Lost Geography

by Charlotte Bacon

A heart-breaking novel by a prize-winning young writer

In a debut novel that is a triumph of wit and feeling, Charlotte Bacon explores the transitions that sixty years visit upon the members of an unforgettable family--a Saskatchewan woman and her Scottish husband; their plucky daughter, who moves to Toronto; and her remarkable daughter, who lives in France with her Turkish-English husband. Lost Geography takes the complexity of migration as its central Why do landscape, work, and family lock some people in place and release others? In settings both rural and urban, these stalwart, tragically dispersed yet resilient people respond not only to new environments and experiences but to the eruption of sudden loss and change.
As the settings and characters shift in this wise, resonant book, readers are invited to see how habits of survival translate from one generation to another. How are we like our forebears? How does circumstance make us alter what our heritage has told us is important? With unfailing subtlety and elegance, Lost Geography teaches us, in a luminous sequence of intense personal dramas, that what keeps us alive isn't so much our ability to understand the details of our past as having the luck and courage to survive the assaults of both the present and history.

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Literary Fiction, Novels

Hardcover

First published April 1, 2000

About the author

I first started writing when I was a counselor in a halfway house after college and I had a colleague who always wrote, "Things just fine," in the log we used to track the states of mind of our clients. Given that they were all chronically mentally ill, 'things just fine' was a bit misleading. I started trying to use the small space we had to capture what I saw and discovered the power of clear description. I've always balanced writing with other pursuits: traveling, teaching, and now, being a mother to three kids. Those activities aren't separate for me; everything I engage in influences everything else. Words are the place where I filter what I see and think, the place I have to make things stick.

Reviews

[Sue Degoey · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first started this book, I was so captivated. Courtship, happiness…it was beautiful. It held my attention through about three quarters of the book…At that point, it felt kind of disorganized. I almost felt the author saying, “ Well, here I am, and how do I wrap this up in a memorable way?” No regrets, but that last bit was tough, and I still don’t totally get.

[Jess Van Dyne-Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gorgeously written book detailing three generations of a family hard-scrabbling it through life in Western Canada.

The writing in this was superb. The author's sentences were really nicely done and zinged with extra bits of information that made the depth of the book shift and change.

I was a little leery of the ending but 9/10ths of the book? GORGEOUS.

A pretty quick read as well, although I think I'll be thinking of parts of this for a long time....

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel started out strong, but the introduction of Osman and his family in the middle of the book detracts from the original storyline. I tried, but just couldn't reingage with the plot or characters.

[Emilyrs · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started strong, and I liked the individual sections, but by the end, I felt like all connection to the beginning was lost. Beautifully written, however.

[Jonna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like one of Osman's rugs, this novel is full of crossing strands of beautiful colors, creating a wonderful whole. Sad & lovely, full of touching moments.

[Sally Edsall · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first this book reminded me of Carol Shields' "The Stone Diaries". The first section, the story of Davis and Margaret was written in a spare, even cold fashion. I never got a real feeling for their relationship. To me, it was detached and not terribly involving.

The book gained emotional momentum as it continued, to the point where the last section was like a full-blown "women's weepie", the sort of book that has gold-embossed covers and is a blockbuster family saga.

I like this book, but wouldn't place it in my canon of 'great books' because I don't think it had anything particularly profound or even original to say. Its examination of grief in the final section, and the relationship between parent and children is territory familiar to readers of Anita Shreve's 'The Pilot's Wife'. Why does everyone die so young? This is one of those books where the 'tragedies' are signalled right from the beginning, and where if happiness and contentment is a character's lot, then it will be snatched away very soon via death.

I also do not think that the cover blurb asserting it has so much to say about migration is true. Migration in this book is wholly linked with a personal need to place distance between oneself as an emerging adult and one's parents, or the milieu of one's parent/s. That is but one motivation for migration, and certainly debatable whether it is a majority motivation. Economic and political circumstances are never a factor, whereas I would suggest they are in 'real life'.

