he drops out of school. His father, so reluctant for Joe to mingle with the upper-class scholars, now rages day and night about his son's expulsion.

At the center of his father's rantings is an old book of Newfoundland history, a national story he's sure will never include him or his son. Fed up with her husband's obsession, one night Joe's mother grabs the book and throws it outside, a move that starts a avalanche that kills an old man.

In this odd, cold place, Johnston has managed to cultivate a wonderful hybrid of Charles Dickens, John Irving, and Annie Proulx.

From this richly drawn, inauspicious adolescence, Joe and Fielding strike out into the world on separate paths that cross every few years. One old woman tells Joe, "There's not enough of you to bait a hook with," but he's determined to make a name for himself. A succession of jobs as a journalist, unionizer, radio host, and political assistant leads him across Newfoundland as a "wanderlusting patriot."

In one of the book's most haunting episodes, Joe accompanies a seal ship that gets caught in a bad storm. Eighty hunters are left on the ice, lost in the snow. When they're finally found several days later, wind has blown the snow away, leaving a bleached vision of Pompeii: "For several minutes after the ship stopped, no one disembarked. I saw what I had not been able to through my binoculars: that these were not survivors but a strange statuary of the dead."

Later, in a chapter that tests the limits of nature and man, Joe walks across the entire frozen country to meet and unionize all the railway selectmen. After a mixed success, he sets out to organize hundreds of desperate fishermen, until he finally realizes that these poor people don't even have a word for the concept of government.

"There was something about abject hopelessness," he admits, "that inspired a delusionary optimism in me, a belief that for me, if for no one else in Newfoundland, prosperity lay just around the corner."

Though he gives up his health, family, pride, and principles to ensure a place in Newfoundland history, Joe never gives up his ambiguous love for Fielding. Never has there be a more excruciatingly unconsummated relationship. "We were not lovers," Joe confesses to this fascinating, sardonic woman. "What were we?"

While Joe rises up the shaky political ranks of Newfoundland's on-again, off-again government, Fielding survives her chilly father, a bout with tuberculous, and alcoholism to become a leading political satirist. Her "Field Day" column is regularly devoted to ridiculing Joe.

Throughout Joe's narrative of his unlikely rise, the author interrupts with selections from Fielding's hysterically sarcastic "Condensed History of Newfoundland," her brutal newspaper columns, and her emotional diary. The friction between all these voices generates a tremendous degree of light and heat in this icebound story.

Looking back at his unlikely success, Joe says, "Newfoundland stirred in me, as all great things did, a longing to accomplish or create something commensurate with it." Clearly, Johnston has done just that.

http://www.csmonitor.com/1999/0805/p2...

[Mmars · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really 3.5.

For no reason my reading travels have taken me to many cold and desolate climates over the last year. It began in Iceland with Burial Rites. I visited Greenland in the unfinished This Cold Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland a follow-up to the The Voyage of the Narwhal in a which a fictional crew sets out in hopes of discovering what happened to John Franklin’s lost expedition in search of the Northwest Passage. I just finished this, a history of Joey Smallwood, Newfoundland’s first premier after confederation with Canada. And now I’ve picked up The Snow Child set in the Alaskan wilds circa 1920. Now let me make this clear. I hate winter. These are not comfort reads. This was not intentional.

Newfoundland is somewhere that I had given little thought to for a great number of years. I knew virtually nothing of its history. Well, this book will bring any reader up on that. At first, I enjoyed the story. That of Smallwood’s impoverished childhood, living with a raging alcoholic father, and the oldest of many siblings. Because his uncle has been successful in the shoe business the Smallwood family is always well-shoed, but otherwise lacking. Joey Smallwood is fortunate in that his uncle sees that he has the opportunity for an education. Unfortunately, he is scandalized and several of these peers weave in and out of his life. A letter that sets his life on a different course remains a mystery to Smallwood for the rest of the book. And it is this premise that I struggled most with throughout this long book. It just wasn’t that compelling for me.

I enjoyed most of the other aspects of Smallwood’s life path. That he left Newfoundland for New York City for a brief period, traveling by train across the island, then living marginally fortunately saved by other Newfoundlander’s there. That he returns to Newfoundland to organize labor and unions by walking much of the country. His career as a barely paid journalist and later as a host of a radio show intended to enlighten people on the country. And again traveling the coastal habitations and for political and social causes. Always though, wanting to leave his mark, but rarely seeming to be more than impoverished. Until finally he is known enough through his endeavors and he becomes Newfoundland’s first Premier after confederation with Canada. Until this time Britain has again and again assigned men to rule Newfoundland, but with various degrees of failure.

Interspersed with Smallwood’s tale are brief descriptions of Newfoundland’s political rule. These are written by Fielding, an old female classmate and the reason for his childhood educational ending. He loves Fielding but is inept in the emotional IQ department and their relationship is really strange. She too is a journalist, but one who never takes to any particular line of political thought. Only that of placing thorns in everyone’s sides.

