Help Me Jacques Cousteau

by Gil Adamson

When Gil Adamson published her first volume of poetry entitled Primitive , readers immediately recognized her special voice, with its partnering of the random and the surreal with a finely tuned technical brilliance. Adamson cites as her influences Michael Ondaatje, Raymond Carver, Richard Ford, and Creole writer Mark Richard. Barbara Gowdy hailed the poems' `ferocious energy that burns through every line,' and Doug Fetherling cited the collection's `pyrotechnic excellence.' Reviews of Help Me, Jacques Cousteau have already garnered the same level of praise. Doug Fetherling says, `The linked stories in Gil Adamson's fascinating book proceed from the assumption that the dysfunctional family is the basic unit of society. When she writes of coming of age in suburbia, she does so with a poet's ear, a comic's delivery, and a pathologist's attention to unpleasant detail.' It is through Hazel's observant but detached eyes that we watch the family's goings-on, her unflinching vision informed by the precocious perception that however bad things may be they are only likely to get worse. She watches with bemusement as they go through the rituals of a Christmas dinner that culminates in attending the funeral of a man not one of them knew, and of a wedding that ends with the bride storming out. She senses that her mismatched parents, narcoleptic and impractical North and prosaic Janey, are headed for a rupture but is content to let things unravel in their own ineluctable fashion. Hazel's younger brother Andrew shows signs of following in the family's unconventional footsteps with his addiction to TV, his bizarre questions (`If you had to kill your best friend or your parents, which would it be?'), and his strange inventions, like solar-powered curtains. Yet however odd and even slightly menacing the world inhabited by these fully-fleshed characters, there is an unnerving familiarity to their dilemmas and discordancies that makes the stories resonate with conviction.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Canada, Coming Of Age, Literary Fiction, Young Adult, Humor

152 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 1995

About the author

Gil Adamson (born Gillian Adamson, 1961) is a Canadian writer. She won the Books in Canada First Novel Award in 2008 for her 2007 novel The Outlander.

Adamson's first published work was "Primitive," a volume of poetry, in 1991. She followed up with the short story collection "Help Me, Jacques Cousteau" in 1995 and a second volume of poetry, "Ashland," in 2003, as well as multiple chapbooks and a commissioned fan biography of Gillian Anderson, "Mulder, It’s Me," which she coauthored with her sister-in-law Dawn Connolly in 1998.

"The Outlander," a novel set in the Canadian West at the turn of the 20th century, was published by House of Anansi in the spring of 2007 and won the Hammett Prize that year. The novel was later selected for the 2009 edition of Canada Reads, where it was championed by actor Nicholas Campbell.

Adamson currently lives in Toronto with poet Kevin Connolly.

Reviews

[Juniper · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book presents the coming-of-age of hazel, through vignettes/connected stories. adamson's writing is very engaging, and the quirk factor runs high in hazel's family. sometimes, when an author reaches for weird or quirky traits or situations, they can feel very ridiculous or too improbable (even though families are totally whacky). admason's peculiarities on the page felt perfectly reasonable and easy to believe. life, growing up, and memory can be very disjointed - and this feeling was very strong for me as i was reading. a melancholy tone permeates, so i was appreciative of amusing moments and outrageous shows of behaviour from a character, to break up the weighted feeling.

[Lauri Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

The prose in this book itself is lovely, which is the only reason that I finished reading it. It consisted of completely random events in the main character's life and while they painted a wonderful picture of her world, very vivid and interesting in themselves, they revealed no real plot. I am rarely taken off guard by an ending, but this one threw me. I guess it was the only real way to end a "story" that had no real story to it.
If I had to categorize the story I would say that it was like a strange fever dream or a really weak acid trip.

[Christiane · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the title (which really has nothing to do with anything) but I didn’t love the book – at all.

The first chapter was well written and promising : After two years in Australia a Canadian family goes back home by boat. It was easy to be intrigued by the child Hazel, intelligent and observant, but as we follow her through the chapters of her childhood and teenage years she gets less and less interesting and the writing gets more and more sloppy.

She talks about her “messy family”, her parents and brother, her crazy uncles, crazy grandparents, crazy neighbours, boss, school-mates, etc. etc. Everyone is just so unusual and has tons of idiosyncrasies but none of the characters comes to life on these pages and the book just fizzles out, or rather goes out with a bang as a plum pudding explodes.

“A superb adventure story” ?
"… with all the panache of a great adventure” ?
“Full of unexpected twists” ?
“Haunting and extremely funny” ?

I just don’t see it.

[Audrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am in love with Adamson's writing style - funny, eccentric, and brilliant. This is one of her earlier novels depicting a dysfunctional family, told from the point of view of the daughter.

One of my favorite passages, which probably makes more sense in context - knowing the mother's personality - but here it is anyway:

"She tells my father that 'The Little Mermaid' is an evil pile of nonsense, and 'The Ugly Duckling' is for saps. It's mean she says, to suggest to ugly little kids that someday they'll walk into a room and all heads will turn ad they'll instantly get dates and end up on TV. My mother says we all have to face facts, eventually."

