The Colony of Unrequited Dreams - Wayne Johnston - 3*

[Elise]

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.

[LibraryCin]

This wasn't my favourite by him. Going on memory, I think I also rated it 3 stars - for me, that's "ok".

[Booknblues]

In my review, I said "(it's long, you know)"

There were really sections which dragged.