What do you think?
Rate this book
In Calamity's Wake: A Novel
Miette has no desire to meet the mother who abandoned her, a woman she knows only as an infamous soldier, drinker, and exhibition shooter: Martha Canary, made notorious as Calamity Jane. But Miette's beloved adoptive father makes a deathbed request that the two be reunited: "You have to do it. Promise me you will not change your mind. I know that you've heard sickening things and those things are all true, but I'm sure she wants to know you." Set in the Badlands of the North American West in the late 1800s, "In Calamity's Wake" tells the story of Miette's quest across a landscape occupied by strangers, ghosts, and animals. On her journey she meets an old lover of her father's, a man who claims to be her brother, an imposter she thinks is her mother, Negro minstrel Lew Spencer, a kind madam who is her mother's best friend, a wolf who longs to protect her, and many others. Woven into Miette's story are the stories of Jane as told in legend, history books, dime store novels, and by the woman herself. When Miette and her mother finally meet, the many threads of these tales come together and Miette must decide whether to forgive the woman who had forsaken her for a life of danger and adventure.
240 pages, Paperback
First published September 17, 2013
3 people are currently reading
605 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
December 30, 2015
You will already know this but your father was Wild Bill Hickok and my name was Martha Canary.
Calamity Jane is something of an American icon, rhapsodized to almost mythological proportions by literature and popular culture as an empowered female who found acting like a man was the best way to survive her harsh surroundings. She is frequently depicted as an unattractive, sad, lonely character, given to boozing and fits of melancholia. My favorite "Calamity" is Robin Weigert's wonderful portrayal on HBO's Deadwood. She created a Jane that was a warm, loving individual, a drunkard who cared for the infirm, and who faced life fearlessly and on her own terms.
And the NSFW version:
Caple does a great job of capturing what I like to think of as the "true spirit" of Calamity Jane. Her book alternates between the story of Martha Canary's life and the fictional tale of Miette, a young woman who is supposedly the daughter of Canary and Hickok. When on his deathbed, her adoptive father orders her to find her mother, Miette embarks on a journey where she will discover she has more in common with her famous mother than she ever dreamed.
The "Miette" chapters featured strange, stylized writing - almost as if this unreliable narrator was on some drug-fueled vision quest, rather than a trip to find Mom. I was never really sure if any of the characters she met were real or mushroom-inspired. I found myself racing through these to get to the real meat of the novel - Martha's story. These chapters were written in a more relaxed, more readable style. This could have been a five-star book, had there been more Martha and less Miette.
You'll never get to see her under the dirt, a little girl square-dancing, dodging corncobs thrown at her by husky boys. You won't find her human moments on any reels of film, or on a postcard. What you can see of her are only poses, subject to the decaying effect of legend. But know this: when she was asked for help the only word she knew was yes.
Calamity Jane is something of an American icon, rhapsodized to almost mythological proportions by literature and popular culture as an empowered female who found acting like a man was the best way to survive her harsh surroundings. She is frequently depicted as an unattractive, sad, lonely character, given to boozing and fits of melancholia. My favorite "Calamity" is Robin Weigert's wonderful portrayal on HBO's Deadwood. She created a Jane that was a warm, loving individual, a drunkard who cared for the infirm, and who faced life fearlessly and on her own terms.
And the NSFW version:
Caple does a great job of capturing what I like to think of as the "true spirit" of Calamity Jane. Her book alternates between the story of Martha Canary's life and the fictional tale of Miette, a young woman who is supposedly the daughter of Canary and Hickok. When on his deathbed, her adoptive father orders her to find her mother, Miette embarks on a journey where she will discover she has more in common with her famous mother than she ever dreamed.
The "Miette" chapters featured strange, stylized writing - almost as if this unreliable narrator was on some drug-fueled vision quest, rather than a trip to find Mom. I was never really sure if any of the characters she met were real or mushroom-inspired. I found myself racing through these to get to the real meat of the novel - Martha's story. These chapters were written in a more relaxed, more readable style. This could have been a five-star book, had there been more Martha and less Miette.
You'll never get to see her under the dirt, a little girl square-dancing, dodging corncobs thrown at her by husky boys. You won't find her human moments on any reels of film, or on a postcard. What you can see of her are only poses, subject to the decaying effect of legend. But know this: when she was asked for help the only word she knew was yes.
October 5, 2013
One should read Natalee Caple’s In Calamity’s Wake as one does poetry—or a collection of interrelated flash fictions/prose poems.
The book’s chapters alternate between: the first person perspective of Miette, the imagined daughter of Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok; the third person perspectives of Calamity, also known as Martha Canary (or Burke); various other colorful characters of Deadwoodlandia.
Although some of these figures may be familiar to viewers of the HBO series, which was set in a real South Dakota settlement, others are composites from Caple’s historical research. Yes, Al Swearengen makes a casual appearance, though Caple wisely avoids competing with the near Shakespearean dexterity of Swearengen’s profane soliloquies in the HBO script.
Caple's Lew Spencer, a “Negro minstrel,” is partly based on the memoir of Ralph Keeler, a “vagabond adventurer” of the 1840s and 1850s. Her partially fictive recounting of the origin of the term "cat house" is highly entertaining and involves a brothel owner, an enamored businessman, a piano-playing lady lawyer, and a bevy of disapproving suffragists.
Some passages of the novel slip into the stream of irreality as Miette travels across the country in search of the legendary mother she has never met. Miette hallucinates after suffering a head wound at the hands of a gun-toting hag who isn’t Jane, but is calamitous in her own way.
Trying to determine what’s true and what isn’t in the manifold stories spread about and told by Martha Calamity Canary isn’t part of Caple’s agenda.
“Was Bill Hickok everything he said? Was he everything that was said about him? Was Jesse James?” Calamity demands. “A hero is someone who does something extraordinary and gets recognized for it.”
