2012 Puddly Awards
 
 
Follow us on TwitterFollow us on FacebookFollow us on Google+Follow us on TumblrSubscribe to RSS


Recently Viewed clear list


Interviews | May 7, 2012

Jill Owens: IMG Gideon Lewis-Kraus: The Powells.com Interview



Gideon Lewis-KrausI started and finished A Sense of Direction in one evening; I couldn't really stop thinking about it, so I couldn't put it down. I found it... Continue »
  1. $18.87 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

spacer
Ships free on qualified orders.
$2.50
Used Trade Paper
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
Qty Store Section
1 Burnside Literature- A to Z

Sointula

by Bill Gaston

Sointula Cover

 

Synopses & Reviews

Review:

"A search for the remote island village of Sointula, a 'place of harmony' on the northeast coast of Vancouver Island, drives Canadian novelist Gaston's latest. Spurred by the death of her first, long-ago lover, Claude, Evelyn Poole, the unhappy wife of the mayor of Oakville, Ontario, flees her husband and their small city to look for her grown son, Tom. She crosses the continent and, fighting hunger and prescription drug withdrawal, undertakes a dangerous, improbable kayak journey to Malcolm's Island, teaming up with drifting retired high school teacher Peter Gore, who is trying unsuccessfully to become a travel writer. Weakened and starved for civilization, Evelyn and Peter begin to lose themselves in the towering wilderness, as Gaston tracks their unreliable impressions. Avoiding clich or easy nature-worship, Gaston (The Cameraman) is that rare writer who can peel back the deepest fears of Nature (abandonment, pain, futility) and find a vision of vehement, imperfect beauty." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Synopsis:

Summoned to the deathbed of a long-ago lover, Evelyn is overcome by emotion. Off her medications, she impulsively steals a kayak and embarks on a quest that takes her deep into the Canadian wilderness in order to find her lost son, Tom. On the way to Sointula, a remote fishing village off Vancouver Island, she gains a traveling companion, Peter Gore, a writer working on the quintessential book on the region. Stymied by illness, writer's block, and whiskey, Peter makes an unlikely and unreliable shipmate and paramour. Tom, the survivor of a gunshot wound that slowed his speech and his drug-dealing, finds solace in his isolated life, collecting data for a whale researcher. As Evelyn and Peter approach, Tom waits for the whales' irregular visits to the water's edge. Like the novels of David Malouf and Jonathan Raban, Sointula is a celebration of place, a novel where the landscape comes as fully alive as its memorable characters.

Product Details

ISBN:
9781551928432
Author:
Gaston, Bill
Publisher:
Raincoast Books
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Mothers and sons
Subject:
Identity (psychology)
Subject:
FICTION / Literary
Copyright:
Edition Description:
Trade Paper
Publication Date:
20060307
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Pages:
453
Dimensions:
8 x 5.38 in 19 oz

Other books you might like

  1. $8.87 Google eBooks add to wish list
  2. $7.95 Used Hardcover add to wish list

    Eragon (Inheritance Cycle #01)

    Christopher Paolini 9780375826689
  3. $4.50 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    Haweswater (P.S.)

    Sarah Hall 9780060817251
  4. $2.95 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    The Lying Tongue

    Andrew Wilson 9780743293983
  5. $8.95 New Hardcover add to wish list
  6. $6.20 Google eBooks add to wish list

    Generation Loss: A Novel

    Elizabeth Hand 9781122395540

Related Subjects

Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z

Sointula Used Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$2.50 In Stock
Product details 453 pages Raincoast Books - English 9781551928432 Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "A search for the remote island village of Sointula, a 'place of harmony' on the northeast coast of Vancouver Island, drives Canadian novelist Gaston's latest. Spurred by the death of her first, long-ago lover, Claude, Evelyn Poole, the unhappy wife of the mayor of Oakville, Ontario, flees her husband and their small city to look for her grown son, Tom. She crosses the continent and, fighting hunger and prescription drug withdrawal, undertakes a dangerous, improbable kayak journey to Malcolm's Island, teaming up with drifting retired high school teacher Peter Gore, who is trying unsuccessfully to become a travel writer. Weakened and starved for civilization, Evelyn and Peter begin to lose themselves in the towering wilderness, as Gaston tracks their unreliable impressions. Avoiding clich or easy nature-worship, Gaston (The Cameraman) is that rare writer who can peel back the deepest fears of Nature (abandonment, pain, futility) and find a vision of vehement, imperfect beauty." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Synopsis" by ,
Summoned to the deathbed of a long-ago lover, Evelyn is overcome by emotion. Off her medications, she impulsively steals a kayak and embarks on a quest that takes her deep into the Canadian wilderness in order to find her lost son, Tom. On the way to Sointula, a remote fishing village off Vancouver Island, she gains a traveling companion, Peter Gore, a writer working on the quintessential book on the region. Stymied by illness, writer's block, and whiskey, Peter makes an unlikely and unreliable shipmate and paramour. Tom, the survivor of a gunshot wound that slowed his speech and his drug-dealing, finds solace in his isolated life, collecting data for a whale researcher. As Evelyn and Peter approach, Tom waits for the whales' irregular visits to the water's edge. Like the novels of David Malouf and Jonathan Raban, Sointula is a celebration of place, a novel where the landscape comes as fully alive as its memorable characters.
spacer
spacer
  • back to top
Follow us on...



Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.