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Reggie
It's 1890 and a body has been found in a wooded area near a swamp in Princeton,Ontario. Reggie, convicted of the crime, sits in his jail cell writing his memoirs. In his writing, he shares memories of his youth, his family and shares insight to the crime of which he was convicted.Biography and fiction are mixed, delivering the story of Reginald Birchall, an English gentleman who traveled to Canada with his wife in the winter of 1890. Birchall, though, made some bad choices. The story begins in England and ends in Canada with his execution in Woodstock, Ontario.
"Call me Reggie. I know you want to, but you're not sure how to address me. That's alright. I'm used to hesitation, the quivering of the hand, the perspiration on the brow. You will like me; I know you will. You might even grow to love me".
"Call me Reggie. I know you want to, but you're not sure how to address me. That's alright. I'm used to hesitation, the quivering of the hand, the perspiration on the brow. You will like me; I know you will. You might even grow to love me".
174 pages, Paperback
First published January 29, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 28, 2014
One of the toughest things for an author to do is to take up residence in the mind of an unpleasant character. It’s probably even tougher to use the device of the unreliable narrator effectively, to give the text an emotional unreliability as well as a cognitive one. So when an author tries to do both, it’s a tightrope walk.
Pamela Stadden has taken on the challenge in a short novel, Reggie. Reggie is a nice, well-educated man with cultured tastes who just happens to have some difficulties in maintaining his life style. Oh, and he is in prison, where he stands convicted of murdering a man, the sort of crime a man like himself would never stoop to commit. The sheer injustice of this situation has compelled him to write an account of his life for publication, to explain himself and to show to the world that he is an innocent man.
It won’t take the reader long to realize that Reggie isn’t quite what he portrays himself to be. Reggie is writing to please himself — doesn’t everyone? But Reggie’s motivations are at odds with his purpose of writing a vindication of himself. With inexorable psychological logic, Reggie’s narrative gradually shifts, and with it the reader’s perception of Reggie shifts as well. And what begins as a vindication becomes quite something else, and not the same thing, to Reggie and to the reader.
Knowing some of the background behind this story, I had to admit I could figure out the conclusion fairly easily. But this is a book where it is definitely the journey, watching Reggie change before the reader’s eyes, that is important, not the ending. And there are elements of the story that still have me uncertain and wondering, especially Reggie’s relationship to his wife. That Stadden could engineer such uncertainty into what is only a 174 page novel is quite amazing.
Pamela Stadden has taken on the challenge in a short novel, Reggie. Reggie is a nice, well-educated man with cultured tastes who just happens to have some difficulties in maintaining his life style. Oh, and he is in prison, where he stands convicted of murdering a man, the sort of crime a man like himself would never stoop to commit. The sheer injustice of this situation has compelled him to write an account of his life for publication, to explain himself and to show to the world that he is an innocent man.
It won’t take the reader long to realize that Reggie isn’t quite what he portrays himself to be. Reggie is writing to please himself — doesn’t everyone? But Reggie’s motivations are at odds with his purpose of writing a vindication of himself. With inexorable psychological logic, Reggie’s narrative gradually shifts, and with it the reader’s perception of Reggie shifts as well. And what begins as a vindication becomes quite something else, and not the same thing, to Reggie and to the reader.
Knowing some of the background behind this story, I had to admit I could figure out the conclusion fairly easily. But this is a book where it is definitely the journey, watching Reggie change before the reader’s eyes, that is important, not the ending. And there are elements of the story that still have me uncertain and wondering, especially Reggie’s relationship to his wife. That Stadden could engineer such uncertainty into what is only a 174 page novel is quite amazing.
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February 26, 2014Pamela Stadden has cleverly woven historic facts gleaned from records and reports of a sensational 19th century murder trial along with those of everyday life in Victorian society and blended them creatively into her engaging fictional account of one man's descent into depravity. As a reader I found myself drawn into the story, Reggie's story. The main character and the author are both clever story tellers. By writing in first person Stadden has effectively revealed insights into the mind of a murderer and for a while you start to wonder if he really did commit the act. By adopting the persona of Reggie, Stadden expresses her own hopes and desires as an author that you will continue to read her work. Both of them appeal to the reader's personal curiosity and psychology: "If you wish not to read on, I suggest you stop now, but I know you won't. You're curious about me..."
I was and I did. You too should read "Reggie"
I was and I did. You too should read "Reggie"
March 1, 2014
I was engaged from the very first page I read. The style of writing just carries you along so that you are looking forward to each page of Reggie's story. I could see this as a one man play. Reggie, his story is rather well known in Oxford County. Pam I thought did a good job bringing that story to life even though this is a book of fiction. I hope more people will choose to read Reggie.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews