Synopses & Reviews
What does it really mean to love another person? The question hovers like a persistent wisp of fog over the story of Martin Sloane, an Irish-born artist who creates intricate, object-filled boxes, and Jolene Iolas, the young American woman who finds herself drawn first to Martin Sloane's art and then to the man himself. The story of their relationship across two decades, and of Jolene's search for Martin Sloane when one day he disappears from their home without warning or explanation, is told in a novel that brilliantly and movingly explores the vagaries of love and friendship, the burdens of personal history, and the enigmatic power of art.
Review
"Achingly sweet in its execution, the novel explores what it means to love....Redhill's book reminds us that love can be half imaginary....A memorable and satisfying read, Redhill's book leaves the reader with a child's sense of nostalgia and a sympathy for the impasses of adulthood." Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Review
"It is accomplished, considered, polished a novel of depth and many aspects. Martin Sloane makes you realize just how thin and fleeting most of what passes for good fiction is." Noah Richler, National Post
Review
"The whole, albeit impressively written, ultimately doesn't sustain itself, and when, a third of the way in, Martin disappears, the novel has a difficult time recovering....[A] failed effort that says everything quite well but may not interest many." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"[A] remarkable first novel [Redhill's] powerful language and mastery of character are thrilling, and the plot, though it sometimes threatens to, never becomes cliche or predictable. A fantastic exploration into the guises and complexities of art, love, and memory." Michael Spinella, Booklist (starred review)
Review
"Redhill is a very good writer, with a wide-ranging mind and an elegant turn of phrase. He has a keen eye for physical and emotional detail, and hes housed his mystery in an engaging narrative structure." Bill Richardson, Quill & Quire
Review
"A deeply moving first novel that reveals human truths with grace and humor. It is a book of constant surprises." Michael Ondaatje, author of The English Patient and Anil's Ghost
Review
"The prose is balanced and graceful. In a book about the creation and appreciation of simple, idiosyncratic and fragile art, the reader expects no less....A love for words and an editorial eye make for a story with all the riddles and unspoken intensity of a carefully designed poem. Or a wooden box with a doll inside....Martin Sloane is delicate and artful. Handle with care." Todd Babiak, Edmonton Journal
Review
"[E]ntrancing...a novel of simultaneities, advances and flashbacks....[A]n extraordinarily strange and affecting conclusion..." New York Times
Review
"It keeps changing, like something alive. About the novel, like the boxes and love, it matters less what you think than how it makes you feel. So I'll tell you that reading Martin Sloane made me feel melancholic, hopeful, amused, energized, enlightened, unnerved, touched and finally grateful that occasionally a writer comes along who gets real life just right."
Bliss Broyard, New York Times Book Review
Review
"[A] book of high polish...aptly recreates the way romantic passion can be difficult, sometimes impossible, to relinquish..." Time Out New York
Review
"[O]ften unobtrusive and deceptively simple...triggers in the reader a series of resonating images and emotions..." Book
Review
"[A] work of fiction in which thoughts speak more loudly than words..." San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
Review
"This is the talent of the artist, to make us see what exists around the obvious. Escher did it with ink; Michael Redhill, Toronto writer, does too, in his way...[a] careful, accomplished novel." Georgia Straight
Review
"[A] precision of emotions, life in miniature with all its details and complexity....[A] stunning debut, life-size and moving." Mary Morris, author of The Night Sky and Acts of God
Review
"Michael Redhill has created a thoughtful, quietly engrossing novel whose truths are all the more powerful for the delicacy with which they are revealed." Myla Goldberg, author of Bee Season
Review
"Michael Redhill is a writer of considerable humanity and insight. His first novel is a highly crafted and subtly disturbing delight." A. L. Kennedy, author of Original Bliss and Everything You Need
Review
"Martin Sloane is such a good novel it is hard to believe it is Michael Redhill's first. Lyrical, funny, moving, and writerly in the most engaging way, it deserves a wide readership." Wayne Johnston, author of The Colony of Unrequited Dreams
Synopsis
The story of a relationship across two decades, of Jolene's search for Martin Sloane when one day he disappears from their home without warning or explanation, is told in a novel that brilliantly and movingly explores the vagaries of love and friendship, the burdens of personal history, and the enigmatic power of art.
About the Author
Michael Redhill is the managing editor of the Literary Journal Brick. He has worked as a cultural critic, essayist, editor, ghostwriter, screenwriter, and, in leaner times, waiter, housepainter, and bookseller. Martin Sloane is his first novel.
Reading Group Guide
1. Discuss Martin and Jolene's first meeting. What draws her to him and to eventually fall in love with him, both as a man and as an artist? Does their age difference affect their relationship?
2. What happens the night Molly visits Jolene in Indiana? Why does Martin then leave, never to return?
3. Why does Jolene go to Ireland to search for Martin Sloane at a point in her life when she finally moves past her relationship with Martin and is with a new love?
4. On page 177, Martin's father takes Martin to a church and tells him, "You're entitled to God's protection, no matter what your mother says, and refusing the gift of His love is as bad as succumbing to temptation. . . That's something that's between you and me and God, you understand, for always." How does this experience affect the young Martin?
5. Do you think Martin's childhood experiences with his illness, of his move to Galway, and then to Canada while his father stayed behind had any effect on his relationship with Jolene?
6. How has Jolene's mother's death affected Jolene's adult life? Does it relate to or influence her decision to later search for Martin Sloane?
7. Each chapter begins with a description of Martin Sloane's artwork. How do these descriptions relate to the chapters that follow and to the overall book?
8. The character and artwork of Martin Sloane was originally inspired by Joseph Cornell, a collage/sculpture artist from New York, active during the first half of the 20th century. If you have seen Cornell's art, does it affect how you read the character? How do you feel about fiction inspired by historical characters?
9. The book Martin Sloane makes references to James Joyce's writings in its settings and characterizations. How does this affect your read of Martin Sloane, if at all?
10. What was this story about for you? The search for love? For friendship? The meaning of memory? Of art? How do you feel about the author creating the character Martin Sloane as an absence in the novel?
11. Discuss the book's ending. What does it mean? Is it satisfying?