She continues, addressing her daughter, but also the reader:
“I cannot leave you any money or any cattle or any land. But I can leave you this, this one thing I know. A lie is a thing. It is a real thing in the world like a diamond or a gold nugget or a name or a hole in the wall. It’s real but it only has the meaning you give it. Some think it’s valuable, some don’t. Some believe in it, some don’t. And like a hole in the wall once it’s there you can fill it in or cover it up, or elaborate on it, or say that it doesn’t affect any other thing, or you can go fuck yourself. The lie doesn’t care. Like that hole in the wall it does not care what you do” (208).
Because I appreciated Robin Weigert’s performance as Calamity in the HBO series, I couldn’t help imagining her (instead of Doris Day or Jane Russell) as I read Caple’s text. My familiarity with many of the historical characters did help to ground me through the surrealistic stretches.
And, now, I’m prepared, even inspired to catch up on the episodes of Hell on Wheels that my DVR has been saving for me! So far, no females have appeared to match Jane’s or Miette’s hellacious attitude, but a girl can continue to hope.
(I received this book via First Reads giveaway.)
The book’s chapters alternate between: the first person perspective of Miette, the imagined daughter of Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok; the third person perspectives of Calamity, also known as Martha Canary (or Burke); various other colorful characters of Deadwoodlandia.
Although some of these figures may be familiar to viewers of the HBO series, which was set in a real South Dakota settlement, others are composites from Caple’s historical research. Yes, Al Swearengen makes a casual appearance, though Caple wisely avoids competing with the near Shakespearean dexterity of Swearengen’s profane soliloquies in the HBO script.
Caple's Lew Spencer, a “Negro minstrel,” is partly based on the memoir of Ralph Keeler, a “vagabond adventurer” of the 1840s and 1850s. Her partially fictive recounting of the origin of the term "cat house" is highly entertaining and involves a brothel owner, an enamored businessman, a piano-playing lady lawyer, and a bevy of disapproving suffragists.
Some passages of the novel slip into the stream of irreality as Miette travels across the country in search of the legendary mother she has never met. Miette hallucinates after suffering a head wound at the hands of a gun-toting hag who isn’t Jane, but is calamitous in her own way.
Trying to determine what’s true and what isn’t in the manifold stories spread about and told by Martha Calamity Canary isn’t part of Caple’s agenda.
“Was Bill Hickok everything he said? Was he everything that was said about him? Was Jesse James?” Calamity demands. “A hero is someone who does something extraordinary and gets recognized for it.”
She continues, addressing her daughter, but also the reader:
“I cannot leave you any money or any cattle or any land. But I can leave you this, this one thing I know. A lie is a thing. It is a real thing in the world like a diamond or a gold nugget or a name or a hole in the wall. It’s real but it only has the meaning you give it. Some think it’s valuable, some don’t. Some believe in it, some don’t. And like a hole in the wall once it’s there you can fill it in or cover it up, or elaborate on it, or say that it doesn’t affect any other thing, or you can go fuck yourself. The lie doesn’t care. Like that hole in the wall it does not care what you do” (208).
Because I appreciated Robin Weigert’s performance as Calamity in the HBO series, I couldn’t help imagining her (instead of Doris Day or Jane Russell) as I read Caple’s text. My familiarity with many of the historical characters did help to ground me through the surrealistic stretches.
And, now, I’m prepared, even inspired to catch up on the episodes of Hell on Wheels that my DVR has been saving for me! So far, no females have appeared to match Jane’s or Miette’s hellacious attitude, but a girl can continue to hope.
(I received this book via First Reads giveaway.)
September 17, 2013
In Calamity’s Wake is a well-researched historical fiction novel combining pleasurable reading with great depth. I loved this book and appreciated the grace and honesty with which it was written. It is a great story, but is worth reading simply for the beautiful prose. This meditation on being lost and belonging will pull your heartstrings as it paints a convincing picture of The Old West. The chapters are short, the reading easy, but the storytelling is fiercely inventive. Natalie Caple embeds history well into the narrative, such as when Edison used his x-ray machine to locate a bullet in President McKinley’s stomach.
The book opens with a first person narrative by Miette. She heads for the Badlands of the American Northwest in search of her mother, Martha Canary (Infamous Calamity Jane). This is a deathbed wish by the bishop who raised her (her mother gave Miette to him after giving birth.) Miette’s father, the bishop, teaches her great things—that Indians are not savage, but perhaps the Europeans were, that children are not immoral at birth, but possess great potential, that the poor are not to be looked down upon. The quest to find her mother is interrupted by chance encounters with crazy people and constantly tinged with longing for her father who just died.
Big-boned Martha (Calamity Jane) was six feet tall, strong and square. She could shoe a horse at age 8, ate only one orange in her life, and favored a gun given to her by Buffalo Bill. Always kind to her little brother, Elijah, her restlessness is evidenced by:
• Involvement in opium running and was a highwayman
• She was in and out of jail many times
• She put an ad in the newspaper to her estranged husband that she would scalp him alive if she saw him.
• She had a child (Miette) by Buffalo Bill, whom she could out- drink under the table.
By the same token, she was sensitive and caring. She could ride like the wind and loved horses. She carried a Chinese man down a mountain after a grizzly ripped off his face and took him to a doctor. She leaves her daughter, Miette, a letter telling her story so that her child would know the truth. Calamity Jane’s letter to Miette is based on Jane’s biography, as noted in the Author’s notes.
An example of the beautiful prose: “There are points where time accordions. It is as if the past, the present and the future are pressed together in a concertina, every minute toughing and then every minute open to be viewed.”
Bravo to Natalee Caple for her stunning debut novel, In Calamity’s Wake.
