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Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul
Highly charged and profoundly important, Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul is a new masterpiece from one of Canada’s greatest writers.
On a bright morning in June 1985, a young Micmac man starts his first day of work—but by noon he is dead, killed mysteriously in the fourth hold of the cargo ship Lutheran . Hector Penniac had been planning to go to university, perhaps to study medicine. Roger Savage, a loner who has had to make his own way since his youth, comes under suspicion of killing Hector over a union card and a morning’s work. Even if he can’t quite put it into words, Roger immediately sees the ways in which Hector’s death will be viewed as symbolic, as more than an isolated tragedy—and that he is caught in a chain of events that will become more explosive with each passing day.
The aging chief of Hector’s band, Amos Paul, tries to reduce the tensions raised by the investigation into Hector’s death and its connection to a host of other simmering issues, from territorial lines to fishing rights. His approach leads him into conflict with Isaac Snow, a younger and more dynamic man whom many in the band would prefer to lead them—especially when the case attracts press attention in the form of an ambitious journalist named Max Doran, the first of many outsiders to bring his own agenda and motives onto the Micmac reserve. Joel Ginnish, Isaac’s volatile and sometimes violent friend, decides to bring justice to Roger Savage when the authorities refuse to, blockading the reserve in order to do so. And though perhaps no one really means for it to happen, soon a single incident grows ineluctably into a crisis that engulfs a whole society, a whole province and in some ways a whole country.
Twenty years later, RCMP officer Markus Paul—Chief Amos Paul’s grandson, who was fifteen years old when Hector was killed—tries to piece together the clues surrounding Hector Penniac’s death. The decades have passed, and much about the case has been twisted beyond recognition by the many ways that different people have sought to exploit it. But, haunted by the past, Markus still struggles towards a truth that will snap “those chains that had once seemed impossible to break.” (290)
This is a novel that begins with an instant from today’s headlines, and digs down into the marrow to explore the oldest themes we murder and betrayal, race and history, the brutal and chaotic forces that guide the groups we are drawn into. Nothing is one-sided in David Adams Richards’ world—even the most scheming characters have moments of grace, while the most benevolent are shown to have selfish motives, or the need to show off their goodness. All are depicted with an almost Biblical gravity, framed by an understated genius of storytelling that makes this novel at once both an utterly gripping mystery, and a vitally important document of Canada’s broken past and divided present.
On a bright morning in June 1985, a young Micmac man starts his first day of work—but by noon he is dead, killed mysteriously in the fourth hold of the cargo ship Lutheran . Hector Penniac had been planning to go to university, perhaps to study medicine. Roger Savage, a loner who has had to make his own way since his youth, comes under suspicion of killing Hector over a union card and a morning’s work. Even if he can’t quite put it into words, Roger immediately sees the ways in which Hector’s death will be viewed as symbolic, as more than an isolated tragedy—and that he is caught in a chain of events that will become more explosive with each passing day.
The aging chief of Hector’s band, Amos Paul, tries to reduce the tensions raised by the investigation into Hector’s death and its connection to a host of other simmering issues, from territorial lines to fishing rights. His approach leads him into conflict with Isaac Snow, a younger and more dynamic man whom many in the band would prefer to lead them—especially when the case attracts press attention in the form of an ambitious journalist named Max Doran, the first of many outsiders to bring his own agenda and motives onto the Micmac reserve. Joel Ginnish, Isaac’s volatile and sometimes violent friend, decides to bring justice to Roger Savage when the authorities refuse to, blockading the reserve in order to do so. And though perhaps no one really means for it to happen, soon a single incident grows ineluctably into a crisis that engulfs a whole society, a whole province and in some ways a whole country.
Twenty years later, RCMP officer Markus Paul—Chief Amos Paul’s grandson, who was fifteen years old when Hector was killed—tries to piece together the clues surrounding Hector Penniac’s death. The decades have passed, and much about the case has been twisted beyond recognition by the many ways that different people have sought to exploit it. But, haunted by the past, Markus still struggles towards a truth that will snap “those chains that had once seemed impossible to break.” (290)
This is a novel that begins with an instant from today’s headlines, and digs down into the marrow to explore the oldest themes we murder and betrayal, race and history, the brutal and chaotic forces that guide the groups we are drawn into. Nothing is one-sided in David Adams Richards’ world—even the most scheming characters have moments of grace, while the most benevolent are shown to have selfish motives, or the need to show off their goodness. All are depicted with an almost Biblical gravity, framed by an understated genius of storytelling that makes this novel at once both an utterly gripping mystery, and a vitally important document of Canada’s broken past and divided present.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published May 10, 2011
10 people are currently reading
252 people want to read
About the author
David Adams Richards
46 books204 followersDavid Adams Richards (born 17 October 1950) is a Canadian novelist, essayist, screenwriter and poet.
Born in Newcastle, New Brunswick, Richards left St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, one course shy of completing a B.A. Richards has been a writer-in-residence at various universities and colleges across Canada, including the University of New Brunswick.
