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The Gallery of Lost Species
Just as thirteen year-old Edith Walker is about to leave childhood behind, she thinks she spots a unicorn high on a slope while hiking. Her daydreamer father Henry convinces her that what she’s seen is real. Edith’s sighting of the fabled creature – and her unfailing belief that the imaginary creature will eventually be found – sets in motion a series of events that impact the next decade of her life.
Edith grows up in her big sister Vivienne’s shadow. While the beautiful Viv is forced by the girls’ overbearing mother Constance to compete in child beauty pageants, plain-looking Edith follows in her father’s footsteps, collecting oddities, studying coins and reading from moldy books that only serve to exacerbate her asthma.
Eventually, a family trip to the Rocky Mountains and a chance encounter with a handsome geology student named Liam changes the course of the sisters’ relationship forever. As Viv rebels against her mother and pageantry to become a painter, she embarks on a downward spiral into addiction. Edith then finds herself torn between a desire to save her sister and pursuing her own love for Liam.
Fulfilling her father’s wish for her to work in a museum, Edith takes a job cataloguing artwork at the National Gallery of Canada, where she meets an elderly cryptozoologist named Theo. Theo is searching for “Gauguin’s mystery bird” and has devoted his entire life to tracking down extinct animals. Navigating her way through Vivienne’s dark landscape while trying to win Liam’s heart, Edith develops an unlikely friendship with Theo when she realizes they might have more in common than she imagined: they are both trying to retrieve something that may be impossible to bring back to life.
The Gallery of Lost Species is about finding solace in unexpected places — in works of art, in people and in animals that the world has forgotten.
Edith grows up in her big sister Vivienne’s shadow. While the beautiful Viv is forced by the girls’ overbearing mother Constance to compete in child beauty pageants, plain-looking Edith follows in her father’s footsteps, collecting oddities, studying coins and reading from moldy books that only serve to exacerbate her asthma.
Eventually, a family trip to the Rocky Mountains and a chance encounter with a handsome geology student named Liam changes the course of the sisters’ relationship forever. As Viv rebels against her mother and pageantry to become a painter, she embarks on a downward spiral into addiction. Edith then finds herself torn between a desire to save her sister and pursuing her own love for Liam.
Fulfilling her father’s wish for her to work in a museum, Edith takes a job cataloguing artwork at the National Gallery of Canada, where she meets an elderly cryptozoologist named Theo. Theo is searching for “Gauguin’s mystery bird” and has devoted his entire life to tracking down extinct animals. Navigating her way through Vivienne’s dark landscape while trying to win Liam’s heart, Edith develops an unlikely friendship with Theo when she realizes they might have more in common than she imagined: they are both trying to retrieve something that may be impossible to bring back to life.
The Gallery of Lost Species is about finding solace in unexpected places — in works of art, in people and in animals that the world has forgotten.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 24, 2015
11 people are currently reading
1394 people want to read
About the author
Nina Berkhout
13 books24 followersNina Berkhout is the author of three previous novels, most recently Why Birds Sing, which was described as a “must read” by the Globe and Mail, a Best Book of the Year (Canada) by Audible, and a Great Group Reads selection by the Women’s National Book Association (USA). Her young adult novel The Mosaic was nominated for the White Pine Award and named an Indigo Best Teen Book, and her novel The Gallery of Lost Species was named an Indigo and Kobo Best Book and a Harper’s Bazaar Hottest Breakout Novel. Berkhout is also the author of five poetry collections, including Elseworlds, which won the Archibald Lampman Award. Her poems have been featured in publications across Canada including the Best Canadian Poetry anthology. Originally from Alberta, she lives in Ontario.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 105 reviews
March 3, 2015
Ah, sometimes I wish I were on a prize-giving panel. Nina Berkhout's incredible story of a modern-day sister with an intricately difficult family would be at the top of that list. I have to admit - right now - that I picked this book up because of the unicorn on the cover and feel like I was rewarded by universal karma with one of the most wonderful books I've ever read.
Nina's writing is just incredible; every scene came to life - sometimes regrettably - and I can attach real emotions, even smell the dust in the coin shop or the gallery space even now and I read the book two weeks ago. I didn't love everything that happened in the book, in fact there was a great deal of pain and lost opportunity for these characters so some of it was so hard to watch happen but I know - without a doubt - that I'll go back to this book again as surely as I do to any of my favourite cat mysteries. I love when this happens, when a book I didn't even think twice about reading, put it on hold just because of the unicorn, can be so wonderful that I'll be talking about it for decades.
It's a story about Edith, and we are given the treat of knowing her from her early teens. All her thoughts and decisions are there for us on the page and being a part of her adolescence was incredibly moving. She has a terrible mother (obsessed with putting Edith's sister on the podium in an endless string of child and teen beauty pageants, a kind but somewhat spineless father and a sister who does what all sisters do; occasionally love but most often torment her. Edith makes it out of her odd early years with a job in the National Gallery in Ottawa as a cataloguer of artwork giving Nina Berkhout another chance to lift the curtain on a second little behind-the-scenes world for us (the first was the world of pageants - yikes). It also gives Edith some security and a little bit of chance to flourish. The twists and turns of her adult life are slow but give the emotional punch of a roller coaster ride in a thriller novel. It's a slow novel but the same gut-wrenching feeling you get while you watch a character in a spy novel are there for Edith's life. It's achy and beautiful and each day in her life is so very real.
It's Nina Berkhout's very first novel after several works of poetry and I am waiting with such enthusiasm to see what will come next. This one will go out to all patrons who ask me for a 'good read' and I will be sharing it with book clubbers for sure, it's got a wonderful Canadian flare as she and her family travel for vacations and pageants + the delight of a sister story. And don't forget that there is a unicorn.
Nina's writing is just incredible; every scene came to life - sometimes regrettably - and I can attach real emotions, even smell the dust in the coin shop or the gallery space even now and I read the book two weeks ago. I didn't love everything that happened in the book, in fact there was a great deal of pain and lost opportunity for these characters so some of it was so hard to watch happen but I know - without a doubt - that I'll go back to this book again as surely as I do to any of my favourite cat mysteries. I love when this happens, when a book I didn't even think twice about reading, put it on hold just because of the unicorn, can be so wonderful that I'll be talking about it for decades.
It's a story about Edith, and we are given the treat of knowing her from her early teens. All her thoughts and decisions are there for us on the page and being a part of her adolescence was incredibly moving. She has a terrible mother (obsessed with putting Edith's sister on the podium in an endless string of child and teen beauty pageants, a kind but somewhat spineless father and a sister who does what all sisters do; occasionally love but most often torment her. Edith makes it out of her odd early years with a job in the National Gallery in Ottawa as a cataloguer of artwork giving Nina Berkhout another chance to lift the curtain on a second little behind-the-scenes world for us (the first was the world of pageants - yikes). It also gives Edith some security and a little bit of chance to flourish. The twists and turns of her adult life are slow but give the emotional punch of a roller coaster ride in a thriller novel. It's a slow novel but the same gut-wrenching feeling you get while you watch a character in a spy novel are there for Edith's life. It's achy and beautiful and each day in her life is so very real.
It's Nina Berkhout's very first novel after several works of poetry and I am waiting with such enthusiasm to see what will come next. This one will go out to all patrons who ask me for a 'good read' and I will be sharing it with book clubbers for sure, it's got a wonderful Canadian flare as she and her family travel for vacations and pageants + the delight of a sister story. And don't forget that there is a unicorn.
February 22, 2015
I’m always drawn to tales of difficult families. These multilayered relationships can encompass so much love, pain, and betrayal. Poet Nina Berkhout seeks to explore the nuances of family, beauty, and expectation in her debut novel The Gallery of Lost Species. Constance Walker, a failed actress from France, and her artist/custodian/collector husband Henry struggle to raise their two daughters in the face of their own disappointments. As youngest child Edith grows up, she discovers that love may not be any more real than unicorns, no matter how hard she tries to find either. Using the motif of the unicorn and the quest of cryptozoology to frame a story of addiction, failed dreams, and tested familial bonds, Berkhout has rich material to work with.
