New Year's Resolution and Book Review

Though I pride myself on not following the crowd, I always seem to make a New Year's Resolution. Of course, I end up breaking my resolution before the first of February. So I have decided to make a New Year's Resolution that I actually WANT to keep this year! For 2011, I vow to post more often and to get up to date on previous posts. With that said...I have the first book review for 2011!

As some of you may know, I am still working on reading novels set in Canada and by Canadian authors. I just recently finished Howard Norman's "The Bird Artist". Last year I read Norman's "The Museum Guard" and felt lost for over 200 pages. Therefore, I was reluctant to dip into another one of his novels. However, I am so glad that I did for "The Bird Artist" is exactly what I have been looking for!

Fabian Vas is the main character and engrossing narrator of this novel. Within his first paragraph is states that, "Obscurity is not necessarily failure, though; I am a bird artist, and have more or less made a living at it. Yet I murdered the lighthouse keeper, Botho August, and that is an equal part of how I think of myself." From here he tells the story of growing up in a secluded fishing village in the early 1900s. Vas develops his skills as a bird artist which means that he draws birds. He begins a correspondence with a professional bird artist who coaches him on his sketches. However, there is little money in such a field and Vas knows that he will one day have to join his fellow townspeople in fishing and living off of the sea. Vas' personal life escalates when he begins a relationship with his childhood sweetheart Margaret. Though she too has lived in the same fishing village since her birth, the community has not embraced her but instead believe her to be wild and feared. Vas' parents believe these rumors and set to arrange his marriage to his fourth cousin in New Brunswick. For years Vas let his parents and members of the community run his life for him, yet this is all about to end as Vas discovers his own free will.

Many have described this novel as a murder mystery or haunting thriller. While I understand these assessments, I do not agree with them. This novel is about more than a murder. It is about life in a small town and the feeling of being cloistered. It is about the expression of self and the importance of finding a personal outlet. It is about the confusing roles within families which can result in betrayal and hurt. In other words, this is no Nancy Drew or Dean Kootz mystery. Norman even takes the mystery out of the story by not only naming the murderer on the first page but by making him the narrator. This instantly changes the novel from being a thriller to being about the consequences of living a life that is forced upon you. In many ways, this novel reminded me of Albert Camus' "The Stranger" in that a murder occurs and the reader has the ability to be fascinated by that act or by the complex character who committed it. Personally, I find the characters in this novel to be superb and far more interesting than the mystery. The writing is fantastic and while I never sympathized with the characters, I was completely engrossed. Even weeks after finishing the novel, the characters still haunt me and beg for a second reading.

-DLP