Ballistics

by D.W. Wilson

It is summer and the Canadian Rockies are on fire. As the forests blaze, Alan West heads into their shadows, returning from university to his grandfather's home in the remote Kootenay Valley, where the man who raised him has suffered a heart attack. Confronting his own mortality, the tough and taciturn Cecil West has a dying request for his grandson: track down the father Alan has never known so that the old man can make peace with him.

And so Alan begins his search for the elusive Jack West, a man who skipped town before his son could walk and of whom his grandfather has always refused to speak. His quest will lead him to Archer, an old American soldier who decades ago went AWOL across the border into Canada. Archer has been carrying a heavy burden for many years, and through him Alan learns the stories of two broken families who came together, got too close, and then fell apart in tragic ways.

Ballistics is a remarkable first novel, about family ties and the wounds that can linger for generations when those relationships are betrayed.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Adult, Novels, Canada

400 pages, Hardcover

First published May 7, 2013

About the author

I am the author of two books, Ballistics and Once You Break a Knuckle, as well as a host of other separately published stories and essays, some of which have won prizes like BBC Short Story Award, the CBC Canada Writes Story Prize, and the Manchester Fiction Prize. That's the bones of my bio, same one you'll find on other websites or in the sleeves of my two books.

I love books but I also love nerd stuff. I'm happy to dump dozens of hours into video game in a single sitting and I get unacceptably excited waiting for the latest superhero flick to start. I once put 600 hours into building a fibreglass Iron Man suit for my wife for Halloween (it had light-up eyes) which she danced to the end of love late into the night. I think of this as an outlet for unspent or untapped creative energy; I spend so much time at a desk, in front of a screen, that it is sometimes nice to work with my hands, even if I'm working on soldering an LED into a replica arc reactor.

I grew up in the Kootenays and some part of the small town boy remains. I can chop lumber if under duress. I wish I owned a truck.

Reviews

[Philippe Malzieu · Rating 2 out of 5]

I keep on exploring the North-American literature. The novel is well written, but however I show reserve on it. There is a family history hidden, the research for the father with an inevitably initiatory travel, the painful hidden secrecies which re-appear. I have the impression to have already read it. That feel literary workshop.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read Wilson's story collection 'Once You Break A Knuckle' last year, it's fair to say 'Ballistics' was one of my most eagerly anticipated titles of 2013. So it's with some disappointment that I'm only giving it three stars. After finishing his first book I wanted to go back to Invermere and the Kootenay Valley for more and that is certainly what 'Ballistics' delivers - again it's very masculine, all about sons and fathers (and grandfathers), who wear ball caps and never a "collared shirt", shoot guns and drive trucks and know their way around a toolbox, and again it has a sentimental side to it too (these men love their dogs). Wilson's world (and his writing) is quite stylized, but with 'Ballistics' I felt like he'd gone too far - where the short stories still felt real, this feels almost like a parody, or certainly it is parody-able. And despite some great passages, Alan West never comes to life in the way Will Crease did in 'Once You Break a Knuckle' (Crease gets a brief mention in 'Ballistics' as a childhood friend of Alan). The other problem I had with 'Ballistics' is that it is told in two voices (Alan, and his grandfather Archer) and yet they sound too similar, just as Archer sounds almost identical to Alan's other grandfather, Cecil. And Alan never comes across as being in his late twenties - a few times he gets called 'kid' and he does sometimes read as a teenager rather than an adult.
I did like the book though - there's a good story at the heart of it - and I'd still pick up whatever else Wilson writes

[♥ Sandi ❣ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not get into this book - probably not the books fault, but mine. One thing I did not enjoy about this book was the lack of quotation marks. I find it difficult to read when they are missing. To para phrase a friend - you have to re-read sections - you are not always sure if what you read was a comment, a thought or descriptive narrative. Books without proper puncuation have never appealed to me.

[Beth (bibliobeth) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is another of the debut Waterstones Eleven authors predicted for great things this year, please see my previous post HERE. The premise definitely sounded interesting, a man is searching for the father he has never known on the dying request of his grandfather who raised him from a baby. For some reason not known to the reader yet, Alan’s grandfather Cecil West and father Jack, have not spoken or seen each other for many years. Cecil hopes that by reaching out to his son at the end of his life he will dissolve the feud between them, and also allow his grandson to get to know his previously absent father. As expected however, there are many underlying and complicated issues present, not only between Cecil and his son, but tensions that have been festering for a while, involving an ex-soldier called Archer and his daughter Linnea, who becomes an integral part of the plot for all the men concerned.

