The Life Of Hope

by Paul Quarrington

Paul rolls into Hope—Population 1001—late at nigh on his thirtieth birthday, on the lam from his wife and a surprise party he has known about for weeks He is trying to escape the Big city and get some serious work done on his second novel, but finds the diversions of Hope no less seductive than those he has fled.

One of those diversions is the two-hundred-year-old legendary fish, Ol' Mossback.  Paul could hardly pass up the chance to land such a fish.  He puts aside his work-in-progress in an attempt to discover the mysteries of Hope, with all its quirky characters, and to finally be able to answer the question, "talked with Ol' Mossback lately?"

Genres: Fiction, Canada

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Paul Quarrington was a novelist and musician, an award-winning screenwriter, filmmaker, and an acclaimed non-fiction writer. His last novel The Ravine was published in March 2008. His previous novel Galveston was nominated for the Giller; Whale Music won the Governor General’s Award for Fiction. Quarrington won the Stephen Leacock Medal for King Leary, a title that also won the 2008 Canada Reads competition. As a musician, he played in the band PorkBelly Futures; their self-titled second CD was released in April 2008; the first CD Way Past Midnight was extremely well received. His screenplays and story editing have won many awards, most recently the CFPTA Indie Award for Comedy for the series Moose TV, and he was in high demand as a story editor for feature films and television. Paul ’s filmmaking talents as writer / director were evident in his BookShorts short film, Pavane, which he adapted from The Ravine and was featured in the Moving Stories Film Festival September - November 2008. His non-fiction writing included books on some of his favourite pastimes such as fishing, hockey and music. He regularly contributed book reviews, travel columns and journalism to Canada’s national newspapers and magazines. Paul lived and worked in Toronto, where he taught writing at Humber College and University of Toronto, and sat on the Board of Directors for the Fringe Theatre Festival. Quarrington was also an (extremely) amateur magician and a would-be mariner.

Paul was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer in May of 2009. He died at home, with his family.

Reviews

[Pat Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Problematic would have to be part of the description, it is very much a product of its time and accepts the mistreatment of women and girls as normal.

Very funny at times, odd throughout, I did enjoy reading it. Don't let the fact you are an asshole get in the way of doing your best is probably a solid message.

[Benjamin Kahn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this awhile ago so I don't know how far I was into it before I gave up on it, but I do remember the collection of quirky characters was no longer appealing to me.

[Zguba Salemenska · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing but very uneven.

[BookShorts MovingStories.TV · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting how and author writes the same novel more than one time in their career - its ends up being the same, and different, at the same time. This vis a vis The Ravine (2008) and Life of Hope (1985). The earlier book is both lighter, and carries an unambigous happy ending. The later book, deeper perhaps in its explorations of human-ness, and certainly less definitive, as would be expected from an author with 20+ more years of living the same story - fictionally and actually.

[Liz]

I LOVED Whalemusic. So was totally shocked to realise I do not love this one. Am determined to finish it... Just, not right now.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all time favourites, but I gotta say, it takes some bizarre turns. Not for people who favour the non-goofy storyline.