Unforgettable...Incandescent...Unexpectedly moving!!!
This book struck me the same way BELOVED did. It was extremely odd, but still a compelling read. Almost mystical.
This novel was definitely odd, but mostly a fun odd.
I had read that the book was a retelling of The Wizard of Oz, with Sarah Canary cast as Dorothy. I love a good re-envisioning of a well-known tale (and I love the Oz books), so I happily tried to match up characters, figuring out who was supposed to be the wicked witch, scarecrow, tin woodsman, cowardly lion, etc. It's a very loose adaptation, but I can see the basic ideas. If I hadn't been searching for the Wizard of Oz parallels, I probably would not have made it through the entire book, as it often gets bogged down in the details.
Overall, I'm glad I read to the end. It was an interesting glimpse of life post-Civil War in the "Wild West" now known as the greater Seattle area and San Francisco. I particularly enjoyed the history snippets that were wedged between chapters of narrative. Sometimes the truth is as strange as the fiction.
I did not, however, enjoy the bits of Emily Dickinson poetry that started each chapter, as I can't stand Emily Dickinson...but that's just me.
I had read that the book was a retelling of The Wizard of Oz, with Sarah Canary cast as Dorothy. I love a good re-envisioning of a well-known tale (and I love the Oz books), so I happily tried to match up characters, figuring out who was supposed to be the wicked witch, scarecrow, tin woodsman, cowardly lion, etc. It's a very loose adaptation, but I can see the basic ideas. If I hadn't been searching for the Wizard of Oz parallels, I probably would not have made it through the entire book, as it often gets bogged down in the details.
Overall, I'm glad I read to the end. It was an interesting glimpse of life post-Civil War in the "Wild West" now known as the greater Seattle area and San Francisco. I particularly enjoyed the history snippets that were wedged between chapters of narrative. Sometimes the truth is as strange as the fiction.
I did not, however, enjoy the bits of Emily Dickinson poetry that started each chapter, as I can't stand Emily Dickinson...but that's just me.
Excellent, unusual book. Not of the mainstream variety, but a masterful read among the realms of offbeat literature. I could see how those who are looking for more pedestrian reading could misunderstand it.
I know this story. Only, instead of Chin Ah Kin, a Chinese immigrant who reluctantly sets off on an epic journey to protect the strange, otherworldly woman who crosses his path, it was a handsome prince. And instead of B.J., a gentle madman who accompanies him on his quest, it was a brave little jester. And instead of strange, otherworldly Sarah Canary (who may be, but almost certainly is not a demon, an enchantress, a mermaid, a wild woman raised by wolves, or a notorious murderess on the lam), it was the Pied Piper, who leads everyone who gets caught up in her wake to their doom â or, if they are truly worthy, a kind of transcendence.
Except for that, it was exactly the same story.
This is one darn peculiar book. And I mean that in a good, and thoroughly admiring way. If I was commanded to try to sum it up -- put up against a wall, say, and threatened with being mauled by a tiger (this actually happens â¦) if I didn't -- I would say that it is the story of America, told from the perspective of those whose stories have usually been ignored and airbrushed away. But through the magic of Sarah Canary, for once we hear a version of those stories â from the reviled immigrant labourer, from the young man whose take on reality is skewed just a little off-center, from the voiceless women, from the Native Americans. Everyone who has had to hide behind an alien culture, struggle into alien clothes, and even adopt alien names, just to survive.
As usual, Fowler's story (and its meanings) is multi-layered: a story about âotherness,â which recognizes that nothing is simple: the marginalized are quite capable of great cruelty and exploitation of those who are a little lower down the pecking order from them. A story about âcivilization,â and how very uncivilized it can be. A story about story-telling, and its power to make sense of the most absurd situations.
And as usual, Fowler's writing is a delight: dreamlike and funny. The âplotâ may seem to take a while to get going but, if you're like me, you will suddenly realize that it's been there all along. That you, too, have been swept along in the churning wake of Sarah Canary, and nothing will seem quite the same again.
Except for that, it was exactly the same story.
This is one darn peculiar book. And I mean that in a good, and thoroughly admiring way. If I was commanded to try to sum it up -- put up against a wall, say, and threatened with being mauled by a tiger (this actually happens â¦) if I didn't -- I would say that it is the story of America, told from the perspective of those whose stories have usually been ignored and airbrushed away. But through the magic of Sarah Canary, for once we hear a version of those stories â from the reviled immigrant labourer, from the young man whose take on reality is skewed just a little off-center, from the voiceless women, from the Native Americans. Everyone who has had to hide behind an alien culture, struggle into alien clothes, and even adopt alien names, just to survive.
As usual, Fowler's story (and its meanings) is multi-layered: a story about âotherness,â which recognizes that nothing is simple: the marginalized are quite capable of great cruelty and exploitation of those who are a little lower down the pecking order from them. A story about âcivilization,â and how very uncivilized it can be. A story about story-telling, and its power to make sense of the most absurd situations.
And as usual, Fowler's writing is a delight: dreamlike and funny. The âplotâ may seem to take a while to get going but, if you're like me, you will suddenly realize that it's been there all along. That you, too, have been swept along in the churning wake of Sarah Canary, and nothing will seem quite the same again.
Why does homesick Chinese railway worker Chin Ah Kin risk his life countless times in fevered pursuit of "the ugliest woman he could imagine?" Is Sarah Canary, the mute, misshapen object of Chin's confused affections, a vampire, an apparition, a shape-shifter, a feral child, a murderess? These are just a few of the intriguing questions that will keep readers turning the pages of this buoyant first novel set in and around the Washington territories in 1873. When Sarah Canary wanders into Chin's railway camp, his uncle orders him to escort her away. Far away. In the first of many such instances, the well-intentioned Chin misplaces her. When both resurface some days later at an insane asylum, Chin has run afoul of the law and Sarah has been committed for observation. Their escape from the asylum in the company of another inmate--BJ, a wonderfully drawn "sane" madman--sets into motion a series of adventures and misadventures at turns hilarious, deeply moving and downright terrifying. A picaresque romp that takes a good, long look into the human heart, this is a stunning debut.