Berkhout’s main characters are stellar. Her portrayal of the beautiful, fading Constance is at once rich and uncomfortable. Con’s heartbreaks are so palpable, her behaviour deeply frustrating. She inflicts her own failures into her daughters’ very identities, lavishing too much destructive attention on eldest daughter Vivienne while neglecting Edith. Each sister secretly longs for what the other has. Edith is deeply aware of her own faults. How can she not be, when she’s constantly compared to her stunning older sister? Viv is a child beauty pageant queen, thin and graceful, while Edith is chubby and plain. Viv is an artist while Edith doesn’t believe she has any talent to speak of. Constance pours thousands of dollars into dance classes and stage costumes for Viv; Edith picks through garbage with their dad looking for treasures. Both daughters are given a lifestyle—heavily influenced by their parents’ baggage—they don’t want. As Viv increasingly rejects pageantry and turns to drugs and alcohol, Edith accepts moldy books and broken down furniture from her dad, too sympathetic to protest. Yet no matter how much Edith feels she pales compared to her self-destructive sister, wherever Viv goes, Edith yearns to follow. Her life is incomplete when she can’t react against her foil.
On a family vacation in Lake Louise, Edith spots the movement of an impossible animal in the distance and her dad confirms her suspicions through his binoculars: it’s a unicorn. On the same day, Edith sights something else: a geology student named Liam who will further complicate the already fraught relationship between the sisters. Her immediate infatuation with Liam (who is in turn smitten with Viv), her devotion to her sister, her disappointment in her parents, and her belief in the unicorn will push Edith through her formative years. She will always seek the illusive, be it a mythical being, her capricious sister, or a kind of happiness she doesn’t know how to achieve.
Berkhout’s language is beautiful as she draws the world around Edith, and we’re given some temporary relief from all the heartbreak in Edith’s relationship with Henry, doting father and failed artist. We get the sense that his relationship with his demanding wife is uneasy at best, but he tries always to instill wonder in his daughters, whether he’s promising an eventual trip to northern Canada to “paint the gold” they’ll find in the skies or giving the girls a tour through the National Gallery of Canada. “Henry and I were like bookends,” Berkhout writes. “We were allied in our pact to create little asylums where we could—antique shops and museums being the perfect places to evade Con and Viv’s feuds. And like bookends, we reinforced the pulpy novellas that made up our family library, preventing the unit from toppling over.” While the imagery sometimes overreaches (“My mother and sister’s bond ruptured into a million fragments like a pile of shattered glass at a bus shelter,” for example) Berkhout’s evocation of place is marvelous, particularly the nature vacations taken in Edith’s youth and the rarefied world of the National Gallery where Edith later works. The descriptions of the hierarchy of docents, gallery staff, and scholars is fascinating, and the real-life art installation The Child’s Dream, a unicorn created by Damien Hirst, anchors the adult Edith’s story expertly.
Unfortunately, that poet’s sensibility is also one of the book’s failings. It tries to cover too much story in too little space, feeling at times incomplete. Told in the first person, the narrator’s voice never really feels like a thirteen-year-old girl trying to come to grips with big, difficult issues. Her eye is too astute, her understanding too quick and adult. And the voice is steadily adult from age 13 to twentysomething, without any naivete or childishness to lose. This narrative style would fit better in retrospect, an already grown Edith looking back at the mistakes of her teenage years. Because of this displaced feeling, the book’s temporal setting is also off. Until its midpoint I was certain I was reading something in the 70s, the distance and and slightly antique cast to the words quite Wonder Years. The sudden appearance of an SUV surprised me. Cell phones are then mentioned a couple of times, and Viv receives an iMac for her birthday, placing the book’s span from the late 90s to the late 2000s. But there is no pop cultural or technological context. No computers or internet in the first half, no MySpace or MP3s or watching Friends or the Disney Channel. Sheltered though Edith is, it’s unbelievable that she would be so removed from the world she inhabits. When a twenty-year-old Edith tries to seduce Liam, he snaps “Stop it, Edith. This doesn’t become you.” I can’t imagine any twentysomething man in the 2008 reacting like this. The poetic stageiness paints a beautiful picture but creates a sense of unreality that I don’t think the author means.