Richards has received numerous awards including 2 Gemini Awards for scriptwriting for Small Gifts and "For Those Who Hunt The Wounded Down", the Alden Nowlan Award for Excellence in the Arts, and the Canadian Authors Association Award for his novel Evening Snow Will Bring Such Peace. Richards is one of only three writers to have won in both the fiction and non-fiction categories of the Governor General's Award. He won the 1988 fiction award for Nights Below Station Street and the 1998 non-fiction award for Lines on the Water: A Fisherman's Life on the Miramichi. He was also a co-winner of the 2000 Giller Prize for Mercy Among the Children.
In 1971, he married the former Peggy MacIntyre. They have two sons, John Thomas and Anton Richards, and currently reside in Toronto.
John Thomas was born in 1989 in Saint John, New Brunswick.
The Writers' Federation of New Brunswick administers an annual David Adams Richards Award for Fiction.
Richards' papers are currently housed at the University of New Brunswick.
Born in Newcastle, New Brunswick, Richards left St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, one course shy of completing a B.A. Richards has been a writer-in-residence at various universities and colleges across Canada, including the University of New Brunswick.
Richards has received numerous awards including 2 Gemini Awards for scriptwriting for Small Gifts and "For Those Who Hunt The Wounded Down", the Alden Nowlan Award for Excellence in the Arts, and the Canadian Authors Association Award for his novel Evening Snow Will Bring Such Peace. Richards is one of only three writers to have won in both the fiction and non-fiction categories of the Governor General's Award. He won the 1988 fiction award for Nights Below Station Street and the 1998 non-fiction award for Lines on the Water: A Fisherman's Life on the Miramichi. He was also a co-winner of the 2000 Giller Prize for Mercy Among the Children.
In 1971, he married the former Peggy MacIntyre. They have two sons, John Thomas and Anton Richards, and currently reside in Toronto.
John Thomas was born in 1989 in Saint John, New Brunswick.
The Writers' Federation of New Brunswick administers an annual David Adams Richards Award for Fiction.
Richards' papers are currently housed at the University of New Brunswick.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
February 2, 2023
"Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul","David Adams Richards"
4.5 stars
"The story begins in 1985 in and around a MicMac reservation in the Miramachi. It starts with a tragedy (murder or accident) when a young native man is killed when a load of lumber falls which is being loaded onto a pulp boat. Blame is placed on an impoverished young white man living on the border of the reservation who has been in dispute with the community over fishing rights.
The story deals with big themes: lies, and half-lies, sins of commission and sins of omission, justice misplaced, justice denied, whether redemption is possible and if the sins of the past can ever be resolved in the present. Lies are told due to fear, ambition, greed, bribery and simply because a person believes incorrectly what happened and decides it is the truth.The story reveals prejudice by whites against the natives, but also prejudice of the intellectual elite against the uneducated and poor, whom they presume to be right wing bigots.
Into the community comes an ambitious young reporter whose stories are in the news all over Canada, and he has escalated the the turmoil in his writings. He firmly believes in the guilt of the accused. Later he refuses to write any more articles as he begins to doubt. As a result he loses his life's work.
Observing all this is the old chief's grandson, Markus. The old chief firmly believes the person blamed for the first tragedy is innocent but cannot prove it, and is losing any authority in the community as a result. Markus is blamed by the girl he loves for taking her little brother to watch events in aftermath of tragedy, and the young boy is killed. Again blame is placed on the man who was felt to be guilty of the first death, and he is killed either by accident or intention.
The story then moves to 2006, when Markus is an RCMP officer and has been haunted by the events of 1985. He promised his grandfather he would try to find out what really happened in all three deaths. I thought a lot of important ideas were left for us to ponder.
4.5 stars
"The story begins in 1985 in and around a MicMac reservation in the Miramachi. It starts with a tragedy (murder or accident) when a young native man is killed when a load of lumber falls which is being loaded onto a pulp boat. Blame is placed on an impoverished young white man living on the border of the reservation who has been in dispute with the community over fishing rights.
The story deals with big themes: lies, and half-lies, sins of commission and sins of omission, justice misplaced, justice denied, whether redemption is possible and if the sins of the past can ever be resolved in the present. Lies are told due to fear, ambition, greed, bribery and simply because a person believes incorrectly what happened and decides it is the truth.The story reveals prejudice by whites against the natives, but also prejudice of the intellectual elite against the uneducated and poor, whom they presume to be right wing bigots.
Into the community comes an ambitious young reporter whose stories are in the news all over Canada, and he has escalated the the turmoil in his writings. He firmly believes in the guilt of the accused. Later he refuses to write any more articles as he begins to doubt. As a result he loses his life's work.
Observing all this is the old chief's grandson, Markus. The old chief firmly believes the person blamed for the first tragedy is innocent but cannot prove it, and is losing any authority in the community as a result. Markus is blamed by the girl he loves for taking her little brother to watch events in aftermath of tragedy, and the young boy is killed. Again blame is placed on the man who was felt to be guilty of the first death, and he is killed either by accident or intention.
The story then moves to 2006, when Markus is an RCMP officer and has been haunted by the events of 1985. He promised his grandfather he would try to find out what really happened in all three deaths. I thought a lot of important ideas were left for us to ponder.
January 29, 2022
This is my first novel by David Adams Richards. He was highly recommended to me so I better try another.
In June of 1985 Hector Penniac, a young Micmac man is mysteriously killed, on his first day at work, on a cargo ship. Fingers point to Roger Savage as Hector was the one to replace him in the cargo hold.
