Immagine dell'autore.

Douglas Arthur Brown

Autore di Quintet

3 opere 17 membri 3 recensioni

Opere di Douglas Arthur Brown

Quintet (2008) 13 copie
Seeds (2013) 2 copie

Etichette

Informazioni generali

Data di nascita
1960
Sesso
male
Nazionalità
Canada
Luogo di residenza
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Copenhagen, Denmark
Istruzione
York University (B.A., theatre)
Attività lavorative
writer-in-residence
marketing director
Organizzazioni
Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia
Writers' Union of Canada
Premi e riconoscimenti
Canada Council Tour Management and Arts Administration apprenticeship
Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize
Nova Scotia Established Artist Award
Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal
Breve biografia
After ten years in Toronto and ten years in Copenhagen, Douglas returned to Cape Breton where he resides at the Bras d'Or Lake. Fluent in Danish, he has a degree in theatre from York University and has worked in professional theatre in both Toronto and Copenhagen. Douglas is past-president of the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia. He conducts professional development writing workshops. He has been writer-in-residence at Boularderie Elementary and Florence Elementary Schools. He currently is Second Vice-Chair of The Writers' Union of Canada, is past president of The Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia. Douglas is the author of 5 books.

Utenti

Recensioni

Seeds is the story of Aphra Abrams, the host of a popular television show about gardening and somewhat of an international celebrity, who is approaching retirement when she locates the child--now a middle aged woman--she gave up for adoption years earlier. Her daughter Caroline has become an independent-minded and resilient individual who is also knowledgeable about plants and who tends an elaborate garden at a convent in France, which Aphra decides to feature on her show. Aphra's agonizing conundrum is to find some way to draw Caroline to her and tell her who she is without jeopardizing the relationship. But things are complicated by Somer, who grew up with Caroline at the orphanage and with various foster families and who is her brother in every respect but blood, but of whom Aphra knows nothing. This intriguing premise is developed into a compelling drama, with a setting that ranges across several continents and which leaves no aspect of the "seeds" metaphor unexplored. It is a complex tale of abandonment and regret, of love and fear and the choices we make in order to survive, that builds to a surprising and explosive climax. Brown writes rapid-fire, tension-filled scenes laced with brittle dialogue in which characters give much of themselves away even as they struggle to conceal what's in their hearts. The core elements of the complicated backstory are provided in a series of vivid flashbacks, so that by the time the action winds down in the final pages we know all there is to know. This is an accomplished work of fiction and a fine novel, one that--because of its gradual and dramatic unfolding and varied setting--would lend itself very well to film treatment.… (altro)
 
Segnalato
icolford | Jul 26, 2014 |
After their parents' deaths three brothers who are identical triplets decide to share a journal. The novel consists of their journal entries. Quintet is finely crafted, suspenseful, and filled with interesting detail and sympathetic characters. Though eccentric and unconventional, the family dynamics are absolutely convincing. An engaging novel by a very talented writer. Recommended.
 
Segnalato
icolford | 1 altra recensione | Aug 10, 2011 |
Three brother, identical triplets, have come home to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, to bury their parents who've been killed in an accident. They haven't been together in all the years since they left home as young men. They're on the cusp of forty now. They've reunited from Toronto, Halifax, and Copehagen. A carpenter who sings beautifully in church choirs but has no interest in religion, Cameron has a blind daughter and a wife now living seperately. He has a great deal of guilt about his daughter, Mary Anne, wondering if drugs he took when he was young might be responsible for her blindness. Rory is an artist who exhibits his paintings in art galleries in Toronto. He experiences synesthesia, he hears colours, and his work is dominated by red. He's married to a doctor fifteen years his senior whom he adores. Adrian runs a haute cuisine restaurant in Copenhagen with his male partner who is seriously ill. Each of the three brothers has no idea what's going on in the others lives, they haven't kept in touch. They miss each other but are harbouring negative feelings toward each other and their parents, as most siblings do. But they all agree in their resentment of their older brother, "the Big B", who has stayed near his parents and has secrets of his own.
The story of their lives for the past twenty years is told in the form of a journal that each triplet keeps for four months then mails to one of the others. This form works very well, no sudden time shifts or confusion about which of them is telling their story in each chapter. I appreciated that aspect. Written in simple, not flowery language, as one brother opens up a little so do the others in what they tell about their loves, losses and triumphs. Their individual expression of themselves nicely dispels the myth of identical character so often presumed about multiple birth children too. Over time, they become more reflective and honest about their lives as children and the feelings that led to their ending up so far apart, at least in distance. They are clearly still deeply attached emotionally. Strong feelings emerge, a few raw emotions are revealed, but there is humour too. It's set in Canada but we get to travel through their eyes, both in Canada and in Europe. And we are priveleged to watch them come together in their journal accounts and rebuild a brotherhood of trust and love. I enjoyed this story.
… (altro)
½
 
Segnalato
posthumose | 1 altra recensione | Aug 28, 2008 |

Premi e riconoscimenti

Statistiche

Opere
3
Utenti
17
Popolarità
#654,391
Voto
2.9
Recensioni
3
ISBN
5