Unfortunately, I’m finding it quite difficult to formulate my opinions on this novel. On the one hand, it is an excellent piece of writing, with a storyline that is both clever enough to hook you in, and intriguing enough to keep you reading. If I were perfectly honest though, I’d probably come to the conclusion that despite these factors, the book wasn’t quite my sort of thing. I thought it was interesting in the way that the author explored the different sort of relationships i.e. father to son, husband to wife, and between good friends, and what happens in each of this cases if the relationship goes sour, and feel the author accomplished this tremendously. The whole style of writing in general though was incredibly “blokey,” (sorry to sound sexist, but that’s how it made me feel!), and just wasn’t for me personally. I like to think that I read quite a wide range of material, and am neither prudish nor squeamish, but the balance of gun/car/fight talk tended to slant into overkill, and didn’t appeal to me. But to end on a positive note, the talent of the writing should not be under-estimated, and if you enjoy a story which analyses the fragility of human relationships this is definitely the book for you.

Please see my full review at http://www.bibliobeth.wordpress.com

[John Bartlett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was relieved when I'd finished this story. Not that the writing was inferior -quite the opposite in fact.

It was more that I grew tired of the characters (apart from the part-time narrator Alan).

They made such a mess of their lives; they fought with each other (literally as well as emotionally), shot each other, burned each others homes down.

This is a savage story about regret and how failing to forgive or understand goes down the ages. Families crucify each other.
I'd had enough of that.

I did struggle at times too to locate myself in the story. Back and forth it went with alternating narrators and like a time traveler, inserting the story in different times and places. Often it was a struggle to keep up.

The style though is beautifully addictive; it lingers on sensual details but sometimes this feels like walking through treacle.
It's slow and takes your energy away.
Often I wanted the arc of the story to move more quickly, carry me along with more excitement rather than immerse me in turgid personal recriminations and self-absorption.

But I guess in the end I could only admire the style of writing and congratulate myself that I'd waded through the detail and emerged at the end, unscathed - well almost.

[Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

kick ass canadian novel, set in kooteney area, so big big mountains, cold cold winters, wide wide valleys. and all those who exploit taht for a living. lots of dying towns, busted up retired loggers, and ennui. a bit of a muddle plot wise, or character wise, with quite a bit of illicit sex, and the ankle biters thereof, following through the generations.
i wonder.....did any usa military decamp to canada during iraq afghanistan wars? guess not, they are all volunteers?
they did during vietnam wars and usa even sent "brailers" to hunt them down and try to lure them back, why? i don't know.
big forest fire, mean drunks, itchy trigger fingers, hot legs, a fucked-up-family saga of the great green north.

[Snoakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I enjoyed this novel, I couldn't honestly say I loved it, but I'm not sure why. Maybe it was just a bit too macho for me - too full of taciturn old men unable to communicate except through fists or a gun, only willing to show affection in the time honoured hard man way of taking the piss. Not that these characters weren't well drawn - they were, but they didn't seem to develop between the two time frames in which the book was set - in the now they were every bit as stubborn and short sighted as they were in the past. You suspect these old guys could hold a grudge for millennia.
All in all, not a bad read by any means, but just not destined to be my favorite thing.

[Jo Swingler · Rating 2 out of 5]

DW Wilson has definitely got a very distinctive voice and uses language creatively; I loved the way he captured masculinity. However, I felt that the voices of his two main characters were too similar and the story itself trailed off halfway through. I almost gave up on this one and actually ended up skim-reading the last part just to find out what happened. I felt it could have done with more careful editing. I'll have a look out for his short story collection now because I feel his style might work much better in a more concise form.

[LordOfTheReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

On a whole, the typical bad press given in other reviews is a result of preference on pace and style. The book moves slower than what most people are used to, and despite having distinctive voices for the two main characters, people are still confused.

The only issue here is the abrupt ending.

Still a 5/5

For the full review follow the link here:
http://www.thenovelreviewer.com/theno...

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this lonely sad looking book in a swap-book street library near the beach. I had low expectations and read a few reviews that were not complimentary.

I really enjoyed this sad story. It carries many themes but the strongest for me is the inability of men to talk, express feelings, revise assumptions and shake off ill-conceived regret. Life long regret in this case. There is much more. The culture that families adopt of lying and leaving things unsaid, passing that through generations. Living in remote country. The anger of young males etc.

The writer has handled this story - especially the fractured father-son relationship - with sensitivity and care, like he knows how that develops and easily festers until it lasts too long to fix. He captures that core theme so very well. It is told in layers over time and lines of plot to build suspense until the stubborn basis of life-long hate is revealed.

I read quite a few reviews that harshly judge the overly complex way it was told; the lack of punctuation marks (really?) and the use of two narrators. Each very well used devices for me. I could not leave this story for long and found it an intense absorbing read over a few hours. Strong recommendation.