Reviewed by Holly Weiss, author of Crestmont
The book opens with a first person narrative by Miette. She heads for the Badlands of the American Northwest in search of her mother, Martha Canary (Infamous Calamity Jane). This is a deathbed wish by the bishop who raised her (her mother gave Miette to him after giving birth.) Miette’s father, the bishop, teaches her great things—that Indians are not savage, but perhaps the Europeans were, that children are not immoral at birth, but possess great potential, that the poor are not to be looked down upon. The quest to find her mother is interrupted by chance encounters with crazy people and constantly tinged with longing for her father who just died.
Big-boned Martha (Calamity Jane) was six feet tall, strong and square. She could shoe a horse at age 8, ate only one orange in her life, and favored a gun given to her by Buffalo Bill. Always kind to her little brother, Elijah, her restlessness is evidenced by:
• Involvement in opium running and was a highwayman
• She was in and out of jail many times
• She put an ad in the newspaper to her estranged husband that she would scalp him alive if she saw him.
• She had a child (Miette) by Buffalo Bill, whom she could out- drink under the table.
By the same token, she was sensitive and caring. She could ride like the wind and loved horses. She carried a Chinese man down a mountain after a grizzly ripped off his face and took him to a doctor. She leaves her daughter, Miette, a letter telling her story so that her child would know the truth. Calamity Jane’s letter to Miette is based on Jane’s biography, as noted in the Author’s notes.
An example of the beautiful prose: “There are points where time accordions. It is as if the past, the present and the future are pressed together in a concertina, every minute toughing and then every minute open to be viewed.”
Bravo to Natalee Caple for her stunning debut novel, In Calamity’s Wake.
Reviewed by Holly Weiss, author of Crestmont
January 4, 2016
okay, so i liked the novel... but i didn't love it. i had trouble connecting emotionally to the characters and story, which proved troubling because it is an emotional journey miette (the main character) is undertaking in the search for her mother (calamity jane). caple is clearly gifted with language, and at moments her experience and talent as a poet were quite evident. again, though, my appreciation was kept on the surface and detached - i really had hoped this to be a story that would suck me right in. each chapter, told from alternating perspectives, felt like a little vignette, but the flow didn't quite come together for me on the whole. the idea for this novel is hugely interesting, and the characters were creative. i just wish i felt more invested, and had come away loving the book, instead of just liking it. (if that makes sense?)
pre-read update, 31 july 13:
Natalee Caple: "In Calamity’s Wake became the book I wrote because I couldn’t save my cousin Heather’s life. So I wrote her into fiction, hoping that my daughter and my son would one day encounter her there and see her the way I needed her to be seen, as heroic and immortal."
i just read this, over on 49th shelf, and had a little cry.
i have this book scheduled for reading very soon and this piece has made the book more important for caple's personal and emotional reasons for writing the novel.
thank you, natalee!!
pre-read update, 31 july 13:
Natalee Caple: "In Calamity’s Wake became the book I wrote because I couldn’t save my cousin Heather’s life. So I wrote her into fiction, hoping that my daughter and my son would one day encounter her there and see her the way I needed her to be seen, as heroic and immortal."
i just read this, over on 49th shelf, and had a little cry.
i have this book scheduled for reading very soon and this piece has made the book more important for caple's personal and emotional reasons for writing the novel.
thank you, natalee!!
October 2, 2013
A true one of a kind compelling story that left me reaching for my box of tissues. Someone once asked me if you could meet anyone from the past who would it be? Well the answer to that is easy and simple for me it would be none other than Calamity Jane and of course Annie Oakley. I love the west and the history that entails it. This book did just that with vivid details and information provided by the author. I would have to say that I was honored to have received this book and it is now one of my all time favorites. Please do not pass this book up because it really is a must read.
October 5, 2013
I was wishy-washy about reviewing & rating "In Calamity's Wake" - if only because the author is a friend and mentor to me. And I generally make it a point to never read the published material of a friend. However, I've always found Westerns to be somewhat romantic in both the written and screened format. Though this isn't necessarily what you'd call a "western novel", some of my favourite characters are still there. And it makes me proud to imagine Calamity Jane wandering the streets of my hometown. Making a stop before heading south to Deadwood.
Since I was very young, probably too young to fully understand them, I have been mesmerized by epic poems. Tales of battles and heroes and ghosts, and seers, and monsters and miracles. It wasn't until reading "The Canterbury Tales" that it even dawned on me that women could take part in these epic journeys. It wasn't just the realm of men. But it was near impossible to find anything implying that a woman could lead these journeys, that a woman could be it's hero. In Miette, I see Odysseus. Her trek to find her birth mother, her Calamity Jane, is her Odyssey. I've nicknamed it "The Girl's Own Odyssey Handbook". And that's about the best compliment I could come up with for this brilliant read.
Really, it's been ages since I've felt so drawn to a story and world and a cast of characters as this. But also, it's so rare to be transported by an author's actual writing. At times calm, poetic and whispering in your ear, at times brash and visceral and ugly. This is a rare occasion where the author didn't just rely on a good story to carry the novel, but meticulously mapped out every word, every hum, every sound, and the resulting sentences can stop you from breathing altogether.
What I would love, after having read this, is to listen to it being read aloud while driving back home to Saskatchewan. I can think of nothing more appropriate.
Brava, Natalee!
Since I was very young, probably too young to fully understand them, I have been mesmerized by epic poems. Tales of battles and heroes and ghosts, and seers, and monsters and miracles. It wasn't until reading "The Canterbury Tales" that it even dawned on me that women could take part in these epic journeys. It wasn't just the realm of men. But it was near impossible to find anything implying that a woman could lead these journeys, that a woman could be it's hero. In Miette, I see Odysseus. Her trek to find her birth mother, her Calamity Jane, is her Odyssey. I've nicknamed it "The Girl's Own Odyssey Handbook". And that's about the best compliment I could come up with for this brilliant read.
