 |
Canadian Authors - General fiction - |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
How I Spent My Summer Holidays |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
H ow I Spent My Summer Holidays byW.O. Mitchell McClelland & Stewart [A Douglas Gibson Book] Originally published in 1981 276 Pages, TPB 2000 ISBN 0771061102 Reviewed by Zaheera Jiwaji Read our author profile and reviews of his other works W.O. Mitchell returns to the Saskatchewan prairie childhood encountered in his acclaimed debut novel, Who Has Seen the Wind. Despite its title, How I Spent My Summer Holidays deals with serious, mature themes. Readers will discover a dark coming-of-age story, illustrating what happens when childhood naivete collides with a very adult world. In the dry, hot summer of 1924, twelve-year-old Hugh and his friend Peter dig a secret cave. They agree to share the location of their cave with King Motherwell, one of the few adults in the community who seems to understand the children. Hugh is fond of King, in awe of his service during the war, admiring of his swimming feats at the local pond, and captivated by his daring rum-running activities. King represents what Hugh wishes to become. When the boys discover that Billy, a mental patient who has escaped from the nearby asylum, is hiding out in their cave, they reach out to King for advice. King, aware of the brutal conditions at the asylum, is compelled to help Billy hide from the authorities. Thoughtlessly, he convinces the boys to play a role in his plan, which eventually brings the story to a surprising and tragic end. The story is told in retrospective when the adult Hugh returns to his hometown for his father's funeral. A visit to the cemetery invokes details of the events that shaped the fateful summer. With a touch of humour characteristic of Mitchell’s style, the author paints a delightful picture of small-town life, portraying characters in vivid detail, and recounting childish antics with glee. As always, Mitchell perfectly captures the dialogue and temperament of children, accurately displaying their bewilderment for the machinations of adult life. How I Spent My Summer Holidays is a strong novel, surprising in plot and astonishing in depth. It shows Mitchell at his best. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||