Amos Paul, the aging chief of Hector's band tries to reduce the elevating tension by the investigation into Hector's death and its connection to many other simmering issues, from territorial lines to fishing rights.
Twenty years later, RCMP officer Markus Paul - Chief Amos Paul's grandson, tries to piece together the clues surrounding Hector Penniac's death.
I would have enjoyed this bleak story more if it hadn't have been so repetitive.
In June of 1985 Hector Penniac, a young Micmac man is mysteriously killed, on his first day at work, on a cargo ship. Fingers point to Roger Savage as Hector was the one to replace him in the cargo hold.
Amos Paul, the aging chief of Hector's band tries to reduce the elevating tension by the investigation into Hector's death and its connection to many other simmering issues, from territorial lines to fishing rights.
Twenty years later, RCMP officer Markus Paul - Chief Amos Paul's grandson, tries to piece together the clues surrounding Hector Penniac's death.
I would have enjoyed this bleak story more if it hadn't have been so repetitive.
January 10, 2012
On a warm June day in 1985 a young First Nation man dies in the hold of a pulp cargo ship: dropped logs have crushed Hector Penniac and buried him. It was his first day on the job; his pay was to be used for his medical studies so that he could become a doctor and return to his reserve. Accident or murder? Who is to blame, if anybody? This query weaves through the narrative and turns out to have more components than anybody wants to deal with, then or later, whether the police, the First Nation Band Council or the members of the community. While some reserve residents instantly designate a culprit, a white man and neighbour, others like the Band Chief, Amos Paul, or the police investigation attempt to establish the evidence before coming to conclusions. Both sides attract support for their position; the media gets involved too... in fact, the tragic incident opens up something between a can of worms and a Pandora's Box where old enmities, power struggles, control over land and fishing rights come to the fore, integrity and loyalties are challenged and the search for truth is anything but straight forward. David Adams Richards, award winning Canadian author of many books, has created a complex and totally absorbing tale of a troubled community at the crossroad, peopled with believable and memorable characters, depicted sympathetically in all their innocent or flawed individualities. Richards's intimate familiarity with the region - the Miramichie in northern New Brunswick - adds great authenticity and richness to the novel.
Seen to a large extent through the eyes of Markus Paul, a fifteen-year old at the time of the events and the Chief's grandson, Richards weaves the narrative between different time lines, from 1985 to 2006. Markus cannot put the drama of that summer and the months that followed out of his mind... there remain aspects he still needs to grapple with more than twenty years later "...it's not the trap that kills the beaver, but the drowning that follows". What has been missing from the evidence? Each time his mind returns to the 1985 events and the major players, another aspect is revealed or clarified, another clue discovered and placed into a broader context, other participants or witnesses given a voice to explain their position or action at the time. For me the story turns into a deeply affecting, multi-layered jigsaw puzzle that takes the reader into the heart of one community, its people, their lives and challenges that have their roots in the past and continue into the present. Many of the issues and concerns are, of course, not unique to one place and time. In different constellations they occur elsewhere in Canada and beyond.
First published on amazon.com
Seen to a large extent through the eyes of Markus Paul, a fifteen-year old at the time of the events and the Chief's grandson, Richards weaves the narrative between different time lines, from 1985 to 2006. Markus cannot put the drama of that summer and the months that followed out of his mind... there remain aspects he still needs to grapple with more than twenty years later "...it's not the trap that kills the beaver, but the drowning that follows". What has been missing from the evidence? Each time his mind returns to the 1985 events and the major players, another aspect is revealed or clarified, another clue discovered and placed into a broader context, other participants or witnesses given a voice to explain their position or action at the time. For me the story turns into a deeply affecting, multi-layered jigsaw puzzle that takes the reader into the heart of one community, its people, their lives and challenges that have their roots in the past and continue into the present. Many of the issues and concerns are, of course, not unique to one place and time. In different constellations they occur elsewhere in Canada and beyond.
First published on amazon.com
July 5, 2015
Stark, stunning and profound. I really don't know what to say about this book. It came to me highly recommended by numerous people because they know I am a big fan of Canadian literature. I know that David Adams Richards is a wonderful novelist. His stories are stark and bleak, and they don't always have happy endings. His books are difficult to read because they are filled with sadness and hopelessness and this one is no different. Even the ending in this book seems to return full circle to that terrible summer of 1985 along the Mirimichi River. The story goes back and forth seamlessly from summer and fall of 1985 to the year 2007 as we follow the life of Markus Paul. In 1985 Markus is only 15 years old. His mother and father are dead and he lives with his wise old grandfather Amos Paul who happens to the chief of the Micmac reserve they live on. This story is about guilt and lies, but it is also about the giant chasm between the native Canadians and their white neighbours. This is certainly not a new story, but it is one that hasn't changed much over one hundred years. A young 17 year old Micmac boy is killed in a workplace accident while he was unloading pulp on a vessel. The hold he was working on held five people, including himself-3 white males, 1 small child and Hector Penniac. Somehow Hector ends up dead and the repercussions of his death rock the First Nations reserve as well as their close white neighbours. Lives are changed forever with this terrible tragedy and it takes 21 years and the perseverance of Marcus Paul, now a decorated RCMP officer, to finally solve the puzzle of what happened on board the Lutheran. By that time 2 people had lost their lives as a result of the incident, and Amos Paul, Markus' grandfather has died. It was Amos that knew that something wasn't right about the 4th hold. He held onto that idea until he died even though it caused him to lose his position as chief and also it caused the people on his reserve to turn away from him. Amos was too meek and mild to get his point across, and instead it was left to the bullies and misguided young men on the Reserve to take action. That is what caused all the death, distrust and damage. The wrong solution to the crime won out over the right one because the men who propounded their solution were loud and made sure that their point was the one that was put forth. It forever changed lives of many people that were touched by the tragedy and resulted in hopelessness and despair to those left on the reserve. Markus' determination to solve the crime finally bears fruit, and the truth will help his community to heal. That is the happy ending that we get in this book. The happy ending doesn't come to Markus Paul. We see so clearly how small actions and the resulting cover-up can send shock waves through a community. We learn that "it's not the trap that kills the beaver, but the drowning that follows."
April 16, 2020
Ultimately, despite some of the writing in this being evocative and the themes very heavy and worthy, I ended up feeling that I had neither really enjoyed nor been that impressed with this. The plot - early on in the book a young First Nations Micmac man is killed in an accident loading logs on a ship, and the titular Markus Paul (a fellow Canadian Indian) examines the affect of the lad's death on his community over the following years - is worthy and is addressed with sensitivity.
However the book is essentially just 'First Chapter - bad thing happens. Final Chapter - main character comes to terms with what happens in the first chapter. Middle three hundred pages - lots of padding associated with introducing a whole cast of colourful characters, describing the tensions between them and making sure the reader knows how First Nations and white folk might live and might be tense with each other and themselves'.
It felt like one or two other books I've read that are fiction told in the style of true crime - 'Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil' by John Berendt in particular. Not enough factual content, just a little bit of crime mystery with a lot of character/place description thrown in.
However the book is essentially just 'First Chapter - bad thing happens. Final Chapter - main character comes to terms with what happens in the first chapter. Middle three hundred pages - lots of padding associated with introducing a whole cast of colourful characters, describing the tensions between them and making sure the reader knows how First Nations and white folk might live and might be tense with each other and themselves'.
It felt like one or two other books I've read that are fiction told in the style of true crime - 'Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil' by John Berendt in particular. Not enough factual content, just a little bit of crime mystery with a lot of character/place description thrown in.
September 4, 2015
On a Mi'Kmaq reserve on the Miramichi, in 1985, seventeen-year-old Hector Penniac is killed while helping load pulpwood into the hull of a ship. Although there is no physical evidence indicating his guilt, blame soon falls on Roger Savage, a white man who lives on the border of the reserve.
Amos Paul, the 75-year-old chief, fears that Savage is being scapegoated by being seen as the incarnation of centuries of wrongs committed by whites. The chief, the voice of reason, strives for truth and peace, but many of the younger people view Amos' conciliatory approach as obsolete and favour a more confrontational style which demands immediate retribution. They attempt to remove Savage from his home; the crisis gathers force, and tragedy ensues.
Twenty years later, the chief's grandson, Markus Paul, who is an RCMP officer, sets out to unravel the mystery of Hector's death and to answer some questions surrounding subsequent events on the reserve. On the one hand, therefore, the book can be read as a mystery, but it is much, much more than that.
The author scours the community and examines the motives of everyone affected by Hector's death. No one escapes unscathed. Corruption and weakness are exposed everywhere. Markus observes, "Yes . . . we all have one [cheatin' heart]" (267).
One theme is people's "willingness to forego a certain integrity in order to belong to a group" (49). Chief Amos, the moral centre of the novel, explains people's behaviour with an analogy: "'There is always a big hidden giant in the room, and this giant attaches itself to people in a crowd, and moves them in one direction or another. Those who do not join this giant are outcast, and sometimes will get stepped on by great big feet. Those who join the giant have the benefit of puffing themselves up and acting like one, and sometimes do the stepping - until their friends leave and then they just get smaller and smaller. And sometimes after it is all over, they simply disappear'" (105). These words prove to be prophetic: many people, including the journalist Max Doran who covers the crisis, fall prey to this giant.
The author examines the lingering consequences of Canada's mistreatment of aboriginal people, and there is no doubt of his sympathy for First Nations people. However, he bravely suggests, as Rayyan Al-Shawaf summarized in The Globe and Mail, that "Legitimate historical grievances cannot justify the pernicious notion of inherited guilt. . . . attempting to redress sins of the past sometimes leads to victimizing innocent descendants of the sinners."
This is a book that all Canadians, both indigenous and non-indigenous, should read.
Please check out my reader's blog: http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/
Amos Paul, the 75-year-old chief, fears that Savage is being scapegoated by being seen as the incarnation of centuries of wrongs committed by whites. The chief, the voice of reason, strives for truth and peace, but many of the younger people view Amos' conciliatory approach as obsolete and favour a more confrontational style which demands immediate retribution. They attempt to remove Savage from his home; the crisis gathers force, and tragedy ensues.
Twenty years later, the chief's grandson, Markus Paul, who is an RCMP officer, sets out to unravel the mystery of Hector's death and to answer some questions surrounding subsequent events on the reserve. On the one hand, therefore, the book can be read as a mystery, but it is much, much more than that.