[Emma Blue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Characters: Hazel's family was a bunch that never lost their realism. I could see these people living on the edge of my life. Little habits and endearing traits rang true, even at their most flamboyant and obsurd. Hazel herself reminded me a lot of Alaska from Looking for Alaska by John Green. She possessed the same mystery and unknown air that Alaska had, but was less screwed up and more observant. From the first chapter there was a magnetism to Hazel that I lapped up. 5 flowers.

Writing: The voice of this novel was very odd and rich. Hazel's perspective reminded me of my own lack of logic. The plot twists surprised me in astonishingly clever ways. My one problem was how no matter what age Hazel was, her view of the world remained the same. Perhaps this added to the exotic mystery of this novel, but it took me away from the actual story. 4 flowers.

Plot: What plot? The story centers around Hazel's family life, but there was no driving mission. The story would've felt fake otherwise. 3 and a half flowers.
Originality: I am definitely going to read The Outlander now because of Adamson's strong and refreshing voice. 4 and a half flowers.

If you'd like to read more of my review, please go to my blog: http://bookingthrough365.blogspot.com/2010/03/book-10-of-10-help-me-jacques-cousteau.html

[Rosa]

Got about halfway through, which was long enough for me to put it into my "books that are not offensively bad, but which are not particularly engrossing & which will make no impact whatsoever on my life or memory even days after reading" category.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although it took a while for me to get used to Adamson's style of prose and short story-like format, once I met all her characters, I fell in love with them. So real and qwerky. It has the pace of a lazy slow summer afternoon, or a hot humid summer night, and by the end, I just wanted more. Truly an enjoyable read.

[Sophie Bégin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book although there was sometime off about it. I can't put my finger on it-maybe it was too short? Then that's not off at all. I did appreciate how she managed to have a completely different voice than some of her characters in THE OUTLANDER. I often wondered if it was semi-autobiographical. There were times when she would describe situations so intensely accurate, that I felt I was describing it myself. A young person's view of the world and how it operates, of her parents and our self image. How she managed to remember the feelings that some of us might have had as young people...! I'm envious to remember like she does.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Subtle and a little underdeveloped but enjoyable. Central character doesn't really get interesting until the final chapters but Adamson did a good job creating the world in which she and her family exist. I was just starting to really enjoy the whole scene when the book ended. This book gave me stylisitc and topical ideas for my own writing.

[Harley · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you enjoy eloquent writing and a misfit group of humans with detailed personalities, you will inhale this book!
If you’re looking for a plot driven book, you won’t find it here. This book is utterly random and I enjoyed it for its character depth.

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first encountered Gil Adamson when I picked up, on an off-chance, her marvellous novel The Outlander from the used book shelf of a convenience store in Halifax, N.S. – and was smitten. And yet the delightful collection of inter-linked short stories took me to an entirely different world that that novel of the turn of the 20th century western reaches of Canada.

Here we meet Hazel’s slightly odd, a little bit off kilter, thoroughly recognisable family (that recognisability might reveal things about mine, rather than families in general). There’s her academic, tinkerer, socially beguiling father, North; her uncles Castor and Bishop; her ever squabbling paternal grandparents with no memory for names (at one stage she suggests this might account for their children’s odd names – at least they’re memorable); her ever frustrated mother; her little brother; and a cast of neighbourhood characters along with the uncles’ assorted wives, lovers, and not-sure-whats.

The stories span a period of about 20 years, from Hazel’s infancy traveling by boat from Australia and Canada, on the way home from a sabbatical, to the entire family attending a local’s funeral while holidaying in what seems to be Switzerland, but might just be a mountain holiday resort anywhere. Along the way we encounter fish-sitting, occasional lovers, pets, spying on neighbours, uncles whose entire raison d'être seems to be telling rambling, almost obviously untrue stories, and the kinds of childhood obsessions we all have, and often switch out for a new area of expertise after a couple of weeks.

Adamson has a fabulous sense of the absurd, and insight into the weirdness of the everyday – those things that aren’t quite right, although we can’t work out why and so can’t put right. Yet within all that absurdity there is something refreshingly recognisable in Hazel’s family – frustrating, loving, working it out as they go along, even when they don’t work out as a group. The stories are short, wry rather than laugh out loud comic pieces that linger and seem to have multiple ways of making sense.

These may be profoundly different in tone to The Outlander but they remain as much a treat and as captivating. And this edition from Porcupine’s Quill is gorgeous, stitched, printed on high quality embossed cream coloured stock – I’m a sucker for good production values.

[Kirsten · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hazels Familie ist wirklich seltsam: ihre Mutter geht in Socken zu Partys, weil sie keine Schuhe in ihrer Übergröße findet. Ihr Vater experimentiert mit den elektrischen Leitungen im Haus herum, so dass es ein Wunder ist, dass noch kein Familienmitglied an einem Stromschlag gestorben ist. Ihr Onkel hat einen kleinen Zoo daheim und lässt die Tiere regelmäßig zum Wettschwimmen antreten. Hazel selbst passt auf den Fisch ihrer Nachbarn auf. Aber ansonsten ist alles so normal, wie es in so einer Familie nur sein kann.