[Jessica McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can I honestly say about this book? It was great... I loved it... The lack of quotation marks is something my English Studies brain is still working furiously to understand, but maybe I'll just have to accept that... The characters were incredibly complex and interesting, and the way Wilson unraveled the story through both Alan and Archer's perspectives was illuminating, to say the least. It was also a freaking tragic book and it made me feel empty and dead inside... in a good way because it was still a good book... I was also left with so many unanswered questions at the end, but perhaps that's the point anyway, and I know how much authors love writing unsatisfactory endings because they think it'll be dramatic. It was dramatic. Anyway, I loved this book, but it got 4 stars instead of 5 because it just made me feel unhappy with humanity. It was 380 pages worth of existential crises.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to enjoy this novel but too many elements jarred. The storyline felt contrived and the characters were stereotypes. They were all quite selfish, self centred and seemed to lack any real empathy for anyone else. I couldn't even feel a grudging admiration for any of their actions or decisions.
The most jarring element was Alan not knowing Archer was his other grandfather. Rural areas in Canada must be very different to rural areas in Australia because a detail like that would not have remained a secret from Alan. Something like that would have been a source of town gossip which in turn would have ended up as schoolyard gossip so as an adult he would have been well aware of their relationship. The novel started well, I felt the ending was apt and some of the writing was quite beautiful but most of it left me cold.

[Terri Stokes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very moving novel about findings ones true history and self. Who are we really when we don't know our own parents and who are our parents when they leave you at such a young age. So when Alan goes in search for his father for his grandfather, he is taking on a search that will bring him more than just his father's attention on him once more, he s going in search of the truth and the history of his family's past. A discovery of truths and hardships, of things that maybe others can't understand fully and of moments that will change everything and nothing at all too.

Ballistics is that type of novel that stays with you for a while, not for its poetic sense of style but for the world that D. W. Wilson has created in the mountains of the rockies.

[Christina Rochester · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t really enjoy Ballistics. I think it’s personal taste but if I’m honest I really struggle with books that don’t have quotation marks. It makes it so much harder to differentiate between speech and descriptive text.

Overall I was more interested in Archer’s backstory than anything else. But I wasn’t interested enough to be gripped and I’m disappointed that I’ve spent £7.50 on this.

[Jess Hopwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully written book, although i would have like a better ending.

[Sandra Bjarnason · Rating 3 out of 5]

7

[Sid Nuncius · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was an excellent book. It's not perfect, but it has real depth, a powerful narrative drive, distinctive and evocative prose and has a lot of very insightful things to say, particularly about men and boys. Set in small-town and rural Western Canada, the story concerns Alan, a young man who was brought up there by his grandfather who has a heart attack and sends Alan on a quest to find his father. Told in two narrative voices, we hear the present-day story from Alan intercut with the story of how Alan's parents came to meet and the fallings out and feuds which led to the estrangements which drive the plot, narrated by Archer, whose place in it all becomes clear as the book progresses.

D.W. Wilson writes very evocative, quite poetic prose and generates an excellent sense of place, especially as a colossal forest fire begins to take control of events. There is fairly constant tension between characters which sometimes spills over into violence and keeps the book exciting. What makes this book special for me, though, is the characterisation and especially Wilson's deep understanding of the minds of tough, seemingly self-sufficient men and the way they relate to (and fail to relate to) one another and to women. There are scenes of great tenderness and of crackling tension, and I was gripped pretty well all the way through.

I have seen the words macho and even super-macho used to describe this book, but this is no Hemingway-like celebration of macho manhood. It is a tragic, regretful, almost compassionate portrait of how such men can damage their own and others' lives and how festering enmity can eventually lead to isolation, loneliness and destruction. I found it remarkably insightful and honest, and often very, very sad.

The book isn't perfect. It gets a bit rambling at times and could do with a little cutting in places, I thought, and it's not always easy to tell whose voice we're hearing which can be a distraction when the narration switches, but I still thought it worthy of five stars. Something this well-written and this insightful doesn't come along often, and I would recommend this very warmly to anyone looking for a thoughtful and haunting novel.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

ballistics has two narrators. One is Archer, a soldier on the run from the military at the time of the Vietnam War. He’s done one tour and doesn’t want to go back for a second. With his teenage daughter, Linnea , he heads into Canada, where he meets Cecil West and his teenage son, Jack. Cecil is a widower, now engaged to Nora; Archer has split up from his wife. Over a period of time, Jack and Linnea get together and a baby, Alan West, is the result. But the two young parents then go their own ways, leaving Alan to be brought up by his grandfather, Cecil. Archer and Nora betray Cecil, and also leave town.