There is a denouement in Fielding’s life toward the end of the book, but by then I had been strung along too long, and it did not have the desired impact.

I have mixed feelings toward this book. It was saga-like but was too long. Although it packed a lot of history in. I so enjoyed the “physical” aspects of the book – the necessarily hard life of living in a remote and relatively unwanted land, of interest for its two natural resources, fish and lumber. And I enjoyed learning about its history and the fascinating story of Smallwood, a footnote in world history. I do think having more background on Newfoundland would have helped my appreciate this book, but there’s always plot and story well executed and told and unfortunately some of those footings were a little too shaky for me. 3.5 stars.

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before reading this, I could have written what I knew about the politics and history of Newfoundland on the back of a postage stamp. Joey Smallwood became the first premier of Newfoundland having successfully, though narrowly, fought a referendum to bring it into the Confederation of Canada in 1949.

Johnston’s book has won many plaudits and rightly so. My issue with it began when I discovered that one of the main characters, Sheila Fielding, is entirely fictional. She’s a great character and Joey’s life is inextricably bound with hers. She even saves his life at one point. In ‘Truth, Lies and Historical Fiction’, Johnston and Philippa Gregory discuss how far authors of historical fiction should go in terms of using fictional characters to drive the narrative. It’s an interesting argument and I don’t usually have a problem with a mix of historical and non historical characters. In this book I did, however, because of the intrinsic role Fielding plays in Smallwood's fictional life. Once I realised she hadn’t existed, I struggled to continue reading. Not because I doubted the historical veracity of Johnston’s account of Smallwood's life but because half of the story is essentially fantasy.

I read more than half of this book but I’ve stopped enjoying it so I’m not going any further. I’m giving it 4 stars because I enjoyed what I did read up to a point, particularly the ironic humour on Fielding's part. The reason I chose it in the first place is because I was heading for Newfoundland - L’anse Aux Meadows to be precise - but our cruise ship ran into bad weather and we had to bypass it. It’s hard to get over such a massive disappointment because I doubt I’ll have another opportunity but that’s life. Sometimes it sucks!!

[TBV (on hiatus) · Rating 4 out of 5]

““Newfoundland,” I told them one night, “will be one of the great small nations of the earth, a self-governing, self-supporting, self-defending, self-reliant nation, and I will be prime minister of Newfoundland.””

The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is a fictional account of the life of Joey Smallwood (1900-1991), who was the first Premier of Newfoundland and who was instrumental in bringing Newfoundland into the Canadian confederation. How much is fact or fiction I cannot tell, but I’ll comment on the fictional Joey Smallwood without revealing plot details.

Joey Smallwood (Wikipedia)


Small, malnourished, myopic and the son of a drunkard, Joey nevertheless manages to attend a good school, Bishop Feild (correct spelling). Even though he is from the wrong side of the tracks - he lived in “A Pariahville of ironically elevated bottom-dwellers.” - his wit assures him a place with one of the popular cliques of schoolboys of which Prowse is the leader. But the schoolmaster, Reeves, is not impressed by the boy’s wit: ““The worst of our lot comes over here, inbreeds for several hundred years and the end-product is a hundred thousand Newfoundlanders with Smallwood at the bottom of the barrel.”
"And you as my teacher, sir,” I said.”
Prowse continues to feature in Smallwood’s life long after he leaves school, which he leaves sooner than desired. Even as a schoolboy Joey dreams big and imagines himself as being someone important, and he is chastised for these boyish ambitions. It is whilst he attends this school that he also meets Sheilagh Fielding, commonly known as Fielding, who attends the girls’ school. Fielding is a fictitious character, but a very important one in this novel.

Joey commences his career as a journalist for a local newspaper, and he manages to be assigned the task of writing about life on a sealing ship. The brutal descriptions of the mass slaughter of seals reminded me of the excellent Butcher’s Crossing by John Williams. After this grim experience and “After I read the closing paragraph of What’s So and What Isn’t, I believed that I had found my calling, a way to ensure that the deaths of the men of the S.S. Newfoundland might be redeemed: “A socialist is a man of destiny. He is the only man who has read the signs of the time. He is therefore invulnerable. He draws his shining lance and challenges the champions of every other economic thought to meet him in the arena of debate. And they slink away like whipped curs.” “It was all very well to want to be a journalist, but whose life could you save or even improve by writing for a newspaper?”

He travels to New York City where he lives for about five years, and there is an hilarious account of Smallwood trying to convert an audience of black people to socialism, but their witty responses defeat him. Smallwood works his fingers to the bone and his shoe soles to holes for the cause, but manages to evade being converted by a religious zealot - Smallwood’s mother had been converted and it was enough to frighten him off for life: “I wanted to keep my distance from this religious fervour for fear of coming down with it myself, losing myself to it.” It does not later deter him from walking around with a Bible in his pocket with which to impress the ladies as he canvasses for votes. “I had bought a Bible in Corner Brook because I hoped my supposed religiosity would impress the sectionmen who fed me and let me spend the night in their shacks. It did, but, more important, it impressed their wives.” On his return to Newfoundland he continues slogging away for the cause until he comes to the conclusion that a switch to the Liberal Party might be more fruitful.