Really, it's been ages since I've felt so drawn to a story and world and a cast of characters as this. But also, it's so rare to be transported by an author's actual writing. At times calm, poetic and whispering in your ear, at times brash and visceral and ugly. This is a rare occasion where the author didn't just rely on a good story to carry the novel, but meticulously mapped out every word, every hum, every sound, and the resulting sentences can stop you from breathing altogether.
What I would love, after having read this, is to listen to it being read aloud while driving back home to Saskatchewan. I can think of nothing more appropriate.
Brava, Natalee!
July 24, 2013
As a quest story, "In Calamity's Wake "lives up to its praises,but Natalee Caple also offers us the music and the poetry of this period.Like "Whyllah Falls", She has created a collage of poetry,legend,and documentation that feels like a vivid dream.At points during Miette's journey,she seems to be having hallucinations .She hears her Father insisting that she finishes her journey.Miette is a reluctant traveler.At the beginning of her journey she wonders why she has agreed to find her mother. She is angry and demands to be let off the hook.Calamity abandoned her,the priest who raised her was a better mother and father to her than this woman her Father tells her to seek.Her anger at Calamity is palatable,but her promise to her Father,she has every intention to keep.
Miette seeks Calamity under false pretenses she thinks, but as she journeys on without realising it,she becomes her mother's rescuer.
Miette seeks Calamity under false pretenses she thinks, but as she journeys on without realising it,she becomes her mother's rescuer.
May 22, 2013
Got the ebook from the library on a whim.
Wow! What a wonderful book! Well written, crusty historical fiction.
The authors notes at the end explain the fictionalizing well, and are quite justified.
This is brand new book and it needs to be promoted.
I predict it will be on the best-sellers list very soon.
Wow! What a wonderful book! Well written, crusty historical fiction.
The authors notes at the end explain the fictionalizing well, and are quite justified.
This is brand new book and it needs to be promoted.
I predict it will be on the best-sellers list very soon.
November 5, 2017
The prose of this book is beautiful. The author made great research to create this book. Problem is she failed to blend the tales together into an actual believable story. This felt like reading a puzzle or a school essay, every time you got hooked on a bit it jumped on something else. The result is that I couldn't care about the characters and their stories...
Read
June 8, 2013Watch for my upcoming review in The Winnipeg Review.
October 1, 2013
A stunning achievement. I am shocked that this lovely book has not received more critical attention, or award nominations, as it deserved all of that, and more.
October 16, 2013
Started off so bad. Just overly stylized and so disjointed. But by the end I was engrossed and found the writing to be much more pointed.
October 16, 2013
An extremely poetic imagining of a daughter's search for her mother, who happens to be Calamity Jane, the American western heroine of the late 19th century.
March 20, 2016
According to author Natalee Caple, this story was inspired by a claim Calamity Jane herself is said to have made that she bore James Butler (aka "Wild Bill") Hickock a child (without his knowledge, I'm guessing, if the story is true) but shortly after the birth had given it up for adoption. So what might have become of this child? In Calamity's Wake theorizes on this. In Caple's story, Martha Canary's (aka "Calamity Jane") daughter is adopted by a man of the cloth, who nicknames the girl Miette (the girl's birth name is Martha, after her mother). Years later, when Miette's adoptive father is on his deathbed, he implores her to go and find her mother, get to know her, make peace with their past, etc. Knowing that her mother is the infamous sharpshooter Calamity Jane, Miette knows the stories around the woman and has no real personal interest in getting to know her. Still, to honor her father's request and memory, Miette decides to go on this journey to seek out her mother's whereabouts, hoping in the end to discover why Calamity Jane cut ties with her child all those years ago.
The bulk of this quick read (223 pages, harback) is made up of Miette's travels through Badlands territory of the North American West, where she meets some definitely colorful, sometimes dangerous characters along the way. One claims to be her brother, one even claims to be Calamity herself but Miette is soon unconvinced by the woman's serious mental instability. Still, Miette suffers physical harm from some of these unsavory sorts but does eventually reach her destination, in a Family Circus sort of way.
I really enjoyed the early chapters of this story, then it got a little problematic for me. {Reading the author's afterword and discovering that those early chapters were heavily inspired by Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo has me really curious to pick up that book now.} For some reason, I struggled to like Miette. It's not that she was whiney or selfish or anything like that, I just found her to be a boring, flat character. All her most interesting moments are because of the other person she's interacting with. If she were a real person, I don't know that I could chill with her very long, what with her way of crafting a 3 page poem on intense ear pain or talking to a boil on her foot like it's a traveling companion. Well... I guess, in a way it was... but still. The girl's quirks are a tough sell.
I also struggled with the way the novel was laid out in general. I feel like I would have enjoyed it a bit better if both Martha's and Miette's perspectives were done in alternating first person POV. Having Martha's in a distanced 3rd person telling was a bit too cold for me. Especially when there were glimpses of a pretty cool story there -- scrappy little Martha learning to fend for herself in the presence of negligent parents; slightly older Martha playing with wolves; Martha's bond with her brother, even while he's in prison. There is a bit near the end where Martha's story does switch to first person, but it's in a letter Martha has transcribed for Miette (as Martha was said to be largely illiterate). That letter was one of my favorite parts in the story and sort of confirmed for me that yeah, I think I would have enjoyed her story more in 1st person. I also liked learning that this letter's contents were largely based off of Calamity Jane's own autobiography pamphlet she had sold and printed for a little extra income near the end of her life.
