Dustship Glory: A Novel

by Andreas Schroeder

It is still there.... Just south of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, in a fallow wheatfield stands the the ship Sontianen. It is as real a paradox as ever there was; as real as its builder, Tom Sukanen.

It began the thirties.... In the heart of the Canadian dustbowl, more than a thousand miles from the nearest tidewater, Tom Sukanen is building himself a ship--a great, deep-keeled, ocean-going, steel-sheathed cargo steamer. Not untypically; Sukanen flatly refuses to explain his extraordinary undertaking to anyone.

Genres: Book Club, Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 12, 1987

About the author

As the “resident Scam-meister” on the popular CBC Radio show Basic Black, Andreas Schroeder spent twelve years reporting on ingenious frauds, swindles, and hoaxes that have been committed around the world. Though the radio show ended in 2002, Andreas’s fascination with the subject continued, culminating in the publication of Scams! (2004), stories of some of history’s greatest tricksters.

Aside from having had one of the world’s all-time greatest job titles, Andreas has been an avid reader all his life and a writer for most of it. Born to a German-speaking Mennonite family who emigrated from Poland to Canada in 1951 (when he was five), he lived for 10 years on a farm in B.C.’s Fraser Valley, where he avoided farm chores whenever possible in order to spend his time reading. As a boy he wrote poetry and short stories in both German and English. A move to Vancouver when he was 15 introduced him to his own brand of paradise: libraries (free books!), bookstores on every corner, and a burgeoning population of fellow writers. He has never looked back.

Andreas and his wife, Sharon, lived for many years on a mountaintop in Mission City, near the B.C.–Washington State border, in a round four-story tower they built themselves. Today they live by the ocean on the Sunshine Coast with their daughter, Vanessa. Another daughter, Sabrina, travels the world as a composer. True to the West Coast ethos, Andreas enjoys motorcycling, paragliding, and skiing—when he’s not reading or writing, which he is most of the time.

Andreas Schroeder has published more than 20 books. Scams!, part of Annick Press’s True Stories from the Edge series, is his first book for young adults. Thieves! (2005) features ten enduring stories about the cunning plans and daring capers of thieving criminals.

Reviews

[Natalia Pantigas · Rating 2 out of 5]

lo que me ha costado leerlo por dios, que mal me cae Tom. mi capítulo favorito es el 23, por si a alguien le interesa 🪲

[Annabel Townsend · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excuse the pun, but this is a little dry in places! Otherwise, it's a fascinating tale: extremely odd, and utterly tragic.

[Scribd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enormous boats are really a perfect metaphor for both humanity’s boundless ingenuity and utter folly. It’s no wonder they occupy a special place in our mythologies and imaginations. For as long as we’ve been around, we’ve been strapping together whatever materials we can find and hurtling the result into the ocean. It’s a miracle it ever works, and its miraculousness increases along with the vessel’s size.

And then there are the ones that don’t work — the Titanics, the Fitzcarraldos. Add to that list the subject of Dustship Glory, the bizarre yet true story of a Canadian man’s wild scheme to build a giant ship — an honest-to-God deepwater freighter — in the middle of a fallow Saskatchewan field. Andreas Schroeder tells his story with remarkable grace and restraint, focusing not just on the boat’s eccentric creator but on his work’s impact in a remote community in the midst of the dustbowl.

[Sheila · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting book about a man who decided to build a ship in the southwestern part of Saskatchewan during the 1930's - 40's. He became obsessed with the idea and continued to work on it twelve months of the year. The neighbors made fun of him and grew frustrated with his unrelenting harassment to help him move the monstrous structure to the closest river. Tom Sukanen immigrated from Finland but he seemed to be brilliant even though he was clearly eccentric. The book is a novel based on a true story. Some chapters appear to be taped conversations of individuals who knew him. I found sections of these chapters clearly annoying as the author chose not to edit out repeated sayings i.e. "Oh yes" which appeared to be part of the actual interview. In spite of this annoyance, I did want to find out what happened to the man so I continued reading it to the end.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Sad tale of a man who's obsession lead him to build a ship in the dust bowl.