The author scours the community and examines the motives of everyone affected by Hector's death. No one escapes unscathed. Corruption and weakness are exposed everywhere. Markus observes, "Yes . . . we all have one [cheatin' heart]" (267).
One theme is people's "willingness to forego a certain integrity in order to belong to a group" (49). Chief Amos, the moral centre of the novel, explains people's behaviour with an analogy: "'There is always a big hidden giant in the room, and this giant attaches itself to people in a crowd, and moves them in one direction or another. Those who do not join this giant are outcast, and sometimes will get stepped on by great big feet. Those who join the giant have the benefit of puffing themselves up and acting like one, and sometimes do the stepping - until their friends leave and then they just get smaller and smaller. And sometimes after it is all over, they simply disappear'" (105). These words prove to be prophetic: many people, including the journalist Max Doran who covers the crisis, fall prey to this giant.
The author examines the lingering consequences of Canada's mistreatment of aboriginal people, and there is no doubt of his sympathy for First Nations people. However, he bravely suggests, as Rayyan Al-Shawaf summarized in The Globe and Mail, that "Legitimate historical grievances cannot justify the pernicious notion of inherited guilt. . . . attempting to redress sins of the past sometimes leads to victimizing innocent descendants of the sinners."
This is a book that all Canadians, both indigenous and non-indigenous, should read.
Please check out my reader's blog: http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/
March 16, 2017
This novel was an interesting read. It brought up a number of different conflicts that really made you think. I was pleased that it dealt with Native and White antagonisms in a way that blamed neither side as the sole evil, but gave shared blame to everything that was happening in the novel. I also liked that it was recognized that the only way either side can heal from the evil that was done in the past is by moving forward and not clinging on to those horrific actions.
The book went on a lot longer than I think it needed to. It jumped back and forth between other perspectives to show just how every individual character was responding and thinking about the incident and it just took so long to get to the climax that it became a drag near the end. The ending was so flat and disappointing that when I was thinking I could actually enjoy the book the end made me close it and decide it really wasn't that great. Despite so many things being solved, even in bittersweet ways, the way it dealt with Sky and Markus' relationship was the most lazy and terrible way to conclude anything, let alone a novel. I was extremely disappointed and just kind of upset with Richards for thinking this was suitable ending. It gave me the impression he was coming to the realization his book was too long and just stopped writing there. I wouldn't read this book again.
The book went on a lot longer than I think it needed to. It jumped back and forth between other perspectives to show just how every individual character was responding and thinking about the incident and it just took so long to get to the climax that it became a drag near the end. The ending was so flat and disappointing that when I was thinking I could actually enjoy the book the end made me close it and decide it really wasn't that great. Despite so many things being solved, even in bittersweet ways, the way it dealt with Sky and Markus' relationship was the most lazy and terrible way to conclude anything, let alone a novel. I was extremely disappointed and just kind of upset with Richards for thinking this was suitable ending. It gave me the impression he was coming to the realization his book was too long and just stopped writing there. I wouldn't read this book again.
September 5, 2011
Best one yet from David Adams Richards. He continues to refine his talent for showing how truth is relative, and how our words and actions so often ripple in unintended ways. The only thing that seems certain is the opening line of the book: "The day Hector Penniac died in the fourth hold of the cargo ship Lutheran, he woke up at 6:20 in the morning." Was it an accident or was he murdered? Who knows, and who will say? So much is said and done thoughtlessly. Integrity and morals are constantly shifting and re-adjusting to circumstances and expectations. The book describes a cascade of untruths and truth, indistinguishable from each other. It is a rich and complex novel, examining politics, racism in both First Nations and whites, poverty, and the nature of the human condition. Classic Richards themes, at his best.
Highly recommended.
[book won in publisher contest, from booklounge.ca]
Highly recommended.
[book won in publisher contest, from booklounge.ca]
September 8, 2021
Earlier this year, David Adams Richards gave an eloquent speech in the Canadian Senate condemning Bill C 10 and its threat to free expression prompting me to pull one of his books off the shelf for a second read. Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul was the book I picked.
I guess David Adams Richards might be considered old fashioned by some. He believes in sin and the struggle between good and evil that rages within the human heart. His work is hallmarked by grand themes that revolve around love, power, betrayal, and revenge. In fact, his novels read like stories from the Old Testament and perhaps that makes him a bit of a Christian apologist. Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul is no exception.
It is not the Conibear trap that kills the beaver, but the drowning that follows. This phrase is repeated throughout the novel and might be considered its theme. In Biblical language it translates to “be sure your sin will find you out”. Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul shows how those who deliberately choose evil over good not only forfeit their own humanity but leave a path of destruction in their wake including the loss of many innocent lives (Hector Penniac, Roger Savage, Little Joe Barnaby, Brice Peel and Sky). Redemption comes only to those who are committed to truth and willing to follow wherever it leads.
I guess David Adams Richards might be considered old fashioned by some. He believes in sin and the struggle between good and evil that rages within the human heart. His work is hallmarked by grand themes that revolve around love, power, betrayal, and revenge. In fact, his novels read like stories from the Old Testament and perhaps that makes him a bit of a Christian apologist. Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul is no exception.