So all that being said, I think my main issue was just how the novel in general flowed. It was a pretty jerky read in that respect. I kept trying to figure out why it felt all over the place. Then there was the note on content at the back of the book: "A Note On Pastiche Sources: This novel is a work of metahistorical fiction." It's a what now? I wasn't familiar with this term. After sifting through pages and pages of websites hoping for an explanation, I am reminded of a quote I once saw attributed to Albert Einstein: "If you can not successfully explain it to a child, you do not know your subject well enough." SO many pages of me reading and STILL being left with the inner thought of "Yeah, I get that but WTH DOES IT MEAN?!" So, this is the general idea I grasped after all that reading --
Metahistory is a concept originally coined back in the 1970s by a guy by the name of Hayden White, who wrote a nearly 500 page book on the topic that, as I see it, a lot of people like to reference but still don't completely understand. It seems that White liked to look at "the history of history", or the theories and philosophies behind how history develops. Metahistory also looks at the idea that history has a basis in storytelling. Before humans nailed down the whole "write it down for posterity" thing, we learned our histories through oral history -- friends and relatives sitting around a fire telling us about that one time when. Such history can be influenced by the storyteller's personal history or life struggles at the time, their choice of where to embellish or omit facts, economic or political conditions of the time, etc. White uses this idea to challenge the idea that history is concrete and factual. He instead says that there are other factors at hand that make our collective history more pliable / open for interpretation than traditional historians would have us believe. Metahistory, I gather, is meant to be used as a way to challenge or critique the way a certain time period or historical figure has been traditionally portrayed.
So, thanks to the author on peaking my curiosity enough to further educate myself on that front. Also, I found the ending of In Calamity's Wake pretty touching. This little book had its good moments and I guess I would recommend it for a try out if it's a historical period that interests you. In the end though it wasn't my cup of tea so much.
And yes, I kept picturing the Calamity Jane from HBO's Deadwood. Sorry, couldn't help it!
January 13, 2018
This book won me over in the end. After a couple chapters, I put it down with no intention to finish it because I was having a hard time keeping track of the dialogue. But a week went by and I found myself thinking about the story again, so I picked up where I left off. Once you get used to following the author's style of writing, it became an easier read. Part of me kept anticipating a terrible turn of events to throw the narrative off-course, but there's no such twist. I enjoyed the story though, and there were beautifully described moments in the book such as when Miette awakes to find the wolf sleeping at her feet. It was those moments, I think, that compelled me to keep reading.
March 4, 2021
In Calamity's Wake, Natalee Caple
This just doesn't work. The author tried to recreate the life of Calamity Jane through her daughter's quest to find her, but she really failed to pull the story together. Instead, it is a story of all the things that were thought about Jane, just kind of lumped together and revealed during the travels of the daughter she gave away at birth. The reader doesn't really know when the story takes place or how old the main character, the daughter, is when she sets out to find her mother. The author also inserts some magic realism into the story, but that also just doesn't work. Next.
This just doesn't work. The author tried to recreate the life of Calamity Jane through her daughter's quest to find her, but she really failed to pull the story together. Instead, it is a story of all the things that were thought about Jane, just kind of lumped together and revealed during the travels of the daughter she gave away at birth. The reader doesn't really know when the story takes place or how old the main character, the daughter, is when she sets out to find her mother. The author also inserts some magic realism into the story, but that also just doesn't work. Next.
October 3, 2018
This is a compelling piece of historical fiction with an almost dreamlike quality.
After making a deathbed promise to "the man of God who acted all my life as my father", young Miette embarks on a perilous journey to locate the mother who abandoned her. ("She meant less than ashes to me.") Her mother was the notorious Calamity Jane.
Originally named Martha Canary, Calamity Jane's story slowly unfolds as Miette travels the Badlands in an unforgettable quest.
A mesmerizing almost hypnotic story that blends historical fact and fiction wonderfully.
After making a deathbed promise to "the man of God who acted all my life as my father", young Miette embarks on a perilous journey to locate the mother who abandoned her. ("She meant less than ashes to me.") Her mother was the notorious Calamity Jane.
Originally named Martha Canary, Calamity Jane's story slowly unfolds as Miette travels the Badlands in an unforgettable quest.
A mesmerizing almost hypnotic story that blends historical fact and fiction wonderfully.
February 10, 2023
Was pleasantly surprised with this book! I picked it up thinking it might be interesting and ended up enjoying it a great deal. The writing style is set up in a way that I wasn’t really used to so the first few chapters in I wasn’t really enjoying the flow of it. Once I got used to it, however, I was hooked in and enjoyed this a lot. It’s fun to think about the possibility of Calamity Jane having a daughter and to follow said daughter’s search to find her mother and the perils that accompanied it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 4, 2020
While the build up and the turmoil the main character goes through and grows. This book was just really hard for me to get through, and I really wanted to love it! The fact that so much Alberta history was weaved into it was fantastic.
But the way the story was portrayed, especially without quotation marks took me away from the important moments and feel from the chapters because I would find myself having to figure out who was saying what.
But the way the story was portrayed, especially without quotation marks took me away from the important moments and feel from the chapters because I would find myself having to figure out who was saying what.
November 15, 2017
What an interesting book about an interesting time. Many of the stories told were woven around things that really happened, which made it all the more interesting. And the story is told in multiple voices - initially, Miette and Martha's, but as Miette meets more of the people who know/knew her mother, the voices expand out.
April 29, 2018
I made it to page 139. A very quick read, but once I found myself skipping chunks just to move along, and realized I didn’t really care for Miette, I gave up. A shame, because I was really taken by the cover description, but this one is not for me. There are plenty more books waiting for my attention!
July 20, 2019
This book needs to be relished
It’s not a very long book to read
But the poetry that the author uses to weave this story is really something
It makes you feel some corners of your heart that perhaps you may not have felt in a while
It’s not a very long book to read
But the poetry that the author uses to weave this story is really something
It makes you feel some corners of your heart that perhaps you may not have felt in a while
April 9, 2013
JUDY FONG BATES, MICHELLE BERRY AND NATALEE CAPLE AT CAT SASS COFFEEHOUSE
The CAT SASS LITERARY NIGHTS Reading Series will see renowned local authors Judy Fong Bates and Michelle Berry take to the stage on Saturday April 13, from 5-7 pm. They will be joined by Toronto author Natalee Caple, whose new novel about Calamity Jane has just been published and was recently reviewed in The Toronto Star.