This book is unchallenging and undemanding, a 'good read' for a quiet weekend or a plane journey (unless you are prone to tears when characters die and don't want to cry in public!).

[Trish G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lost Geography is a rich & varied portrait of 60 years of the Campbell family. It begins with Scottish migrant Davis Campbell arriving in Saskatchewan in Canada. Davis marries a local girl & the tapestry of their life is woven with children & work until tragedy befalls them. Hilda, their only daughter discovers that life can unravel in a matter of days. Through Hilda, Bacon explores the migrant in us all to escape an ordinary life & seek a life & geography of her own making. Despite geographic changes Hilda is imbued with work ethics & a quiet stoicism that was inherent to both her parents. History repeats itself when Hilda’s daughter moves to France & meets Osman another migrant of English & Turkish parentage. Again, fate unravels the charmed love & life they live. Osman & the children Sophie & Sasha escape Paris & the sadness of their mothers early demise. They move to New York but despite the new beginnings their life is still evolving. Carrying on & holding on to their memories of their past & their geographical roots is all that keeps them together.
The rich use of language, the powerful imagery & sheer rhythm & beauty of words evokes clear & delightful story telling.

[Kirsten Fleetwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's an almost dreamlike quality to the writing in this beautiful novel. The story of four women: Margaret, her daughter Hilda, her daughter Danielle, and her daughter Sophie, over the course of the mid 20th century. It's not action packed, some might find it unbearably action free, but the gorgeous writing and the slightly unusual characters keep you reading.
My main complaint is the extensive and frankly unnecessary parable of the desert king towards the end of the book, which really knocked the whole thing off kilter for me. Otherwise I liked this obscure little book and I have a feeling it might stay with me for a while.

[Amelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book about a family over three generations and their way from Canada over France to the US and the fusion with a family with a Turkish/English background was interesting, even nothing in this story was groundbreaking new. And sometimes the writing seemed quite pieced together. But despite all of that, there was something in the quietness of this story and the description of normal lifes with their ups and downs and the hard impacts life usually confronts you with, that let me go on and on with the story up to the end.
Sometimes you just don't need anything more than that from a book.

#ReadingWomenChallenge2019
#multigenerational family saga

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though this book was beautifully written, with beautiful and unusual imagery, I found it not only hard to follow, but hard to engage with the characters. There are multiple generations here, and jumping from one generation to the next, as they migrate across the world, was frustrating and disjointed. The characters I liked and found intriguing, like Hilda, were soon abandoned for the next generation. For such a short book, these jumps from one generation to the next were ultimately unfulfilling.

[Jamie Polivka · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of like a movie that goes too fast, you don’t connect with, but you keep watching to find out the end. The beginning was good, but it kind of got choppier from there. Not enough detail and then too much. Gifted writing.

[freyamorgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe it was just the time I read this that made it more meaningful - as I move away - it’s a reminder that family ties are strong even across time and space, and that you carry your family with you wherever you are but you can also create new connections ~

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the writing and the flow of this book, the dreamlike passage of years, one generation leading into the next. But something about the ending didn’t feel right. Maybe it just came too soon.

[Hester · Rating 1 out of 5]

not for me . DNF at page 100 . Stared well but the long time line prevents the intimate character development i craved.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the timeline but what let me down was the last 5 pages. It really sucked and didn’t leave me ‘hanging for more’ but more like let me down. No closure really.

[Pippa Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written, with original and poignant descriptions so perfect, I found myself reading them twice. Memorable characters who navigate their way through changes of time and place and circumstances, with strength and fortitude.

[Tamara J. Collins]

One of my favorite novels of all time!


A well crafted family saga which traces some 60 years in the life of a family with its roots in Rural Saskatchewan.