It is not the Conibear trap that kills the beaver, but the drowning that follows. This phrase is repeated throughout the novel and might be considered its theme. In Biblical language it translates to “be sure your sin will find you out”. Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul shows how those who deliberately choose evil over good not only forfeit their own humanity but leave a path of destruction in their wake including the loss of many innocent lives (Hector Penniac, Roger Savage, Little Joe Barnaby, Brice Peel and Sky). Redemption comes only to those who are committed to truth and willing to follow wherever it leads.
July 16, 2022
It's hard to even write a response to this book because it's one of those that leaves you a bit speechless at the end. Richards has a unique ability to weave tragedy into his novels, allowing it to become a theme by writing it into each one of his characters in small, heartbreaking moments and details. He captures the loneliness and poverty of the region, setting it against a violent and beautiful natural landscape.
I would also argue that no one develops characters like David Adams Richards. Each of his characters is distinct and fleshed out. No one character is alike, and when they speak they do so distinctly (some characters in books are all the same, they just have different names). Though his characters may seem simple and the setting is clearly rural, the themes speak to the human condition. We see themes of justice and truth, of power and corruption, and of morality. And, guided by their own selfish motivations to claim power, many of the characters fall victim to their hubris.
Great book, very depressing, and very profound.
I would also argue that no one develops characters like David Adams Richards. Each of his characters is distinct and fleshed out. No one character is alike, and when they speak they do so distinctly (some characters in books are all the same, they just have different names). Though his characters may seem simple and the setting is clearly rural, the themes speak to the human condition. We see themes of justice and truth, of power and corruption, and of morality. And, guided by their own selfish motivations to claim power, many of the characters fall victim to their hubris.
Great book, very depressing, and very profound.
January 19, 2022
The author told a compelling story; however, the continual repetition of various themes and/or messages was excessive and distracted me from appreciating the struggles of his various characters. I speculated whether using multiple POV would have made the story more interesting by changing the viewpoint when content was being repeated. Still, he successfully delivered some powerful messages depicting the interaction of different cultures living in close proximity where acts of cooperation and conflict are continually intertwined and blame is a weapon welded and dispensed too quickly, with deadly consequences.
August 18, 2014
Wow. Wow. Words escape me in trying to capture my thoughts and feelings about this haunting, multi-layered and important novel. David Adams Richards is a fantastic storyteller. His books, as bleak as the outcomes generally are, paint an important picture of Canadian life that all of us from this country should contemplate. The mysterious death of a First Nations youth unleashes catastrophic events in a Micmac community. Deep seeded prejudices, hatred and feelings of "being wronged" are unearthed and no one in this story escapes unscathed. All are permanently affected and irrevocably altered from the events that took place that summer in 1985. The main protagonist, Markus Paul, who was 15 at the time and now, in 2006, a decorated RCMP officer, still cannot get past what happened that summer 21 years ago and, after ruining relationship after relationship in his life, commits to finally getting to the bottom of what happened back then that began with the death of 17 year-old Hector Penniac in the hold of a Scandinavian cargo ship. Moving seamlessly between 2006 and 1985, this story slowly and deliciously unfolds. We meet the wise but slow to act Chief, Amos Paul (Markus' grandfather), the dynamic and politically driven Chief-in-Waiting, Isaac Snow, the hothead Joel Ginnish, Max Doran, the eager but suggestible journalist and the wronged and unfairly condemned white man in this, Roger Savage. As the layers unfold in this story, we begin to see deep into the motivations of all characters and how each of them "cheat" the truth in some way either by inaction or overtly lying and acting for selfish or twisted reasons. Throughout this journey, the reader learns to appreciate the quiet strength and good heart of Amos although angered by his inaction at critical times. Comparing Amos' quiet, shy leadership with the more charismatic Isaac Snow's one can't help but reflect on leadership in general and how important a mix of charisma and confidence with wisdom and caution is in leading communities through crisis. Markus's final actions in the book bring all of us full circle with someone who finally takes the steps necessary to allow this community to heal. He offered comfort where required like with the ill George Morrissey in the hospital, strength in action as is so desperately needed in his investigations and finally leadership to understand what is needed for healing is for the true story to be told and bringing together the two very people required in order to tell it. An amazing and thought-provoking book. Important. Every Canadian should read it.
November 30, 2019
An absorbing story about individuals, a particular social setting and the nature of right and wrong. Had to persist through the first half because the characters come close to or actually are caricatures. Richards also starts out with descriptions from a distance. The effect is like watching Prospero play with people on his island if you're in a generous mood, or like watching a puppet play and being very much aware of the woodenness of the marionettes and the strings pulling them about if you're not. But the artificiality fades and intensity builds in the second half. Thought at first I preferred The Friends of Meager Fortune. May still, but the story is pulled together so well and powerfully in the end that I'm not sure whether I'd rate one book ahead of the other.
June 30, 2012
"Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul" focuses on the suspicious death of a young First Nations dockworker in New Brunswick. David Adams Richards exposes many important political and racial issues within the context of the investigation but, unfortunately, I found it very difficult to become engaged in the story due to the bland writing style. I found myself losing focus and having to read some pages more than once.
The story is unrelentingly grim but I felt detached from it and could not really identify with the characters and their lives.
