At First I Hope for Rescue: Stories

by Holley Rubinsky

In the tradition of Alice Munro and Carol Shields, At First I Hope for Rescue features five beautifully told, linked stories about family, heartbreak, and survival

Rooted in the fictional small town of Ruth, British Columbia, but spanning the globe from France to California, these five stories perfectly capture the drama that lurks beneath the surface of everyday life. From a woman who has just discovered a disturbing secret about her best friend's husband, to a troubled teenager struggling to overcome the death of her mother, to a single mother helping a young man realize what's important to him, these are stories about real people, and behavior that is sometimes shocking, sometimes shockingly familiar.

Genres: Fiction, Canada

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Holley Rubinsky, a fiction writer living in the mountains of British Columbia, is the author of four books, most recently her story collection, South of Elfrida.

BC BOOKWORLD chose South of Elfrida for a staff pick. "..[Rubinsky's] the real deal for anyone who enjoys sophisticated storytelling."

Judy LeBlanc wrote in The Coastal Spectator: "In a literary workd where clever verbiage and narrative sleight-of-hand [are] too often celebrated over substance, Rubinsky's voice is wise and straight-up."

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I had gotten to meet Holley Rubinsky before she died a few years ago. I have enjoyed the other two books of hers that I've read and I've met a few people in the Nelson and Kaslo, BC area where she lived that knew her well. This collection of interrelated stories starts off very strong but doesn't maintain the initial level of appeal. The middle stories ("The Other Room" and "Fetish") were, respectively, hard to follow and weirdly disgusting. The final story ("Road's End") is good but not great, though it does bring the stories together around the theme of healing and the role of place in that process. The first two stories ("Necessary Balance" and "Algorithms") are excellent, so I would recommend the book on their basis alone. The link between all the stories is the fictional town of Ruth, British Columbia, which is presumably imagined somewhere in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, about which Rubinsky has written in her other works, and the only compass-setting reference in the final story wherein the narrator references a drive up to Revelstoke is consistent with that supposition.

[Nazareth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn’t at all what I expected. It was a different sort of writing style. But good all the same. Each character is different and has a different connection to Ruth, BC. Which is interesting and neat. But all different accounts of each of their experiences.

[Holley Rubinsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers choice
Nominated for the B.C. Fiction Prize


“Rubinsky’s voice is clear, her eyes and ears are carefully tuned, and she has something fresh and loving to say about the world that we live in daily. Too often, at our peril, we neither see nor hear that world and consequently cannot love it. Rubinsky’s stories are restorative in the best sense of that word, and renewing.” Russell Banks

“At First I Hope for Rescue is a remarkable novel by a huge and genuine talent. Holley Rubinsky has perfect pitch — not just for characters, for the way they think and speak and behave, but for the whole enterprise of telling a story as well as it can be told.” Ian Brown

“This is rocky emotional country. [These linked stories] are oddly beautiful, spellbinding evocations of the subtle psychological currents eddying about the most mundane people...” Quill & Quire

“Affecting, fascinating...These stories [have] the power of ambush...Rubinsky reveals the strangeness of humans and the heart-rending drama of ordinary survival...The overall impression is one of revelation.” The Vancouver Sun

“Books this good are rare...You could sample the life’s work of Alice Munro and Mavis Gallant and then come to this book without disappointment.” The Edmonton Journal

“There are raw moments here, but there is also a wacky sort of pluck to the way the characters talk and stagger on with their lives that feels distinctly Canadian....Impressive.” Maclean’s

[Deanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok. So I probably wouldn't have bought this if it said clearly that it was 5 short stories, rather than "seven distinct characters and the events of their lives collide in these dark but wildly tragi-comic dramas of ordinary life." I love books told from several different characters' perspectives but in this one the events were unrelated and the characters ties were barely there, at best. The characters all have some sort of connection to a small town called "Ruth" but not all stories even take place there.
So... To the book. I enjoyed the first two stories. The first one got me thinking this was going to be a funny/family drama kind of thing. Turned out it was just sad. In the second story I thought the bulimia from the teenager's point of view was well done. The third story was about mental illness and perhaps our lack of understanding and care for people who suffer in such a way. The fourth story was disturbing... Extremely. And by the last story I was just trying to finish the book so it didn't end up on my "did not finish" list.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up for a dollar at BMV on Bloor Street, in the bins outside the store. It's a series of short stories centred on people who either live in, have lived in or are related to people who have lived in the small town of Ruth, BC. (It wasn't clear to me where in BC the town is located - somewhere in the south, but was it Vancouver Island, the mainland, the interior? - but this is probably my own fault for reading too fast). Has a lot of "Canadian Gothic" touches - dark family secrets, mental illness etc.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book of connected short stories was so enjoyable. I learned of this author in an unfortunate way, her obituary, and I will definately be reading as much of her work as I can get my hands on.