Alan is the present day narrator, some thirty years on. Cecil has had a heart attack and sends his grandson off to find Jack, perhaps for a reconciliation. As a result the other characters come into Alan’s life, mostly for the first time. Each member of the family is in fact only a phone call away; they may not live in the same town, but they’re all within reach, and only stubbornness and unforgiveness have held them apart for all of Alan’s life.

The characters, who are laconic enough at the beginning – the less said the better seems to be the general motto – become almost inarticulate by the end. The author keeps information at bay increasingly by this device, so that you want to bang some of the characters’ heads together, or tell the author to give us a break and let someone say something of use.

At 384 pages, the story is stretched out almost to breaking point. Wilson’s strength as a writer is in description: the world these rough and ready people inhabit is vividly brought to life in precise and apt detail, with words perfectly chosen. The characters themselves are certainly alive, but seem to exist in a kind of sludge of their own making that forces them to move very slowly. Perhaps it’s a world I’m not familiar enough with, and as a result don’t have an empathy for. If you’re prepared to go at the writer’s pace, there are plenty of good things here.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in the semi-wilds of British Columbia, "Ballistics" tells of two families, both broken, who befriend each other for a time and then are torn apart by betrayal. After a close brush with death a la heart attack, Cecil West sends his grandson Alan on a mission to find his erstwhile father. Wildfires rage throughout the story and seem to be a metaphor for the turmoil the characters feel (Archer especially comes to mind).

Pros: Wilson writes some dang good prose, almost poetic in nature at times. He has some great insights into human nature, and some of the "wisdoms" put forth by his characters made me think.
~~Archer's struggles as a character felt real (and except for one really big choice he makes towards the end I can empathize with him). Alan, Cecil, and Nora were also well drawn.

Cons: As others have mentioned the lack of quotation marks and abrupt switches between time periods throughout the book made following the storyline difficult at times.
~~There is no resolution at the end of the book which may have been intentional, but was somewhat frustrating after investing emotional energy into Alan.

Overall rating 3.5 stars or "Very Good".

[Dan Downing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weighing in at 384 pages this could well have run to 500. In fact, it really did, but I supplied the additional hundred odd pages by filling in inference, completing thoughts, answering the unanswered questions and supplying paragraphs to knit the hints scattered throughout the book about how things were and would be. Altogether an enjoyable exercise, spurred on by close and fluid prose.

D.W. Wilson, author of the collection "Once You Break a Knuckle", leaves behind the short story and writes a family saga upon the Canadian wildside. Do not let me or the titles mislead you; there is very overt violence here even though things kick off with a shot from a .22 which does minimal damage. There is a love story involved, of course---in fact several, some intertwined. One could make a case that the whole story is about love in many manifestations, all gone awry.

I am saving space on the shelf for his next effort.

Recommended.

[Tamra LeValley · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was just too hard to read. It felt as if the author was straining to get this story out.

There were no quotation marks for when a character was speaking and while reading each new paragraph I had to guess who was "talking." Half way through the author would mention other characters which would then clue me into who was actually doing the "remembering" at that time or if we were back to the future looking for the father.

Goodreads Giveaway Book

[Allan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've attempted to get into this novel, but with a large TBR shelf, after 150 pages have given up in the hope that my next read will be more engaging. It's been a long time since I've read a novel that's held my attention less.

[RJ Lackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wilson's writing is still gorgeous, but where his short story collection may be one of my favourite books ever, Ballistics is a bit of a slog. I so wanted to love this book, but in the end, it didn't quite earn the itime investment required, as much as I enjoyed chunks of it.

[Ms Warner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I "read" this as an audio book and enjoyed the descriptions in particular. I had really vivid images of the characters in my mind. I could imagine this as a film. Family dynamics are always interesting!

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyed it at first as I spent lots of time in the town the story is set in when I was growing up. But I grew weary of it. There was far too much fighting and just so much betrayal and misunderstanding that it just left me feeling frustrated. I really wanted to love it but I just didn't.

[Gerri Brightwell · Rating 1 out of 5]

One-dimensional portrayal of rural BC. Stereotype male behaviour. Fragmented plot line. Not much else to say....

[Jonathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't really get on with this. Not sure why. I won't over-analyse it though.

[Waterstones Peterborough · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't really get on with it. No finished.

[Frederic Fovet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sort of Canadian version of Jasper Jones. Definitely worth a read, even if the first 50 pages are a little tough going - an original Canadian voice (ironic he lives in East Anglia!)

[Gavin Newton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started well and gives a good sense of the place. Makes it feel very remote and desolate. It seemed to peter out. A bit disappointing.