The story is unrelentingly grim but I felt detached from it and could not really identify with the characters and their lives.
December 23, 2013
David Adams Richards...one of my favorite authors...does not disappoint. Highly enjoyable...it always seems to take me awhile to read one of his books...I need to digest and savor the story as it unfolds...like peeling an orange...
July 31, 2011
Reaffirming why David Adams Richards is one of my favourite authors, I was completely engrossed 'Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul'. Told in a way that is all Richards.
August 18, 2021
The death of Mi’kmaq youth Hector Penniac triggers a series of events that plunge his community into crisis. Hector, who aspires to be a doctor, has a new job working in the ship’s hold, stowing pulpwood. Hector is not popular among his peers, and has long been tormented by them. However, when his slight body lies dead under a pile of logs, he becomes the hero of the community, whose death must be avenged. Lines are drawn and accusations made, and we witness the extremes in thought and behaviour that can arise when temper and passion rule. We also must reflect on how these extremes can serve those who aspire to power.
Initially, I felt certain characters were too simplistic. Joel Ginnish seems perfectly self-serving and immoral. Roger Savage, the accused, remains rigid, when negotiations and admission might serve him better. However, in Richards’ skilled telling, we witness the weakness that drives Joel, the potential and the failure in this individual. We witness the need in Roger to hold on to all he has struggled for – his own place, his own home.
Amos Paul is the character who grips us, who shapes the direction that his grandson Markus will follow. In Amos Paul, we witness the fully dignity and wisdom of the Elders, and are also reminded that their counsel is too often swept aside. Ignored and rejected by the police and by many in his own community, Amos Paul continues to embody the essence of the Grandfather Teachings – Love, Respect, Bravery, Truth, Honesty, Humility, and Wisdom.
As violence rises in the community, there is passion and rage on both sides of the barricade. We see the features that bind a community – sense of family and justice – drawn downward into a Lord of the Flies scenario, in which violence and rhetoric become compulsive. We see not what is, but what is possible when the darkness prevails. The story becomes a parable of caution for those who aspire to social justice.
The story unfolds, lives come together and apart, and we grieve for what might have been at times. The final truths are painful, but necessary to the integrity of the novel. Yet there are glimmers of light, moments of dignity and humanity, as Amos seeks truth and justice in true humility. It is a rich and fulfilling read, in which we are shown darkness, but also touched by light.
Initially, I felt certain characters were too simplistic. Joel Ginnish seems perfectly self-serving and immoral. Roger Savage, the accused, remains rigid, when negotiations and admission might serve him better. However, in Richards’ skilled telling, we witness the weakness that drives Joel, the potential and the failure in this individual. We witness the need in Roger to hold on to all he has struggled for – his own place, his own home.
Amos Paul is the character who grips us, who shapes the direction that his grandson Markus will follow. In Amos Paul, we witness the fully dignity and wisdom of the Elders, and are also reminded that their counsel is too often swept aside. Ignored and rejected by the police and by many in his own community, Amos Paul continues to embody the essence of the Grandfather Teachings – Love, Respect, Bravery, Truth, Honesty, Humility, and Wisdom.
As violence rises in the community, there is passion and rage on both sides of the barricade. We see the features that bind a community – sense of family and justice – drawn downward into a Lord of the Flies scenario, in which violence and rhetoric become compulsive. We see not what is, but what is possible when the darkness prevails. The story becomes a parable of caution for those who aspire to social justice.
The story unfolds, lives come together and apart, and we grieve for what might have been at times. The final truths are painful, but necessary to the integrity of the novel. Yet there are glimmers of light, moments of dignity and humanity, as Amos seeks truth and justice in true humility. It is a rich and fulfilling read, in which we are shown darkness, but also touched by light.
March 21, 2019
This will be one of the most important books that I read in 2019, but I found it difficult to read. The story takes place on and near the Micmac or Miꞌkmaq First Nation reservation in eastern Canada. A young Micmac man, Hector Penniac, is killed under suspicious circumstances. Mostly scorned in life, Hector becomes a hero in his death and his death becomes the rallying point for many First Nation issues from fishing rights to territorial lines. Individuals use Hector’s death to promote their own agenda and their own power, including Max Doran, a young ambitious journalist, Isaac Snow, a young Micmac who would like to be elected chief, and Joel Ginnish, who had disparaged Hector in life but now reclaims him as a half-brother and uses the confusion to foster his own strength in the community and to illicitly gain income. The old chief Amos Paul recognizes the problem but is unable to diffuse the situation: “They wanted justice for crimes of the past. For somethings they could not get even for. And they had suffered terrible crimes, yes. But they could not get even. They wanted to live in the past the way they had once been, and could not be again.” The story unfolds slowly and there are more confrontations and more deaths. Many years later, Markus Paul, who was fifteen years old when Hector died, tries to revisit and solve the case.
How one thing can come to represent all the problems of the past is perfectly presented. There are no heroes and no one wins.
How one thing can come to represent all the problems of the past is perfectly presented. There are no heroes and no one wins.
May 17, 2020
3.5 stars.
When I read the book's description, I remember thinking, 'oh, is this book about the Colten Boushie shooting? Is it going to be overly-liberal propaganda about rural, Canadian red-necks not respecting Native people or culture? To make a long story short - no. This book was published five years before the shooting, which gives it an interesting edge.