MICHELLE BERRY is the author of three books of short stories, How to Get There from Here, Margaret Lives in the Basement, and I Still Don’t Even Know You (which won the 2011 Mary Scorer Award for Best Book Published by a Manitoba Publisher and was shortlisted for the ReLit Award, 2011), as well as four novels, What We All Want, Blur, Blind Crescent and This Book Will Not Save Your Life (which won the 2010 Colophon Award and was longlisted for the ReLit Award, 2011). She is also co-editor with Natalee Caple of The Notebooks: Interviews and New Fiction from Contemporary Writers, and has collaborated on an art book with Winnipeg artist, Andrew Valko, called, Postcard Fictions. Michelle taught creative writing at Ryerson University, Humber College and Trent University, was on the board of PEN Canada and the authors’ committee of the Writer’s Trust and served as Second Vice-Chair of The Writer’s Union. She presently teaches online for The University of Toronto/New York Times, and is a mentor at Humber College. She is a reviewer for The Globe and Mail.
JUDY FONG BATES came to Canada from China as a young child and grew up in several small Ontario towns. She is the author of the critically acclaimed short-story collection, China Dog and Other Stories, and the novel, Midnight at the Dragon Café, which has been the ONE BOOK for Portland Oregon, Orillia, Halton Hills and Toronto. Her most recent book, The Year of Finding Memory, a family memoir, was a Globe 100 Best Book.Judy lives with her husband on a farm outside of Toronto. They are both devoted gardeners and enthusiastic hikers.
NATALEE CAPLE is the author of six previous books of internationally acclaimed fiction and poetry. Her previous novel, Mackerel Sky, was called “breathlessly good” by The Washington Post. Her collection of poetry, A More Tender Ocean, was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, and The Heart is Its Own Reason (stories) was praised as “moving” and “arresting” by The New York Times. Natalee’s work has been nominated for a National Magazine Award, the Journey Prize, the Bronwen Wallace Award and the Eden Mills Fiction Award. She holds a PhD in English from the University of Calgary, and works as a professor of English literature and creative writing at Brock University. Set in the badlands of the North American west in the late 1800s, Caple’s new book, In Calamity’s Wake tells the story of orphaned Miette’s quest to find her mother, the notorious Calamity Jane.
The Cat Sass Literary Nights reading series is funded by The Canada Council for The Arts.
When and where:
Saturday April 13, 5-7 pm
Cat Sass Coffee House
4255 Hwy 7
Norwood, On.
K0L-2V0
705-639-5494
email: catsassnorwood@gmail.com
In Calamity's Wake
The CAT SASS LITERARY NIGHTS Reading Series will see renowned local authors Judy Fong Bates and Michelle Berry take to the stage on Saturday April 13, from 5-7 pm. They will be joined by Toronto author Natalee Caple, whose new novel about Calamity Jane has just been published and was recently reviewed in The Toronto Star.
MICHELLE BERRY is the author of three books of short stories, How to Get There from Here, Margaret Lives in the Basement, and I Still Don’t Even Know You (which won the 2011 Mary Scorer Award for Best Book Published by a Manitoba Publisher and was shortlisted for the ReLit Award, 2011), as well as four novels, What We All Want, Blur, Blind Crescent and This Book Will Not Save Your Life (which won the 2010 Colophon Award and was longlisted for the ReLit Award, 2011). She is also co-editor with Natalee Caple of The Notebooks: Interviews and New Fiction from Contemporary Writers, and has collaborated on an art book with Winnipeg artist, Andrew Valko, called, Postcard Fictions. Michelle taught creative writing at Ryerson University, Humber College and Trent University, was on the board of PEN Canada and the authors’ committee of the Writer’s Trust and served as Second Vice-Chair of The Writer’s Union. She presently teaches online for The University of Toronto/New York Times, and is a mentor at Humber College. She is a reviewer for The Globe and Mail.
JUDY FONG BATES came to Canada from China as a young child and grew up in several small Ontario towns. She is the author of the critically acclaimed short-story collection, China Dog and Other Stories, and the novel, Midnight at the Dragon Café, which has been the ONE BOOK for Portland Oregon, Orillia, Halton Hills and Toronto. Her most recent book, The Year of Finding Memory, a family memoir, was a Globe 100 Best Book.Judy lives with her husband on a farm outside of Toronto. They are both devoted gardeners and enthusiastic hikers.
NATALEE CAPLE is the author of six previous books of internationally acclaimed fiction and poetry. Her previous novel, Mackerel Sky, was called “breathlessly good” by The Washington Post. Her collection of poetry, A More Tender Ocean, was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, and The Heart is Its Own Reason (stories) was praised as “moving” and “arresting” by The New York Times. Natalee’s work has been nominated for a National Magazine Award, the Journey Prize, the Bronwen Wallace Award and the Eden Mills Fiction Award. She holds a PhD in English from the University of Calgary, and works as a professor of English literature and creative writing at Brock University. Set in the badlands of the North American west in the late 1800s, Caple’s new book, In Calamity’s Wake tells the story of orphaned Miette’s quest to find her mother, the notorious Calamity Jane.
The Cat Sass Literary Nights reading series is funded by The Canada Council for The Arts.
When and where:
Saturday April 13, 5-7 pm
Cat Sass Coffee House
4255 Hwy 7
Norwood, On.
K0L-2V0
705-639-5494
email: catsassnorwood@gmail.com
In Calamity's Wake
June 4, 2013
In In Calamity's Wake, Natalee Caple blends history and fiction to create a novel that transports you to a different time and place and brings to life the Wild West that fascinates us all.
