The Age of Longing

by Richard B. Wright

ASIN: 0006392067

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Hockey

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Richard B. Wright was a Canadian novelist.

Born in Midland, Ontario, Wright attended Trent University, from which he graduated in 1970. He was the author of 13 published novels and two children's books. Many of his older novels were republished after his novel Clara Callan won three of Canada's major literary awards in 2001: the Giller Prize; the Trillium Book Award; and the Governor General's Award.

Reviews

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nominated for the Canadian Scotiabank Giller Prize and Governor-General's award in 1995, the late author Richard B. Wright's, The Age of Longing is a sweet little gem of a novel set in small town northern Ontario.
The narrator, Howard Wheeler, has returned to his hometown to bury his mother and settle her affairs. He starts digging up bones and reminisces about his mother and father, how very different from each other they were. His father, a young reckless hockey player struggling to make the big league 1937 Montreal Maroons, and his mother, a no-nonsense, matter of fact school teacher who thinks she can make something of him. It was a marriage that never made sense and much of the short novel is the narrators examination of their failed early marriage. It's purely a character driven work, a snapshot of time and place, short on plot, highly poignant.
3.75 stars.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful, comfy, easy read,..perfect for curling up in a garden chair on a warm, sunny day, and we've had so many of these lately way up here in northwestern Ontario. But I digress... When Howard's mother dies, he returns to the town of his birth to clear up her estate and sell the family home, and reminisces about the lives of his parents as young people...meeting, falling in love, getting married, and then the eventual disintegration of their marriage... Poignant, touching, memorable. This is the only second Richard Wright I've read, but I already know that I love Richard Wright stories. :-)

QUOTE: “No one has touched her since she was ten years old and a boy named Elliot Summers kissed her on the cheek at a birthday party for a neighbour’s child. But happiness for Grace Stewart does not arrive without the presence of its evil stepsisters, uncertainty and doubt. They stand by the doorway to cast their shadows over any notion that happiness in this life is unconditional and gratis. You have to pay for everything. This she knows in her heart’s blood.” [p. 50-51]

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is there something you can call the "typical Canadian novel"? This book feels like it's close to claiming that title: a sad, poignant little story of disappointed expectations, melancholy observations, and small town life counterpointed against the vices of the big city. It should feel very cliched and mannered, based on that description, but Richard Wright's writing style makes it all flow smoothly; a slightly tragic parable about the non-embrace of life and its risky opportunities. A very engaging, meditative read.

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this story a middle aged man returns to his childhood home to deal with his mother's estate. In the process of doing so his mind wanders over what he knows about his parents and their hopes, dreams and their reality. What he doesn't know, he researches at the library and by visiting an elderly teammate of his father's. The rest he fills in with his imagination.
His parents were completely ill suited for each other, and his father left after 10 years of marriage. He only saw his father one time after that. Raised by his mother, he grew up to be very like her in his mannerisms and outlook on life.
Beautifully written, with a perfect title!

[Joan Barton · Rating 5 out of 5]

a reread 2005 and 2012

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a fan of Richard B. Wright. I've read many, if not all of his novels. He always has excellent character development. He is a seasoned writer. This book lost one star due to the fact that the story was in part about the game of hockey. Even though I've lived in Canada far longer than the USA, I have not become a hockey fan and thus the dislike for anything hockey!

But this story was much more than hockey. Howard Wheeler returns to his family home after the death of his mother to settle the estate. He revisits his past and his parents marriage and the disintegration of that marriage. In the 50's, in small town Ontario, his mother was a proper and sometimes perceived as prudish school teacher. She met young Ross "Buddy" Wheeler at the community baseball games and decided they should marry and live in the house she recently bought. Buddy was a talented hockey player and drafted into the minor leagues. His young wife didn't give a flit about hockey and basically ignored the game, not even to listen to the broadcasts on the radio. Buddy then had the opportunity to play with the NHL, and she again didn't give him the time of day on this prestigious moment in his life.

I like the jacket review of this novel that says......."a brilliant gathering together of the many threads of emotional inheritance that make up a life."

[Mark Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the novel. Wright can write (sorry) and this is a literate read with a very languid pace. It is extremely evocative of the time, he paints a picture of small-town Ontario in the 30s that seemed to give a real picture of what it was like living in it.

The quiet pain that a life can be is reflected in his characters and, like the realism in the setting, they seem real and rooted in place and time. As a hockey fan I found the use of the game to be interesting but it's not necessary to care much about hockey and how it was conducted professionally at the time to enjoy this novel. Hockey provides a backdrop to the lead character's struggle understanding his father. Again, he seems to have captured authenticity in his protrayal of the game and how it was played all the way back then.

Providing you're not looking for big moments and high drama, it's a refreshing read.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

A marvellous and moving short novel. Themes of self discovery, the roots of happiness self reliance are explored as the narrator, Howard Wheeler returns to his northern Ontario birthplace to sell his recently deceased mothers home. His parents were estranged for over 20 years and only recently and briefly did Howard reconnect with his father, a former minor league baseball and hockey player whose life was defined by a brief fling with the Montreal Maroons in the mid 30’s but whose life spiralled downwards one his playing days were done.
A beautifully descriptive book. The characters fully developed, you could easily start a conversation with any of them. The whole thing rings very true.
I had previously read ‘October’ by Mr Wright and also joyed it very much for many of the same reasons.
Highly recommended.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a fan of Montreal hockey and Richard B. Wright writing, this novel was a natural fit for me. I had just come off of a disappointing Wright novel, and this was a great bounce-back piece of literature. The book is well researched. The prose is lively and crisp, while the characters are vivid and well sculpted as archetypes. The ending of the novel was a little disappointing. Maybe anti-climactic is a better word. The story was tied up with string, but something less ruddy and more eventful would have made the conclusion more rewarding. If you grew up in Ontario in the 1940s, 50s or 60s, the behaviour and mindset of the characters will seem familiar to you, giving you the scent of times gone by. Nostalgia and family dynamics are the two engines that drive this novel.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard B. Wright is a master at character development in his nine novels, and The Age of Longing is no exception. Howard Wheeler returns to his mother's home following her death to sell her house and its contents. As memories of his childhood unfold, his parents emerge for the reader as ordinary, flawed human beings. The magic of Richard B. Wright's writing is not the plots, but the way in which he depicts his characters leading unexceptional lives with insight and compassion. I think that he is one of Canada's finest authors.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a sucker for novels set in small town Ontario. I am a sucker for the writing of Richard B. Wright. This is a fine read. Interesting characters, well observed. Nice insights into the dynamics of small town hockey careers; where images in (some) poems might really come from; the used car trade before, during and after WWII; and what life must have been like for a smart, basically plain, daughter of the foundry owner who becomes a school teacher.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read that kept me entertained from beginning to end. The saga of the serious woman and the fun but smoke hockey player settles around their elder son cleaning and leaving their home is captivating in the characters and story. Reminding me of the great read by Jeff Lemire, the Essex County Trilogy, this is a pure slice of Canadiana from small town life to a realistic look at life.

[Stephen Dube · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clara Callan was better. The story and writing is excellent but he left too much uncovered that I was waiting for him to get to. Finished way too abruptly. But good enough that I'll continue to check out more of his books.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really had higher hopes for this after Clara Callan and given the summary.

[Jennifer Davy]

sad story always hoping for something good to happen. It does how ever feel like you know the characters, well done.