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Canadian Authors - General fiction - |
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Random Descent |
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 Random Descent byKatherine Govier Reprinted by Random House Canada (Vintage Books) 325 pages, 2000 ISBN 0679310339 [first published in 1979] Reviewed by Zaheera Jiwaji Read our profile of Katherine Govier and reviews of her other works I am inclined to love books that come equipped with a family tree. They hold the promise of those elements that make novel-reading such a pleasure: a colorful cast of characters, the intertwining of past and present, and a healthy dose of history. So it is with Katherine Govier's novel RANDOM DESCENT. Following a physical and emotional breakdown, Jennifer Beecham climbs into her car and drives from Alberta to her grandparents' home in California. She does not tell her grandparents that she has left her philandering husband. She feels that "a part of her has gone missing" and her journey to reclaim her life must begin with the past. We first meet her great-great-great-great grandmother Submitta, who lived to be over a hundred. In order to ward off death, she begins at the age of seventy, to needlepoint the cover of the four-seater davenport in her parlour. Surely the gods would not take her while she was in the middle of embroidering a rose. With photographs, letters, postcards and discussions, Jennifer begins to learn about the other family members. There are plenty of surprises, such as the fate of Jennie Moon - her namesake - the ferocity of her great-aunt Jessamin (Aunt Jam), and Grandfather Hale's countless affairs. There are tales of fortunes gained, lives lost, bitter struggles and joyous episodes. Jennifer unravels the truths from the myths that all families concoct. Along with her discoveries, her grandparents also re-visit forgotten and suppressed territory. The narrative shifts from one character to the next and from one generation to another, not chronologically but seamlessly, allowing all characters to emerge and to leave their mark. RANDOM DESCENT is a family saga that will inspire readers to pull out old photographs, comb through archives and learn about their genealogy. Nestled in this family's history is the recounting of Canadian history, from the late 19th century through the Great Depression and into the contemporary lives of the Beecham family. An ambitious book, richly told, and one that foreshadows Govier's later successes. |
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