I have never been a fan of Westerns, film or book. In fact, I've only ever read one other Western book, Patrick deWitt's The Sisters Brothers. I read it because it was nominated for the Giller Prize and while I loved it, it wasn't enough to draw me to the genre on a whole. I decided to give it all a try again with this book because I liked the idea of it being about Calamity Jane but with her in the background and not the narrator of the book.
The book jumps between two perspectives, Miette and Martha. Miette is Jane's daughter and told in the first person, Martha is actually Jane and is told in the third person perspective. I don't know much about her, really just the name and time period but as I read this book, her story unfolded for me as it unfolded for Miette. I really enjoyed the way it was written as a discovery of the character rather than just a telling of her story.
There were a few moments in the book that had me flipping ahead, mostly just the inclusion of songs. I understand why authors include those things in books, especially historical novels, but it's just not my thing. But other than that I really enjoyed this tale of a woman who I always figured was trouble based on her reputation but actually turns out to be quite the heroine. Was it enough to make me forget my bias toward the Western genre? Probably not, but I'm definitely one step closer.
I have never been a fan of Westerns, film or book. In fact, I've only ever read one other Western book, Patrick deWitt's The Sisters Brothers. I read it because it was nominated for the Giller Prize and while I loved it, it wasn't enough to draw me to the genre on a whole. I decided to give it all a try again with this book because I liked the idea of it being about Calamity Jane but with her in the background and not the narrator of the book.
The book jumps between two perspectives, Miette and Martha. Miette is Jane's daughter and told in the first person, Martha is actually Jane and is told in the third person perspective. I don't know much about her, really just the name and time period but as I read this book, her story unfolded for me as it unfolded for Miette. I really enjoyed the way it was written as a discovery of the character rather than just a telling of her story.
There were a few moments in the book that had me flipping ahead, mostly just the inclusion of songs. I understand why authors include those things in books, especially historical novels, but it's just not my thing. But other than that I really enjoyed this tale of a woman who I always figured was trouble based on her reputation but actually turns out to be quite the heroine. Was it enough to make me forget my bias toward the Western genre? Probably not, but I'm definitely one step closer.
October 12, 2013
This is a tough book to review, in that the delivery was so different from what I expected. It is much more a collection of loosely connected short stories than a novel, and I so wanted a novel about Calamity Jane.
The tone of the book is much like a good old-fashioned tall tale, rich with exaggerations and colloquialisms found in tales passed down through oral tradition. I liked that voice and enjoyed the anecdotes recounted, but found that the individual chapters didn't hang together or move the plot forward. I didn't find the frequent switches in narration at all effective. Some chapters contained only a sentence or two, and it jarred rather than contributing anything to the text.
The lovely relationship between Miette (Jane's daughter)and her adoptive father was very well presented, as was the final meeting of Miette and her birth mother Martha(aka Calamity Jane), but again the delivery was chopped up by the addition of short stories, poems, songs and changes in narration that dampened my interest and kept me from being drawn into the story. Overall the book featured some wonderful elements that might have held together better with a bit of editing.
Recommended for those who love folk tales, historical snippets and music from the wild west, but are not looking for a cohesive historical novel and are tolerant of a generous dose of the fantastic.
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads program.
The tone of the book is much like a good old-fashioned tall tale, rich with exaggerations and colloquialisms found in tales passed down through oral tradition. I liked that voice and enjoyed the anecdotes recounted, but found that the individual chapters didn't hang together or move the plot forward. I didn't find the frequent switches in narration at all effective. Some chapters contained only a sentence or two, and it jarred rather than contributing anything to the text.
The lovely relationship between Miette (Jane's daughter)and her adoptive father was very well presented, as was the final meeting of Miette and her birth mother Martha(aka Calamity Jane), but again the delivery was chopped up by the addition of short stories, poems, songs and changes in narration that dampened my interest and kept me from being drawn into the story. Overall the book featured some wonderful elements that might have held together better with a bit of editing.
Recommended for those who love folk tales, historical snippets and music from the wild west, but are not looking for a cohesive historical novel and are tolerant of a generous dose of the fantastic.
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads program.
October 26, 2013
I liked the book and it was pretty entertaining. It follows the lives of Calamity Jane and a fictional daughter, Miette. She goes on a quest to find Calamity Jane after her adoptive father's death. Miette had been given up shortly after birth.
It is a good retelling of the Calamity Jane legend, although perhaps a little drawn out in parts. There are a few lapses like the suggestion that Calamity Jane new about antibodies and took measures to inoculate herself against smallpox. I believe the theory of antibodies had been developed at about this time, but it seems highly unlikely that this would have been known in Deadwood at or prior to the turn of the 20th century. Perhaps I am wrong, but it is one of a number of passages where the author seems to let history get ahead of itself, and appear conspicuously out of place.
The characters and violence of the times are generally depicted in a very credible way. At its best, the writing is very compelling. However, too much time is spent on the protagonist's dreams and spectral visions that don't do much to advance the story. Miette and Calamity Jane are portrayed well, but others come off as a little caricaturish.
It isn't perfect, and could have been tightened up with better editing, but I am giving it 4 stars because it was a quick and interesting read.
It is a good retelling of the Calamity Jane legend, although perhaps a little drawn out in parts. There are a few lapses like the suggestion that Calamity Jane new about antibodies and took measures to inoculate herself against smallpox. I believe the theory of antibodies had been developed at about this time, but it seems highly unlikely that this would have been known in Deadwood at or prior to the turn of the 20th century. Perhaps I am wrong, but it is one of a number of passages where the author seems to let history get ahead of itself, and appear conspicuously out of place.
The characters and violence of the times are generally depicted in a very credible way. At its best, the writing is very compelling. However, too much time is spent on the protagonist's dreams and spectral visions that don't do much to advance the story. Miette and Calamity Jane are portrayed well, but others come off as a little caricaturish.
It isn't perfect, and could have been tightened up with better editing, but I am giving it 4 stars because it was a quick and interesting read.