Hazel erzählt aus ihrem Leben. Der Leser begleitet das Mädchen von ihrer frühesten Kindheit bis ins Teenageralter. Dabei wirkt der Roman nicht wie eine zusammenhängende Geschichte, sondern mehr wie Aufzeichnungen aus Hazels Tagebuch. Je älter sie wird, desto klarer wird ihre Erzählung. Trotzdem habe ich bis zum Schluss nicht ganz verstanden, worum es in diesem Roman eigentlich ging. Schade, denn vom Titel her hätte ich mir etwas anderes erwartet.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Help Me, Jacques Cousteau” was Gil Adamson’s first work of fiction years before her critically acclaimed works “The Outlander” and “The Ridgerunner”. It is a much less ambitious work in which she cut her teeth in the genre.

It presents the life of Hazel, and peripherally her younger brother Andrew, as they navigate their eccentric family and find their on their own merits into adult life. There is not much of a plot to the work. The novel adopts a stream of consciousness model via the mind of Hazel as it is influenced by her surroundings. It is, however, liberally populated with the antics of Hazel’s offbeat family and their sometimes comic, sometimes dysfunctional behaviour.

“Help Me, Jacques Cousteau” is not of the same calibre of Adamson’s later novels. But it does showcase her poet’s sensibilities and foreshadows the powerful novel she would evolve into a decade later.

[Tom Wile · Rating 4 out of 5]

What the hell is the name of that thing they give you in nice restaurants? You know...between courses?? Anyway I never know what it is, it’s usually tasty and I wonder why there isn’t more of that.

That’s what this book is. It’s a palette cleanser between other books I read. I wish I had a book like this between all of my more ‘meaty’ reads. I enjoyed the hell out of it and and have no idea what it was about!

Had a few belly laughs reading about The eccentricities of this family. Strange characters just like some that most of us have in our own. Well done. Give it a read. This one’s good for the soul.

[Denni · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't remember who recommended this book to me, and when I started reading it, I wasn't sure why, either, but it engaged me more and more as it went on--in fact, it became extremely engaging. In brief, it's kind of like a series of short stories that are each a (fictional) memory of a specific event and of the people involved who are mostly members of a wonderfully eccentric family, beginning when the narrator is a tiny child and working through chronologically to early adulthood, all told in the now and the first person. And I very much liked this person. And this book. No spoilers.

[Peter Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to read a book with a strong plot line this isn’t it. If you want to read a straight comedy, this also isn’t it. But if you want to read an attempt to capture a snippet of the human condition, an attempt to tie together disconnected memories, an attempt to connect to others by way of an author turning inward and sharing such specific details that, when relatable are VERY relatable....this is for you.
A slice-of-life in the truest sense, this book left me feeling an unexpected combination of charmed and melancholy.

[Mark Cofta · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a thrill to find this great little novel in short stories in a tiny independent bookstore in a small town in Canada two summers ago! I'm sorry I didn't read it until now, because it's darkly hilarious. Adamson's prose is deft but not showy, and, through her sometimes-narrator Hazel, provides a fascinating and fun vision of childhood and its many adventures. What a happy, crafty, sloppy kiss of a book!

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

From early childhood to young adult, Hazel tells her story and that of her unusual family. There is no clear plot line as each chapter is more or less a short story about a particular event in the family's history. The book is light, cheery and fun to read. Hazel is not extraordinary but has her own outlook on the things that occur around her.

[Sarah Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a strange book. I love the way the author writes and I absolutely adored The Outlander but I found this short book very odd. Written as a stream of consciousness from the perspective of a girl growing up in an extremely dysfunctional family this was a disjointed but quick read that never really grabbed me.

[Amberle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I found it too short for my liking, I wanted to read more about this character. It was both funny and sad at times but she described many a childhood in the 70s, and 80s. It was such a different read when I compare other stuff that I have read from this author. I look forward to reading more of her work.

[Wanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little gem of a book, relatable for anyone who has ever felt their family to be outside of the two parents, white picket fence scenario. Full of humor in tidbits of tales following a family whose lives are everything but conventional. A fun ride along their chaos.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet, quirky, a rambling coming of age story, beautifully written. Don't look for plot. This is a ride in the country on a beautiful summer day; it's about the journey not the destination. Enjoy the scenery and the rolling road under you.

[krdito · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so surprised to see this delightful book only has 3 reviews. Everyone should read this! It is narrated by a young girl living with a family of oddballs. Her insight is deep, genuine, and very funny! It's a quick, fun read that is truly wonderful!

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just needed something less reporting day to day events and more draw you in

[Poetreehugger · Rating 1 out of 5]

I laughed a few times at a well-turned phrase, but mostly I am in too angry a mood to put up with this goose-necked randomness.
Dis. Jointed.
Don’t think I’ll keep this book in my collection.

[Bamboozlepig · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit of a quirky read. Some of the vignettes felt a bit draggy and don't expect a cohesive plot. Still, it was rather charming.

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Leila Kheiry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quirky

[Sadie Cooley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love a strange family situation

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Connected short stories. Very well done, interesting.