Richards was well-aware of the divide between whites and natives in small-town Canada, yet he wrote this book BEFORE the problem became a national sensation. So if you want a deep analysis of that white/native divide, but DON'T want the analysis skewed by an emotional reaction to the Boushie case, read this. It's as good as it gets.
One of Richards' better books, this one explores the details of a fatal accident on a cargo ship. Or was it an accident? What really happened on the ship, and more importantly, why?
Roger Savage and Amos Paul are two of Richards' best characters in any of his works.
When I read the book's description, I remember thinking, 'oh, is this book about the Colten Boushie shooting? Is it going to be overly-liberal propaganda about rural, Canadian red-necks not respecting Native people or culture? To make a long story short - no. This book was published five years before the shooting, which gives it an interesting edge.
Richards was well-aware of the divide between whites and natives in small-town Canada, yet he wrote this book BEFORE the problem became a national sensation. So if you want a deep analysis of that white/native divide, but DON'T want the analysis skewed by an emotional reaction to the Boushie case, read this. It's as good as it gets.
One of Richards' better books, this one explores the details of a fatal accident on a cargo ship. Or was it an accident? What really happened on the ship, and more importantly, why?
Roger Savage and Amos Paul are two of Richards' best characters in any of his works.
January 19, 2022
I really wanted to like this book, but I've never checked a book so often as I checked this one to see how many pages were left. The only reason I finished it was because it was for bookclub.
The story felt disjointed, too many characters who had very little to do with the essence of the story except maybe to show how one lie changed the community (both Indian and White). I found it hard to keep track of where I was in the story and who was who.
It was also extremely repetitive and if it weren't for this I'm sure the book would have been a lot shorter. The author writes well, I'll give him that. There were some beautiful passages but it was too long and too bleak. I doubt I'd read anything else by the author because apparently bleak and dark is his style.
The story felt disjointed, too many characters who had very little to do with the essence of the story except maybe to show how one lie changed the community (both Indian and White). I found it hard to keep track of where I was in the story and who was who.
It was also extremely repetitive and if it weren't for this I'm sure the book would have been a lot shorter. The author writes well, I'll give him that. There were some beautiful passages but it was too long and too bleak. I doubt I'd read anything else by the author because apparently bleak and dark is his style.
August 13, 2017
Bleak in that particular Canada lit. way, this is a story of events spinning out of control. A First Nations boy is killed in what at first seem an accident, but the finger is pointed at a white loner who was in a border dispute with the reservation. Several people twist the event to their own political gain, and the media jumps on the bandwagon. More lives are lost or destroyed, because some won't speak up and others won't listen. One young boy can't let the case go and spends 21 years intermittently trying to figure out what really happened. And in the end the question is if it is too late for the truth. Will it heal or cause more harm?
January 19, 2022
I struggled with this book. I found the writing stilted with too many run on mundane sentences. The writing didn’t flow or hold my attention, I literally had to force myself to sit down and read this. The only reason I did was because it was for book club.
The incident happened right away, and I thought, ok, here’s something., let’s see where it goes. But then it felt like the author added a bunch of characters and fillers to get the story from the beginning to end. Much of what happened in the middle 300 pages could have been omitted.
Thankfully the story picked up in the end. Had it not I would have rated it a 2 out of 10.
The incident happened right away, and I thought, ok, here’s something., let’s see where it goes. But then it felt like the author added a bunch of characters and fillers to get the story from the beginning to end. Much of what happened in the middle 300 pages could have been omitted.
Thankfully the story picked up in the end. Had it not I would have rated it a 2 out of 10.
May 25, 2024
This is a standard from my bookshelf which I reread every few years. It remains a fantastic story about the destruction of lives through the quest for power. A young native man is killed in the hold of a ship on his first day at work. Blame rests with one man who maintains his innocence but I’d still highly suspect from the readers point of view. From that point on the facts, rumours, and innuendos spin out of control until there is a final confrontation ending in an unfortunate death and the destruction of many lives. Markus Paul, a fifteen year old and grandson of the reservation chief grows up to become an RCMP officer with a life mission to solve the case 21 years later.
November 4, 2025
This novelist creates a rich world of an indigenous culture clashing with contemporary society in a detective story that dramatizes the human predicament of sin in its political, personal, tribal, familial, legal and sadistic ways. He is equally adept at bringing to life villainous and heroic figures as the mysteries of the plot unfold in the midst of realistic descriptions of life on the First Nations reserve and the surrounding Canadian society. David Adams Richards draws the reader in with plot, narrative, supporting detail and memorable multifaceted characters that are haunting and realistic. The depth of the journey rewards reflection.
May 22, 2018
4.5 for the bit of repetition throughout but it had me hooked to find out what happened.
September 9, 2021
I gave up early, well written documenting the thought process of participants and the political issues in the forefront and behind the scenes, but I found it did not hold my enthusiasm.
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October 1, 2021An interesting effort to see his usual conflicts from a slightly unusual perspective: that of First Nations' police office, Markus Paul.
February 7, 2022
Sometimes the truth takes the long way around.
February 4, 2023
Very drawn out and repetitive. I would have given it a higher rating if it had been half the length.
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