Book Review - What is Left the Daughter

After a three month fiction hiatus, during which time I've read a lot of history, I finally got around to another novel; What is Left the Daughter, by Howard Norman. I picked this one up as part of my ongoing desire to read more good fiction books as they are published, and got this on the strength of good reviews on Amazon. I haven't read anything by Norman before, but his earlier books have been well received, and I certainly was not disappointed. Reading the synopsis, I thought I would enjoy the book, as it sounded like the kind of subject matter that would interest me.

I won't go into a long plot review or anything of the sort (that can be seen by following the link above). The story, in a nutshell, is told from the point of view of a man writing a long letter to the daughter he hasn't seen since childhood. Most of the book takes place in the eastern maritime provinces of Canada during World War II and the years immediately following. For whatever reason I gravitate towards books that most would probably describe as melancholy; lost loves, people dealing with tragic events, all that cheerful kind of stuff. This book certainly has that. Concurrent suicides of the man's parents, who both fell in love with the same neighbor woman. The murder of an innocent. A child conceived out of wedlock where the woman was the love of the man's life but the opposite was not true. The mother and daughter moving to Europe. Loves complicated by distance, time and events. But despite the trials and tribulations, the tragedies and loss, a hopeful ending. Which is how it should be.

Norman's style is an absolutely effortless read. The pages fly by. I liked and sympathized with the characters, the plot moved along, and I was thoroughly engrossed; the 243 pages went by in 3 evenings.

"Friendship is provisional...you have to keep earning it. Back and forth, give the gift that's only each other's to give." [p. 79]

"It's common wisdom, but a rare actual experience in life, that if you find someone you can truly talk with, you can love that person." [p. 215]

4.5 stars out of 5. One of my favorites so far this year.

Books read this year: 14 [totalling 3,090 pages]
New authors: 9 [Norman is new]
Published in 2010: 6 [includes this]
Classics: still 3

Next up...I don't know. But I have to start another novel tonight - this one has energized me!