May 29, 2016
4.5 but bordering closer into 5.
I loved it! This novel was thrilling from the beginning and has set the standard for every Western I read after (a genre I tend to avoid because stories about men and their horses put me to sleep).
I will warn anyone reading this review that In Calamity's Wake may not be an easy or accessible read for everyone. However, I personally enjoyed the challenge of sorting through what was dream, memory, or reality in Miette's parts. Miette's perspective can be, at times, as blurry and confused as her mother's history. Overall, this was a a literary thriller done right, with many beautiful lines of prose throughout.
My only complaint is that I felt as though Miette did not change very much as a character by the end. She's met her mother, she's watched her die in front of her, but what does this mean to Miette? Where does she go from there and what has this journey taught her in the end. Miette's silence is somewhat concerning too... Maybe I missed something but Miette's development seemed a bit stunted at the end. It would be worth it (I think) to read this novel again to see if I really did miss some change, or if the book's page length had reduced the main character's transformation.
By the way, the well scene was haunting and weird (in a great way) and I'm probably going to remember it every time I see this book sitting on my shelf.
I loved it! This novel was thrilling from the beginning and has set the standard for every Western I read after (a genre I tend to avoid because stories about men and their horses put me to sleep).
I will warn anyone reading this review that In Calamity's Wake may not be an easy or accessible read for everyone. However, I personally enjoyed the challenge of sorting through what was dream, memory, or reality in Miette's parts. Miette's perspective can be, at times, as blurry and confused as her mother's history. Overall, this was a a literary thriller done right, with many beautiful lines of prose throughout.
My only complaint is that I felt as though Miette did not change very much as a character by the end. She's met her mother, she's watched her die in front of her, but what does this mean to Miette? Where does she go from there and what has this journey taught her in the end. Miette's silence is somewhat concerning too... Maybe I missed something but Miette's development seemed a bit stunted at the end. It would be worth it (I think) to read this novel again to see if I really did miss some change, or if the book's page length had reduced the main character's transformation.
By the way, the well scene was haunting and weird (in a great way) and I'm probably going to remember it every time I see this book sitting on my shelf.
January 12, 2022
I find it extremely difficult to not finish a book. I think I've only done it maybe four or five times in my adult life. I just reached a point with this one where logic ruled out: why keep wasting my time, I have too many books on my TBR list.
Honestly, I've read (and finished) worse books than this, but having previously just finished an exceptionally good western, I just couldn't put up with the inferiority of this one.
Too much frill, too much prose, not enough substantial story. And, ugh, no quotations... WHY?!! I really don't get it. (Really though... why?!!) That, along with the way speaking characters were not identified, made it ridiculously difficult to know who was talking to who, or if they were speaking out load or just having thoughts in their head.
The weird, dream-like prose did not work for me. I found myself skipping over pages of songs and alphabetical lists (literally, a list, in alphabetical order, of the pains and ailments the main character was feeling - this was 2-3 pages long!!) that really had no bearing on the story but to add fluff.
No thanks, I don't like fluffy westerns.
The cover really is beautiful though.
Honestly, I've read (and finished) worse books than this, but having previously just finished an exceptionally good western, I just couldn't put up with the inferiority of this one.
Too much frill, too much prose, not enough substantial story. And, ugh, no quotations... WHY?!! I really don't get it. (Really though... why?!!) That, along with the way speaking characters were not identified, made it ridiculously difficult to know who was talking to who, or if they were speaking out load or just having thoughts in their head.
The weird, dream-like prose did not work for me. I found myself skipping over pages of songs and alphabetical lists (literally, a list, in alphabetical order, of the pains and ailments the main character was feeling - this was 2-3 pages long!!) that really had no bearing on the story but to add fluff.
No thanks, I don't like fluffy westerns.
The cover really is beautiful though.
January 12, 2014
I keep saying I'm not a big fan of historical fiction, but talented authors continue proving me wrong. This includes Natalee Caple and her hauntingly beautiful book, In Calamity's Wake. I think haunting is an extremely appropriate word, because this reads more like a ghost story. I just so happened to learn some things about a famous American legend.
Caple tells the tale of Calamity Jane through her daughter's search for her. Jane, knowing herself an unfit mother, leaves her infant daughter in the care of a religious man. But Miette promises her dying foster father that she will reconnect with her lost mother. And so begins our story.
Interestingly, the two share the spotlight. Chapters switch back and forth between their focus of Jane and her daughter, Miette. Each woman tells her story in a strong but distinct voice, speaking to the author's skill.
I recommend this book not only for those interested in American history, but any literature lover. This is truly a great book that anyone can enjoy.
Caple tells the tale of Calamity Jane through her daughter's search for her. Jane, knowing herself an unfit mother, leaves her infant daughter in the care of a religious man. But Miette promises her dying foster father that she will reconnect with her lost mother. And so begins our story.
Interestingly, the two share the spotlight. Chapters switch back and forth between their focus of Jane and her daughter, Miette. Each woman tells her story in a strong but distinct voice, speaking to the author's skill.
I recommend this book not only for those interested in American history, but any literature lover. This is truly a great book that anyone can enjoy.
October 18, 2013
It's not very often but every once in a while a book comes along that truly disappoints. Unfortunately, this was that book. It was a slow go at the start but I stuck it out hoping that eventually it would improve. I enjoyed reading about Miette and her mother, Martha, aka Calamity Jane, as they lived out their adventures as independent narrators. What I didn't enjoy was how neither of the characters seemed to evolve throughout the book and honestly, there really wasn't anything going on; this novel seemed completely void of any kind of plot. I thought for sure, at the end, when Miette and Martha finally crossed paths that that would have made the book all worth it. Wrong again. Nothing was resolved...the ending was just as much of a disappointment as the rest of the book. I give it 2 stars purely for the lovely prose.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews