Gail Anderson-Dargatz
Autore di The Cure for Death by Lightning
Sull'Autore
Gail Anderson-Dargatz wrote The Miss Herford Stories, a collection of short stories, A Recipe for Bees, and The Cure for Death by Lightning, which won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and the British Columbia Book Prize. (Bowker Author Biography) Gail Anderson-Dargatz is also the author of the mostra altro award-winning "The Cure for Death by Lightning". She lives with her husband on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. (Bowker Author Biography) mostra meno
Fonte dell'immagine: wordfest.com
Serie
Opere di Gail Anderson-Dargatz
My Life Off-Key (Orca Anchor) 2 copie
La magia del rayo 1 copia
ΓΕΥΣΗ ΑΠΟ ΜΕΛΙ 1 copia
In the Name of Salome 1 copia
Etichette
Informazioni generali
- Nome legale
- Anderson-Dargatz, Gail Kathryn
- Data di nascita
- 1963-11-14
Salmon Arm, British Columbia, Canada - Sesso
- female
- Nazionalità
- Canada
- Luogo di nascita
- Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
- Luogo di residenza
- Salmon Arm, British Columbia, Canada
Thompson-Shuswap, British Columbia, Canada
Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada - Istruzione
- University of Victoria (BA|Creative Writing)
- Attività lavorative
- novelist
reporter
photographer
cartoonist
writing instructor (Providence Bay Writers' Camp ∙ University of British Columbia) - Organizzazioni
- University of British Columbia
Canadian Writers' Union
Providence Bay Writers' Camp - Agente
- Denise Bukowski
- Breve biografia
- Gail Anderson-Dargatz, whose fictional style has been coined as “Pacific Northwest Gothic” by the Boston Globe, has been published worldwide in English and in many other languages. A Recipe for Bees and The Cure for Death by Lighting were international bestsellers, and were both finalists for the prestigious Giller Prize in Canada. The Cure for Death by Lightning won the UK’s Betty Trask Prize among other awards. A Rhinestone Button was a national bestseller in Canada and her first book, The Miss Hereford Stories, was short-listed for the Leacock Award for humour. She currently teaches fiction in the creative writing MFA program at the University of British Columbia, and lives in the Shuswap, the landscape found in so much of her writing.
Utenti
Recensioni
I don't know why, but I had it in my head that this was a fun, light-hearted book, sort of in the way that [b:Amphibian|6452033|Amphibian|Carla Gunn|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328759365s/6452033.jpg|6642202] by [a:Carla Gunn|2922903|Carla Gunn|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1306197890p2/2922903.jpg] is. See, I tend to quickly read summaries of books, decide if it's of interest, and then add it to my "to read" list. I never again look at what the book is supposed to be about so that nothing is given away.
It must have been the title and the cover that made me think this book was entertaining. The content is way too heavy to be considered "light-hearted."
(Stop reading here if you want "nothing given away".)
Beth is a farmer's daughter to a poor family in rural country during WWII. They're so rural and back-country that it might as well be 100 years ago. Her father went crazy about a year prior and is prone to fly into rages unexpectedly. Her mother is part submissive, part willfully blind to the abuse he gives his family, the daughter in particular. The older brother is mostly "normal" until you find out he's got a thing for cows. Beth drops out of school after being stripped and tormented by the other kids. Even when she confesses to her mother what happened, her mother refuses to believe it "they're nice kids, they'd never do that." So Beth finds friendship with a local biracial Aboriginal girl and the two of them explore their sexuality together.
All the while, there's another local "crazy man" who's been possessed by the trickster Coyote and has a hunger for young children. Beth is haunted and stalked by Coyote.
It's all very dark and other-worldly. Not at all whimsical and fun. The writing captivated me and compelled me to keep reading, but the storyline also caused me some stress because of all the awfulness that went on.
Great Canadian literature, but don't let the cover & title fool you!… (altro)
It must have been the title and the cover that made me think this book was entertaining. The content is way too heavy to be considered "light-hearted."
(Stop reading here if you want "nothing given away".)
Beth is a farmer's daughter to a poor family in rural country during WWII. They're so rural and back-country that it might as well be 100 years ago. Her father went crazy about a year prior and is prone to fly into rages unexpectedly. Her mother is part submissive, part willfully blind to the abuse he gives his family, the daughter in particular. The older brother is mostly "normal" until you find out he's got a thing for cows. Beth drops out of school after being stripped and tormented by the other kids. Even when she confesses to her mother what happened, her mother refuses to believe it "they're nice kids, they'd never do that." So Beth finds friendship with a local biracial Aboriginal girl and the two of them explore their sexuality together.
All the while, there's another local "crazy man" who's been possessed by the trickster Coyote and has a hunger for young children. Beth is haunted and stalked by Coyote.
It's all very dark and other-worldly. Not at all whimsical and fun. The writing captivated me and compelled me to keep reading, but the storyline also caused me some stress because of all the awfulness that went on.
Great Canadian literature, but don't let the cover & title fool you!… (altro)
Questa recensione è stata scritta per Recensori in anteprima di LibraryThing.I received this book as a Librarything-giveaway. this novelette was simply written and a page turner. I read it in just over an hour. The language and vocabulary are quite simple and the chapters short so this will appeal to non-readers. The plot is riveting and the theme interesting. I will be recommending it to my 17 year old son who is not a big reader, but I think this will appeal to him
Set on a farm near a reserve in the interior of British Columbia during WWII, this is fifteen-year-old Beth Weeks' coming-of-age story. Her father was injured in the first war, presumably intended as an explanation of his brutish behaviour, but as this would have happened more than twenty years earlier I'm more inclined to think that it is his true nature. There is a large cast of characters, few particularly likeable, and most are in conflict with each other. While I liked Beth's mother and her scrapbook of collected recipes and household tips from which the title comes, I found the rest of the characters were overwhelmed by aberrants of one kind or another. Anderson-Dargatz had a choice of writing nostalgic memories of growing up in a farming community mid-century with the tragedies and sad occurences of normal life, but instead emphasized a dismal story of abuse, violence, misogyny and conflict. And despite some good writing, there was little sense of place. Disappointing.… (altro)
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Statistiche
- Opere
- 25
- Utenti
- 1,926
- Popolarità
- #13,363
- Voto
- 3.4
- Recensioni
- 116
- ISBN
- 110
- Lingue
- 6
- Preferito da
- 5
Don't want to give anything away, so I will just say that I will definitely read more of Gail Anderson-Dargatz's novels in the future.