What stands out about this fictional Smallwood is his commitment and his capacity for hard work, deprivation, and walking vast distances from nowhere to nowhere to spread his message. At times he is completely on his uppers, and on his travels he is willing to live in the humblest homes and share whatever food is available. He doesn’t seek wealth: “I could see the point of having and wielding power, I could not see the point of wealth.” However, he is quite ruthless in his pursuit of a position of power, and this extends to his married life and family for whom he seems to have no time at all. Neither does he show any interest in them. They are simply a necessary appendage for his career. He is like a small terrier who hangs on relentlessly before going in for the kill. Against all odds he achieved his goal of becoming a powerful person as he was Premier of Newfoundland for many years. “I had won the election by a landslide. I was already ruling the province with such an iron fist that most people were afraid to speak out against me. Newspapers especially were under my thumb. I blacklisted newspapers that criticized my administration, refusing them government advertising and refusing any companies who advertised in them government contracts.” But not all of his dreams came true...

Smallwood has a very strange friendship with the fictitious Fielding, and for the most part they behave very childishly towards each other. Fielding is an exceptionally tall woman and also larger than life in her actions. I can’t help but think of her as “formidable Fielding”. She also manages to pop up unexpectedly in the strangest places, and she produces quite a few laughs for the reader. To write more about the interactions between Smallwood and Fielding would spoil the plot for would-be readers.

There are excellent descriptions of his various travels, and the novel provides a good sense of what Newfoundland must have been like at that time. It also describes the politics at a very important time in the history of Newfoundland. Irony is prominent in the novel. I didn’t like the Joey Smallwood of the novel, but his character is well portrayed, and one need not like a character for a book to be good. Overall this novel was an interesting read about a subject of which I know next to nothing.

Quotes

“As the train went south along the Hudson River, I realized that I was travelling through the setting of many of the books I had read. I was not just city-bound, but world-bound, it seemed, where the books I read were published, where the papers I read were written.”

“It was as though an alternate time stream was moving parallel with ours, plied at sluggish speeds by ancient modes of transportation as we in the train, city-bound, got older faster, though in space our destinations were the same.”

“On Friday, payday, we swarmed Child’s Restaurant on Twelfth Street and, while arguing socialism, fed ourselves to bursting on sixty-five-cent four-course meals.”

“He was the most open-minded man I had ever met. Told two contradictory versions of the same event, he believed both, as long as each reflected badly on the character of Newfoundlanders. I have never met a man so eager to have his sensibilities offended.”

“It was September, but not so far into the month that the browning of the barrens had begun. An overcast day with a west wind that would keep the fog at bay. There was beauty everywhere, but it was the bleak beauty of sparsity, scarcity and stuntedness, with nothing left but what a thousand years ago had been the forest floor, a landscape clear-cut by nature that never would recover on its own. It was a beauty so elusive, so tantalizingly suggestive of something you could not quite put into words that it could drive you mad and, however much you loved it, make you want to get away from it and recall it from some city and content yourself with knowing it was there.”

“As I walked along, I felt the ice rise beneath my feet, felt myself being lifted and then lowered and then lifted again. I discovered that it was possible while walking on the ice to become seasick. One second you were walking uphill, the next downhill. The water below moved shorewards but the ice did not; you rose to a crest on the ice, then felt and saw that crest move on ahead of you while another swell began beneath your feet. It was like walking on the skin of a massive animal.”

[Ian M. Pyatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first novel by WJ & first of The Newfoundland Trilogy and a really good book. An easy book to read, learned alot about the history of this province as a separate "country" and the efforts of Joey Smallwood to have it join the rest of Canada.

Thoroughly enjoyed the narrative of Smallwood's journey from his time in school, his time as a journalist, the travels to all parts of the province to sign people to join the union and finally as a politician and the trials and tribulations of his political career.

The letters to him from his friend Sheilagh Fielding were well conceived and written and very enjoyable as were her condensed version of D.W. Prose's "History of Newfoundland"

Highly recommend for those who have read other works by this author, would like a different take on the history of that province and enjoy a nice bit of historical fiction.

Onto Custodian of Paradise; the second book in this trilogy.

[Jodi · Rating 5 out of 5]

AHA!!

I knew there was one other Johnston book I'd read (a long time ago—close to 30 years now!!). But it wasn't until I read Ron Charles' review just now that the proverbial light bulb came on over my head💡—THAT'S IT!!! THAT'S THE ONE!!

Of course, it makes perfect sense to me NOW! It's part of a trilogy and I've read the other two! OMG. Thank goodness!😮‍💨 I've been wracking my brain for years about this!

It was one of the VERY BEST books I'd ever read, and thank goodness, NOW I know what it was!!🤦‍♀️😂

[Irene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fictional account of the life and political career of Joey Smallwood, a union organizer who became the first premiere of Newfoundland who was instrumental in its confederation with Canada. I enjoyed learning about this piece of history with which I had been unfamiliar. Great writing.

[Krista · Rating 5 out of 5]

While reading The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, and especially upon finishing it, I needed to know just how historically accurate the narrative was -- the Joey Smallwood of the book fit more or less with the bits I know about the actual first Premier of Newfoundland, but if the acid-penned, hilariously ironic Sheilagh Fielding did exist, I wanted to learn more about her. A google search led to this essay by the author, Wayne Johnston, and the following revelation:

The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is a dramatic rendering of the spirit of a people and a place, an island that in 1948 came within a hair's breadth of achieving nationhood and that it still longs for to this day. It was written in the belief that in this story of Newfoundland, this love story whose two main players are characters inspired by Joe Smallwood and the wholly imaginary Sheilagh Fielding, readers everywhere would see reflected their own attempts to crawl out from underneath the avalanche of history with their human individuality intact.

I also happen to be listening to Pat Conroy's My Reading Life right now, and early in that book Conroy makes the case that Gone With the Wind is a masterwork, perfectly capturing the South's transition from separate society through the tragedy of the Civil War to ultimate confirmation of its indivisible union with the Northern States, and I don't think that it would be overstating it to say that The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is Newfoundland's Gone With the Wind; if Scarlett O'Hara is the embodiment of the South's transition, then Smallwood embodies the Rock's; if Rhett Butler is a dramatic foil, then so too is Sheilagh Feilding.

But that's not to say that this book seems derivative in any way -- The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is epic and sweeping and wholly original. Through excerpts from the actual A History Of Newfoundland From The English Colonial And Foreign Records by D.W. Prowse and a highly ironic fictional history written by Fielding, a historical overview of the island is provided that gives context to the narrative. Through Smallwood's first person life story and Fielding's journals and newspaper columns, the capital-H-History of the time and place is made intimate and personal. On top of this intriguing structure are the words themselves -- the sentence-by-sentence beautiful writing and Newfie humour had me riveted on every page.


A view of Newfoundland from offshore:

It was hard to believe Newfoundland was an island and not the edge of some continent, for it extended as far as the eye could see to east and west, the headlands showing no signs of attenuation; a massive assertion of land, sea's end, the outer limit of all the water in the world, a great, looming, sky-obliterating chunk of rock.

And a typical, to my ear typically Newfie, turn of phrase that made me chuckle and wince in equal measure:

I well understood my father's horror of domesticity, of entrapment and confinement. The thought of nights in some fetid breeding bed while the products of other such nights lay listening in the next room or outside the door I found so revolting that I vowed I would never marry.

The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is a love-letter to Newfoundland and beautifully achieves the author's goal (from the same essay as above): It is about the human character and human emotions inherent in and often masked by historical events and by the written record we call "history." This book has my highest recommendation -- if only Sheilagh Fielding actually existed; how I would love to immerse myself in her newspaper columns.

[John Hanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm reviewing this novel with much trepidation and caution. My copy is signed by Mr. Johnston who I met at a reading this past November for his latest novel. He's a nice man and a great reader. He could be a stand-up comic, very dry, very patient with his story telling, and has a very good understanding of story at that. My caution comes from my own writing about Newfoundland, and I have to be very cautious for I am a Mainlander, not a native son.

I have a sense of what Newfoundland is about. I've known and worked with many Newfs. I've partied in the Newfoundland embassy at Acadia University in the early 80's, and I began my own writing journey during a three month stay in St. John's. For the record, I have two novels nearly completed -- nearly is not an accurate word in this business -- and both are about Newfoundland characters. I've roamed the streets of St. John's at all hours of the day, I've toured the city by car, foot, and bus. I've worked with her people, drank coffees at night with them, and I've discussed with them what it is to be a Newfoundlander. I'm no expert on this subject. For that, I'd recommend David Benson at Afterwords book store on Water St., a quiet sidewalk smoker with all the histories of Newfoundland in his head plus a few not yet published.

I saw Mr. Smallwood once, February 1991, in the Hotel Newfoundland. He was old and skinny, but he carried an air of dignity. I pictured him as a silver statue of elegance stuck in this land of self deprevation. That's what Newfoundland feels like; it feels like a line-up of inner city American vagrants waiting for their soup and handouts and complaining of the 1% and how such a raw deal they've recieved. It's a community dominated by unrequittedness, and it is very much a community. Wayne discusses the differences between St. Johners and the rest, the Baymen if you will; though they aren't all bay men. But to me, these are city-rural differences only. Burn a Newfoundland flag, and they'll all join in throwing your kicked ass into the ocean.

This story lacks certain elements. There's no gripping mainstream plot; there's no great dissection of Joey Smallwood; and there's no satisfaction of story.

Plot? Nope. This is a literary novel. Yes there's tension galore, but there's no dragon tattoo story here. Didn't really expect one, and I wasn't disappointed.

Shallowness, emptiness. I think it might be worthwhile to point out who the main character is. In my opinion, it's the people of Newfoundland. It's the unrequitted tribe. We get a lot about Joe; it's told by him, but we really never get a sense of who he really is. He comes across as all high and mighty, but we also see his unexplained weaknesses: getting drunk, living as a bum in NYC, and dolling his influence on freedom of speech he so much relished earlier. I came away with little understanding of how the man really felt, and I felt little empathy. Many have argued this, but I found much of the discussion superfluous. I felt Joe was a first person narrator, telling the story through his disconnected voice. But I think that was necessary. If we fell in love with Joe, we'd never know the true Newfoundland.

In the end, we're not satisfied with the outcome. Plain and simple. There's no story resolution to make you sit back and say "wow." It leaves you hanging, empty. But you kow, Newfoundland leaves you hanging and empty. Her great people leave you hanging and empty. This is not a criticism of the land, but let's be honest. It's way the hell out there on the edge of the continent. They live on the outside looking in. They are very much forgotten and ignored by the rest of us.

But when you add up everything, the constant, empty searching by Joe, the ascorbic commentaries by Fielding, and the constant unfulfilled hopes and dreams of this mysteriouos nation, you end up with a brilliant characterization of a land, of Newfoundland. As I read it, and as I continue to write about it, I find it's wholly consistent with my understandings and probably with reality. And that made me say "WOW!"

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am typically a harsh critic of historical fiction (a crude subject heading that allows for the inclusion of fictionalized history) so it was both surprising and enchanting to discover in Wayne Johnston's The Colony of Unrequited Dreams a beautiful story tucked into a bed of "real" events and people. For those easily side-tracked by history, for those that read primarily to "better themselves," beware the temptation to think this is the story of Joey Smallwood just because he is the first-person narrator of the hefty part of the tome. The character is a self-confessed windbag. Lest the reader be misled by the love we all hold for anyone with a recognizable nametag, Johnston gives Smallwood a lucid moment near the end where he is self-depicted as "...absurd, vain, pompous, strutting, and ambitious..." This is not the description of a character that I would willingly follow through his lifetime of foolishness, not without some incentive beyond merely cozying up to a fictional final father of Confederation. The real story is about Shelagh Fielding. She begins it. She ends it. She moves it. It is her unrelenting, inexplicable, unrequited love of Joey that allows the reader to have some hope, if little sympathy, for the bumbling accidental politician that one can only hope was a caricature of the real Smallwood. It is Fielding—with her razor wit, her strength, her poignant suffering, her ironic position as the saviour of Smallwood's career, his moral compass, his very life—that feeds the hungry reader. It is in her life, nestled in the same obscurity as Shawnawdithit's, we search for meaningful lessons, we see the reflection of the unforgiving landscape of the novel. It is her brave and stoic separation from the love of her children, her parents, her lover that trumps whatever losses to corruption and incompetence her countrymen have suffered. Never have I read a more palatable account of "real" suffering and loss.

[Ann-Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seemed a bit derivative of Howard Norman (Sheilagh Fielding is a close sister to Margaret Handle in The Bird Artist, which was published a few years earlier). Although the writing is good—the author excels at description and character develpment—the story somehow doesn’t seem to justify the length (500-plus pages). That said, the interwoven pages from Fielding’s history of Newfoundland are an interesting device. Without them, there’d be less of a sense of place, which is essential for the story. Also, Fielding’s other writings are almost a novel in themselves. The two voices (of Joe Smallwood, the main character, and of Fielding) are complementary, as are Fielding’s public (history) and private (diary) voices. So it’s odd that to a large extent, it felt like the same thing all the way through ... And the mystery of who really wrote the letter that got Joe expelled from school wasn't that compelling. I kept waiting for something (Joe’s eventual triumph?) to happen, but it never does really, even though he becomes the first premier of Newfoundland after federation with Canada.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have had something of an interest in Newfoundland ever since an all-too-brief visit to The Rock back in the nineties, when I was bowled over by the landscapes and people. "The Colony of Unrequited Dreams" is a fictionalised biography of the life of Joey Smallwood, former premier of the Province and the man widely seen as the architect of its union with Canada in 1949. This novel is no plodding history-as-drama though. Smallwood is portrayed (perhaps accurately?)as a driven, ambitious character; born into a decidedly ailing branch of an otherwise middle class family, with an alcoholic father and numerous siblings. Despite the odds being stacked against him he is determined to somehow write his name into the history books. After countless false starts and failures he gains a degree of success as the host of a radio programme, and uses his modest fame to become the champion of confederation with Canada, (initially the viewpoint of a small minority). The strategy succeeds, but Newfoundland itself is too small and too poor for Smallwood's grandiose vision, and so desperate is he to transform the island that he becomes an easy mark for smooth talking "investors" who promise much but deliver little. Smallwood's failures as premier are hilariously ridiculed by the novel's other main character, the (sadly) entirely fictional Sheilagh Fielding. Smallwood and Fielding (they always call each other by their surnames)meet at school and go on to have a lifelong emotional but not physical love affair. Their relationship has more than its share of fiery moments and Fielding - intelligent, disillusioned, alcoholic, and possessed of razor sharp wit - ends up as a columnist on an opposition newspaper. The section containing Fielding's newspaper columns describing a tour of Europe made by Smallwood had me rocking with laughter. At other times the reader is left with a feeling of regret over the two characters' failure to consummate their desire for one another. Woven into the novel are two pilgrimage-like journeys undertaken by Smallwood, one across the interior of Newfoundland and the other along the coast. Both contain amazing descriptions of the island, and the incredible remoteness and isolation of the lives of the inhabitants away from St. John's. The early part of the novel also includes a journey made by Smallwood as an observer on a seal hunt, a terrifying description of the hardships of life for early 20th century Newfoundlanders.

The Joey Smallwood portrayed in the book is in many ways a cold, hard character. The novel is at different times warm, funny, tragic and moving.

[HomeInMyShoes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed, I gasped, I almost cried. Some books are like that. There are those that would have cheered for the storm to finish him off, but what a story we would have lost. Very much five stars.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was enthralling and informative, well written and funny. I know very little about the history of Newfoundland, it's the other end of the country and to be honest, from a cultural point of view, BC has more in common with Washington, Oregon and California than with the rest of Canada and I seldom think about what goes on out East.

While I realize much of this book is fictional, including one of the main characters, it fills in some very basic "how life was" in Newfoundland before joining Canada that I wasn't aware of. I certainly wasn't aware that they had been a Dominion or of the controversy over joining Canada.
The character of Fielding was fantastic, she was a Dorothy Parker-esque type person. Acerbic but fragile and full of great quips, she has an independent opinion on everything and tends to think more about herself than the big political issues. She is a great foil for Smallwood who wants to make a name for himself and tends to be depressingly serious and socialist conscious.

The story of Smallwood's life, as told by him, are alternated with sections of Fielding's diary and parts of the condensed history of Newfoundland that she is writing, very much in a sarcastic style. Her history made me laugh out loud several times, especially when they were about the unfairness of colonialism.

I polished off this book in three days, over the course of a week, though the majority of it was read on one Saturday, where I didn't move from my very comfortable chair for hours on end, except to get another cup of tea. I highly recommend this book.

[Charles Henri · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was highly recommended to me so I started with high expectations. But no matter how hard I tried, I could never really get into it. I should have abandoned it after a while but I kept reading through it, which took me a while to end it.

It's not that it is a bad book or anything. It is well written with great vocabulary. But it's the whole tone to it... I felt like the author wanted to write about Newfoundland itself and the book was just a pretence to get to do that. Half formal history - half storytelling, everything is put in place to describe the history of Newfoundland. I felt like I was in a class room the whole time I read the book.

As for the characters, the author tells the story of one Premier of the Province, but you can't help and wonder how much is romanticized and how much is true. How can you invent so much on a real person or how to you get to know their hidden stories that way? It just felt awkward reading through it.

Maybe I should have moved on to something else sooner but it was interesting enough to finally get me through without ever being really captivated by it. Sorry to say, I'm happy to move on.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very much enjoyed this one. It’s a biography of Joseph Smallwood and Newfoundland, following his career and his dealings with Sheilagh Feilding. They meet in grade school, involved in a pivotal moment for both of them, which also leads to them both not graduating. They meet again a few years later both being reporters for rival newspapers covering the courts. Their relationship, is followed throughout the book, which is of attachment, but not physical.

From what I read on Wikipedia the biography part of Smallwood is accurate. Certainly there is much fiction here, but the aspects of what he did in life is true. Smallwood was ambitious since childhood and kept preserving in a political aspect, or with newspapers. Somehow despite all the energy he would pour into his endeavors they never did succeed immensely, until he landed a role on the radio bringing boosterism of Newfoundland, The Barrelman. In the end, he did achieve what he desired.

This was a long book, there was much here, and it’s the first book of a trilogy. The other two focus on Fielding, which is quite the character. Yet despite my enjoyment of this book just not sure I want to continue on.

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston

Wayne Johnston is a wonderful writer. I read "The Navigator Of New York" a few years ago and found the same excellent reading this time. These books aren't the sort you just have to keep reading to see what happens next. I had no problem setting this one aside to read our Book Club selection then picking it up where I had left off. That doesn't sound like much of a recommendation but a sizzling plot isn't everything. These books have good stories, but the thing that stands out to me is that they are just darn pleasurable reading. If the book never ended I'd go on reading it forever because it's so enjoyable, like sitting in your favourite chair or wearing comfortable old shoes.

The story here is a fictional account of Joey Smallwood's life. For those too young to remember, he was the Newfoundlander who successfully pushed for Newfoundland to join Canadian Confederation in 1949 and who then became it's first Premier. I don't really understand how fiction and the lives of real people mix in a book. I'm unsure what parts we are supposed to believe and what to call fiction. I don't even understand how it's legal to make up stories about actual people. Does calling it fiction allow a writer to say whatever he wants? I don't know. I just know I liked it.

In this account, Smallwood's story is not at all what you'd expect in the life of a prominent politician. His family, education, personal life and career are colourful and make for a unique and sometimes strange tale. He is socially inept and a complete dud when it comes to personal relationships, but politically, he's driven by an unstoppable will. When he wants something, he'll do whatever it takes to get it and he won't allow anything or anyone to keep him from it.

For me the main character in this story is Newfoundland itself, and from the title I think that's what the authour intended. I grew up with Newfoundland being a province of Canada and am slightly embarrassed to say I never gave a thought to what it was before that. Reading about pre-confederation Newfoundland was nothing short of fascinating to me; I couldn't get enough of it. By the end of the book I was convinced that joining Confederation was a bad idea for Newfoundland - and I'm Canadian!

You'll fall in love with the harsh, beautiful land, the wild, unpredictable weather and the people, from the quirky, competitive city-dwellers to the stalwart souls living in the outports, who live only on what they can provide for themselves surrounded by ice, water and rock. I don't think I've ever read of harsher living or hardier people.

The authour creates for us some refreshingly honest word-pictures of life on this unique island. He talks about their "...perverse pride in our ability to do anything, even fail, on so grand a scale. Whether our distinguishing national trait was resourcefulness or laziness, ineptitude or competence, honesty or corruptibility, did not seem to matter as long as we were famous for it, as long as we were acknowledged as being unmatched in the world for something." and about standing on a boat offshore "...regarding the somehow oppressively spectacular scenery, the houses in their drearily bright and cheerful, state-of-the-universe-denying colours." If ever you should see the bright rainbow colours of coastal village houses, you will know exactly what he means by "state-of-the-universe-denying colours" (one of the best descriptions I've ever heard). They signal such optimism, such cheer in what seems like pretty cheerless living conditions.

He writes another passage that gives us some idea of the isolation of residents in the more remote locations: "What I had not realized was how cut off from the world in both space and time these people were. Most of them did not understand or even have a word for the concept of government." They "had only the most rudimentary understanding of what a country was. And at the same time were destitute beyond anything I imagined when I first set out."

I could go on forever but I'll spare you. Just read the book and let Newfoundland seep into your imagination, then I wish you the best of luck trying to resist the temptation to go and see with your own eyes what Wayne Johnston has described so perfectly.

[Mela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew absolutely nothing about Newfoundland. It was fascinating to learn about its history. I made a short check after finishing it, and I am positively surprised by how many facts there were. I am really glad I read the book.

Now the buts.

I didn't see the point of fictional Fielding. I mean, I understand that the author wanted to create some kind of drama and counterbalance to Joey Smallwood. Yet, I felt it was too far-fetched and too melodramatic. Quite fast I had enough of all that thinking of who and why sent the letter and if she loved him or not. Was it so important at all? And the last revelation - I rolled my eyes. Really, it looked like Wayne Johnston wanted to add a bit of Nicholas Sparks' drama. In other words, I think I would have enjoyed the book more if there were no Fielding and the author concentrated on Smallwood or some other character.

I had the feeling Smallwood was too obviously painted as a bad person. Especially in the last step of his political career - it looked like he did nothing good, yet, he ruled for quite a long time, and was reelected a few times. (I checked him, so I know a bit more, but why Smallwood in the book seemed so bad - I don't know). Even odder was that in the first parts of the novel, he looked rather like a positive character.

So, the mystery and the love story didn't speak to me at all. But I appreciated the historical side of the book (still, I am not tempted to read more by the author though).

[3.5-4 stars]

PS One of the best titles I have read.

[Badly Drawn Girl · Rating 4 out of 5]

The history of Newfoundland is not a subject I would ever think I would enjoy learning about. This brilliantly written book manages to sum up the history of that island in a truly fascinating way. I never felt like this book was dragging, even though it is very large and stuffed to the brim with information, facts, and observations. By following the life of the future first premier of the country, Wayne Johnston reels his readers in. Joe Smallwood is like the little engine that could, he just keeps trucking along even when outside forces conspire against him. I found myself celebrating his achievements and mourning his losses and mistakes as if he were a person I knew and loved. And the character of Fielding is so wonderfully unique. You just never know what is going on in her head. And running throughout the book is the current of love and longing shared by these two who insist on pushing each other away at every chance.

Don't let the subject matter scare you off. If you like well written stories with fully developed characters that come to life before you eyes this is a book you will probably enjoy!

[Tina Siegel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This should have been a fabulous book. And parts of it were - mostly the language. I think Wayne Johnston did a wonderful job of evoking the tone and timbre of the time he's writing about. He also has a remarkable job of creating his two main characters - both Smallwood and Fielding are quirky and smart and a little irritating, with very distinct voices.

