His entry begins:
One of the pleasures of living in a city like Toronto is meeting someone, quite by chance, who’s written a good novel or two. This happened to me not long ago, and so what I did was pick up a copy of Louisa McCormack’s second novel, The Catch, narrated by a perfectly drawn 40 year old TV producer who takes time out from the big city and heads back east to deal with some family business. McCormack’s first-person voice is a high-wire performance, superb dialogue and detail. You can tell this writer really gets off on language, really understands it as a tool, as a play-thing, and a means of getting closer to a character’s thinking. Her focus on the interior landscapes of the heart, and the sea and landscapes of Prince Edward Island, is...[read on]About Going Home Again, from the publisher:
After two acclaimed historical novels, one of Canada’s most celebrated young writers now gives us the vibrant, contemporary story of a man studying the suddenly confusing shape his life has taken, and why, and what his responsibilities—as a husband, a father, a brother, and an uncle—truly are.Learn more about the book and author at Dennis Bock's website.
Charlie Bellerose leads a seminomadic existence, traveling widely to manage the language academies he has established in different countries. After separating, somewhat amicably,from his wife, he moves from Madrid back to his native Canada to set up a new school, and for the first time he forges a meaningful relationship with his brother, who’s going through a vicious divorce. Charlie’s able to make a fresh start in Toronto but longs for his twelve-year-old daughter, whom he sees only via Skype and the occasional overseas visit. After a chance encounter with a girlfriend from his university days, a woman now happily married and with children of her own, he works through a series of memories-including a particularly painful one they share-as he reflects on questions of family, home, fatherhood, and love. But two tragic events (one long past, the other very much in the present) finally threaten to destroy everything he's ever believed in.
The Page 69 Test: Going Home Again.
Writers Read: Dennis Bock.
--Marshal Zeringue
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