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Eyestone: Stories
Set on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, this collection of stories offers living portraits of the people and landscape
1 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1988
11 people want to read
About the author
D.R. MacDonald
7 books12 followersD. R. MacDonald is a Canadian-American writer who publishes novels and short stories.
Born in Boularderie, Nova Scotia and raised in Ohio, he is a professor emeritus of creative writing at Stanford University. He still spends summers at the family homestead in Cape Breton Island, which he purchased in 1971, and his fiction is set in Cape Breton.
His novel Lauchlin of the Bad Heart was a longlisted nominee for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2007.
Born in Boularderie, Nova Scotia and raised in Ohio, he is a professor emeritus of creative writing at Stanford University. He still spends summers at the family homestead in Cape Breton Island, which he purchased in 1971, and his fiction is set in Cape Breton.
His novel Lauchlin of the Bad Heart was a longlisted nominee for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2007.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 27, 2019
—"The path home ran like a dark stream through the old pasture. The grasses parted and closed as though under a sea, languid and waved with shadows."—
Nine short stories primarily set in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, depicting the descendants of strong-willed Scotts, lobstermen, and farmers. These characters reflect on their lives and those of their neighbors, and seem to mourn the passing of a simpler time.
"Poplars" was my favorite of the bunch, though -favorite- feels like the wrong word. Perhaps I should say that "Poplars" was the only story to hold me underwater until I stopped kicking, and I didn't mind in the least. It's a rare story that happily drowns its reader.
I was attracted to the strong sense of place in nearly all of these stories. The author was born in Cape Breton country, and it shows in the descriptions of land and sea and of the people who call this place -Home-.
I picked up a little Alistair MacLeod vibe, and while I prefer MacLeod's rendering of character and place, D. R. MacDonald is a talented writer. I did feel a few of MacDonald's endings lacked gravity, or went a touch sideways, but the stories were all substantive, solid, and I never once felt as if I'd step through the floor. I trusted MacDonald, and this should count for something.
—"He could sense the land as he might run his fingertips over someone he loved. This was a point to fly from, was it not?"—
Nine short stories primarily set in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, depicting the descendants of strong-willed Scotts, lobstermen, and farmers. These characters reflect on their lives and those of their neighbors, and seem to mourn the passing of a simpler time.
"Poplars" was my favorite of the bunch, though -favorite- feels like the wrong word. Perhaps I should say that "Poplars" was the only story to hold me underwater until I stopped kicking, and I didn't mind in the least. It's a rare story that happily drowns its reader.
I was attracted to the strong sense of place in nearly all of these stories. The author was born in Cape Breton country, and it shows in the descriptions of land and sea and of the people who call this place -Home-.
I picked up a little Alistair MacLeod vibe, and while I prefer MacLeod's rendering of character and place, D. R. MacDonald is a talented writer. I did feel a few of MacDonald's endings lacked gravity, or went a touch sideways, but the stories were all substantive, solid, and I never once felt as if I'd step through the floor. I trusted MacDonald, and this should count for something.
—"He could sense the land as he might run his fingertips over someone he loved. This was a point to fly from, was it not?"—
Displaying 1 of 1 review