Newfoundland culture is outport culture. My parents were
both born and raised in outports. Everybody in Buchans was
from an outport. I always say that I didn’t live in an outport,
but the outports made me who I am. To try and understand
this place, I think, you have to write about outport culture…
MICHAEL CRUMMEY
In centuries past, a brother and sister are orphaned in an isolated
outport cove on Newfoundland’s northern coastline. Their home
is a stretch of rocky shore governed by the feral ocean, by a
relentless pendulum of abundance and murderous scarcity. Still
children with only the barest notion of the outside world, they
have nothing but the family’s boat and the little knowledge passed
on haphazardly by their mother and father to help them survive.
Muddling through the severe round of the seasons, through years
of meagre catches and storms and ravaging illness, it is their
fierce loyalty to each other that motivates and sustains them.
But as seasons pass and they wade deeper into the mystery of
their own natures, even that loyalty will be tested.
My Thoughts:
The Innocents by Michael Crummey is a book where there is much to be admired. If I am completely honest I am still trying to unravel all of my thoughts about it days later, such is the uniqueness of the writing and the extraordinary tale contained.
The Innocents tells the story of Ada and Evered who call a cove in Newfoundland home. This is a story set centuries ago, the two children are orphans having lost their parents and their little sister, all of whom succumbed to illness. The story leads us though the myriad maze of nature, seasons, loyalty, adolescence and the challenges that isolation brings. A struggle to survive in spite of the challenges and ultimately a tale of endurance against the most difficult of circumstances.
I found The Innocents to be confronting and challenging in places. There is a bleakness and at times that was overwhelming. Michael Crummey is a writer of immense talent, the writing was often lyrical, poetic and sometimes ethereal. The writing and in particular the dialogue often times led me to reread sections as there were terms I did not quite grasp.
The characters are brilliantly imagined and nature plays its equal part and is often ferocious and completely untameable. The last time I read something as desolate as the landscape here is The Road by Cormac McCarthy but even then the settings cannot even be compared.
If you are expecting something with twists and turns and a terrific pace then this is probably not what you are looking for. However if you are looking for writing of the highest class with a story that defies boundaries and is imaginative and allegorical I cannot speak highly enough of The Innocents.
It is the sort of book that could be reread and a different level or nuance could be unveiled on every time. The cover describes The Innocents as an Adam and Eve story but I did not find any religion contained. Truly masterful writing from a captivating story teller.
About the Author:
The Innocents by Michael Crummey is a book where there is much to be admired. If I am completely honest I am still trying to unravel all of my thoughts about it days later, such is the uniqueness of the writing and the extraordinary tale contained.
The Innocents tells the story of Ada and Evered who call a cove in Newfoundland home. This is a story set centuries ago, the two children are orphans having lost their parents and their little sister, all of whom succumbed to illness. The story leads us though the myriad maze of nature, seasons, loyalty, adolescence and the challenges that isolation brings. A struggle to survive in spite of the challenges and ultimately a tale of endurance against the most difficult of circumstances.
I found The Innocents to be confronting and challenging in places. There is a bleakness and at times that was overwhelming. Michael Crummey is a writer of immense talent, the writing was often lyrical, poetic and sometimes ethereal. The writing and in particular the dialogue often times led me to reread sections as there were terms I did not quite grasp.
The characters are brilliantly imagined and nature plays its equal part and is often ferocious and completely untameable. The last time I read something as desolate as the landscape here is The Road by Cormac McCarthy but even then the settings cannot even be compared.
If you are expecting something with twists and turns and a terrific pace then this is probably not what you are looking for. However if you are looking for writing of the highest class with a story that defies boundaries and is imaginative and allegorical I cannot speak highly enough of The Innocents.
It is the sort of book that could be reread and a different level or nuance could be unveiled on every time. The cover describes The Innocents as an Adam and Eve story but I did not find any religion contained. Truly masterful writing from a captivating story teller.
About the Author:
MICHAEL CRUMMEY was born in
Buchans, a mining town in the interior
of Newfoundland, growing up there
and in western Labrador. After thirteen
years in self-imposed exile in Ontario,
he moved home to Newfoundland in
2000. He is the author of five books of
poetry, a book of short stories, and four
other celebrated novels, including the
Giller prize-nominated River Thieves.
He lives in St. John’s.
You can find the author on Twitter: @MichaelCrummey
In addition please feel free to check out the other stops on the blog tour or the free event, details of both below:
Join critically acclaimed authors Emma Donoghue and Michael Crummey as they discuss their brilliant new novels with award-winning author and journalist Erica Wagner. 27 Aug @ 8.15pm Register for free:http://bit.ly/in-convo-crummey
Huge thanks for the blog tour support Leah x
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