Margaret Evans, a young nurse, and Davis Campbell, a Scottish laborer who meet and fall in love when Davis becomes Margaret's patient. Ah yes, the typical love story you think. No, this story is anything but typical. The couple settles into a grueling impoverished life as farmers and have three children: Hilda, Jem and Stuart.

Hilda, who must cope with devastating grief from loss of her parents, bankruptcy and an unknown future, moves to Toronto to start a new life. Here she copes with unwanted pregnancy, unexpected love and premature widowhood all in the space of a few years. Her inherent toughness pulls her through.

Not surprisingly, Hilda's daughter Danielle experiences the same itch to move on after high school. When Hilda arranges a job for her at an auction house in Paris, the focus of the novel moves with her to a new, strange and sophisticated environment.

[Heather McLeod · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love pioneer stories and multi-generational family stories, and really enjoyed this novel. It's well-written and interesting, poetic without being pretentious or two abstract.

Fun to read an immigrant story in which the family starts in Saskatchewan and then leaves Canada, rather than ending up here!

A Canadian version of A Suitable Boy ...

Final comment: I often find modern literature, especially Canadian literature, unnecessarily dark and depressing, but I didn't find this book to be so. An enjoyable read.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

lovely and beautiful. also sad, which made it even more beautiful. the way she took you in to the lives of so many people, over so many generations, cultures and countries, and so easily wove all their stories together like a gorgeous turkish carpet.... it was truly impressive. the story itself wasn't so remarkable, but the way she was able to captivate you and take you inside the heads of all those characters... such a gift.

[Karry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again I wish we could give stars in smaller allotments 3.5 would be more like it for this book. The writing is beautiful, sparse and plain, much reminding me of Kent Haruf. The book follow families across time and geographic locations. The reader is drawn throw the lives of folks from midwestern US to Paris. It is a book that makes you feel as if nothing is happening and everything is happening. It's a lovely ramble.

[Mary Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the idea of this book - following a family through three generations. The story was interesting, but felt a little contrived to me to have such major catastrophies hit each generation. However, for the most part, it was an interesting read and I learned something about each generation's era and the geographical area where the family members were living.

[Malonie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this one up because it starts in Saskatchewan which is where I am from. I loved the writing when the story was in Saskatchewan, the people and the way they spoke (and didn't) was so right on. I didn't like this story as much when it moved to the east and then to Europe.
It is a quiet story about how life happens and our choices determine whether we have a happy story or not.

[Charmaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book started off great. I was captured with the writing and the story. It has three sections. In the middle of the second section I felt the author was getting lost in her own geography. By the end of the book, I was sure of it.... She had a good idea, and shared some good insights, but I was disappointed in the over-all story.

[Miriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, but bumped up because the writing is really strong. Bacon observes her characters beautifully. All kinds of lovely moments. The structure didn't work for me. It needed more than the initial conceit to move it forward (in my opinion). A shame really because the idea of "lost geography" is an intriguing one.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I attended a great reading for this debut novel and felt compelled to buy the book due to the vivid imagery and use of words. A good reading is rather rare, not all good authors are also good performers. This is a solid novel.

[Bex]

One of things I loved about this book was how it followed a family trough individual members over generations and across the world. All those important things people write about identity, family, palce, loss and love. well written too.

[KitCat · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite thing about this book is the idea "What do children really know about their parents?" It brings to light how much each member of family is living in their world with joys and pain that are sometimes are shared but are often not.

[Ernest · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a carefully written book that was sometimes frustratingly slow and other times yet rich in its depth. I do not think that one can easily categorise this book, nor do I think it will appeal to a wide audience.

[MJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of those “family” novels, not very good. Davis Campbell from Scotland, left his fishing family for the prairie of Canada. It follows Campbell and several descendants…I never cared much about anyone, or anything that happened.

[Jennifer]

Though it's set on the Canadian plains, its subject is people of the plains, nonetheless, so I felt too familiar with the themes and people, being from the upper Midwest.