Actually, I did love Fielding. She's feisty. Unfortunately, the story focuses on Smallwood, who (as thoroughly imagined as he is) feels pedantic and fussy and repressed and boring. Which was my reaction to everything else in the book. The style might be appropriate for the time in which the book is set, but it comes across as stuffy and unappealing here. And that's over 500 pages of stuffy and unappealing. Completely unnecessary.

Ultimately, my affection for Fielding wasn't enough. I hated it.

[Ann-Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is WHY I love to read CanLit — stories like these that make me proud of our country and teach me something I didn’t know. This 500+ page tome- it’s a long read - provides a perspective of Newfoundland that I was unaware of. From discovery to colony to Confederation - the emotions of the people, the stories of its tribe and good ole Joey Smallwood. It’s a fictional take on the true story of Smallwood and his Newfoundland adventure - political and otherwise.... I haven’t done the book justice - it’s not a boring political story but a literal rags to ‘riches’ story of how to be a builder and create change in your community/ country...
Now I’m about to start googling to learn more and book a trip east to see this province!!

[Sue Tincher · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't care too much for this book. So cynical, and hard to care about the main characters. The fact that the narrator is a real historical figure, and that he is portrayed rather negatively (selfish, bad husband and father, vain and self-serving), leaves me wondering if he was really that bad or if the author is painting this poor dead man in a worse light than is warranted.

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.
I knew next to nothing about Newfoundland before I read this well written book, but now I have an understanding of it's history, geography and people. One of the main characters is Joey Smallwood who was a real person; the main force that brought the Dominion of Newfoundland into the Confederation of Canada in 1949, and Newfoundland's first Premier. He worked throughout his life towards bettering the lot of the poor who lived in harsh living and working conditions. This is a book which I think one day will be seen as a classic alongside Dickens; with it's cast of characters and depicting the poor and downtrodden.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joey_Sm...

I am a 100 pages in and am already drawn into the story. At this point the most memorable chapter for me was the episode of the sealers and the hard life they led. Having recently read Moby Dick I recognize the same tribute made to men who may have had to do a cruel hard job so as to save their families from starvation. People today complain so much about conditions in workplaces but looking back, previous generations would have thought we have it easy, which compared to them, we do. A very moving chapter on their courage and sacrifice.


I have read the first 3 parts. The first part, detailing Smallwood and Fielding's school years I thoroughly enjoyed. Part 2 set in New York was not as interesting but the book picks up again in part 3 when Smallwood is back in Newfoundland.
What I am enjoying the most are the newspaper columns and history of Newfoundland written by Fielding. Her irony is very amusing and smart. Out of all the characters I feel sorry the most for her. She seems to be a woman who is unable to believe the man can do any good from choice and as a result is a very lonely cynical woman; yet at heart she has a flicker of desire/hope that she is wrong.

In part 4 Johnson juxtaposes the lives of the poor fishermen and their families in remote areas ice locked a lot of the time, with the British Commission, wealthy Newfoundlanders, and their wives.
In the remote areas the fisherman have no money to buy anything and all their homes and furniture are made out of things like old crates and doors; the things others throw away. They have not enough to eat and live and work in harsh conditions. A caribou herd travels through one settlement he is staying and he asks the son of the home if they eat them. He says that not much due to few having guns and those that do cannot afford many bullets.
When he returns from these regions, Smallwood is invited to attend an evening with the British Commission. There the tables are groaning with rich and expensive foods, and the people 'running the whole show' are dressed up like the aristocracy. As Smallwood says, to a fellow Newfie journalist, "We are living in an occupied country. A marvelous piece of writing worthy of 5 stars.

The book continues right to the end to be worthy of 4.5 stars.

[Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is the early 20th century, and Newfoundland is not a province of Canada yet, it would only become one after WWII, after a referendum. In this book we follow the story of Joseph Smallwood, from his childhood in an overcrowded poor house, to his time in boarding school, to his time in New York, to his start in Newfoundland politics, and eventually to the referendum and to his becoming the first prime minister of the province. We also see how his life is constantly intertwined with that of Sheilagh Fielding, an eccentric journalist from Newfoundland, whose love/hate relationship with him will be a constant annoyance and pleasure through his budding career.

You know how there are some books that on paper, judging by the summary alone, you should love, but then you start reading and you just don’t? Well this was the opposite. I haven’t the faintest idea why I added it to my TBR in the first place (I probably just saw “Canadian history” and got excited), but for a book about politics in a province I’ve never even visited, it was oddly fascinating. I mean I wasn’t fascinated enough that I’ll read the others in the trilogy, but I didn’t hate it like I thought I would when I actually took the time to read the summary for the first time.

That said, I think it could have been much shorter than its 562 pages. Between each chapter here was an extract of “Fielding’s Condensed History of Newfoundland” which, in my opinion, added absolutely nothing to the story.

In conclusion, I don’t recommend it if you’re not already interested in the history of Newfoundland, but it wasn’t as painful a read as I was expecting by any means.

[Samuel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way too long, so full of dumb coincidences, extremely boring in patches of like 100 pages, but the setting is cool. Worst of the year so far, no doubt