A nuanced exploration of a family falling apart and a sister who wants to stay lost, this is not quite the novel it aspires to be. There’s more story to tell than is presented here, and more can be done with its weighty themes. Though it is at times unmoored and not always realistic, the emotion is nevertheless genuine. The Gallery of Lost Species, which addresses the slippery nature of beauty, is itself a frustrating but beautiful read.
Berkhout’s main characters are stellar. Her portrayal of the beautiful, fading Constance is at once rich and uncomfortable. Con’s heartbreaks are so palpable, her behaviour deeply frustrating. She inflicts her own failures into her daughters’ very identities, lavishing too much destructive attention on eldest daughter Vivienne while neglecting Edith. Each sister secretly longs for what the other has. Edith is deeply aware of her own faults. How can she not be, when she’s constantly compared to her stunning older sister? Viv is a child beauty pageant queen, thin and graceful, while Edith is chubby and plain. Viv is an artist while Edith doesn’t believe she has any talent to speak of. Constance pours thousands of dollars into dance classes and stage costumes for Viv; Edith picks through garbage with their dad looking for treasures. Both daughters are given a lifestyle—heavily influenced by their parents’ baggage—they don’t want. As Viv increasingly rejects pageantry and turns to drugs and alcohol, Edith accepts moldy books and broken down furniture from her dad, too sympathetic to protest. Yet no matter how much Edith feels she pales compared to her self-destructive sister, wherever Viv goes, Edith yearns to follow. Her life is incomplete when she can’t react against her foil.
On a family vacation in Lake Louise, Edith spots the movement of an impossible animal in the distance and her dad confirms her suspicions through his binoculars: it’s a unicorn. On the same day, Edith sights something else: a geology student named Liam who will further complicate the already fraught relationship between the sisters. Her immediate infatuation with Liam (who is in turn smitten with Viv), her devotion to her sister, her disappointment in her parents, and her belief in the unicorn will push Edith through her formative years. She will always seek the illusive, be it a mythical being, her capricious sister, or a kind of happiness she doesn’t know how to achieve.
Berkhout’s language is beautiful as she draws the world around Edith, and we’re given some temporary relief from all the heartbreak in Edith’s relationship with Henry, doting father and failed artist. We get the sense that his relationship with his demanding wife is uneasy at best, but he tries always to instill wonder in his daughters, whether he’s promising an eventual trip to northern Canada to “paint the gold” they’ll find in the skies or giving the girls a tour through the National Gallery of Canada. “Henry and I were like bookends,” Berkhout writes. “We were allied in our pact to create little asylums where we could—antique shops and museums being the perfect places to evade Con and Viv’s feuds. And like bookends, we reinforced the pulpy novellas that made up our family library, preventing the unit from toppling over.” While the imagery sometimes overreaches (“My mother and sister’s bond ruptured into a million fragments like a pile of shattered glass at a bus shelter,” for example) Berkhout’s evocation of place is marvelous, particularly the nature vacations taken in Edith’s youth and the rarefied world of the National Gallery where Edith later works. The descriptions of the hierarchy of docents, gallery staff, and scholars is fascinating, and the real-life art installation The Child’s Dream, a unicorn created by Damien Hirst, anchors the adult Edith’s story expertly.
Unfortunately, that poet’s sensibility is also one of the book’s failings. It tries to cover too much story in too little space, feeling at times incomplete. Told in the first person, the narrator’s voice never really feels like a thirteen-year-old girl trying to come to grips with big, difficult issues. Her eye is too astute, her understanding too quick and adult. And the voice is steadily adult from age 13 to twentysomething, without any naivete or childishness to lose. This narrative style would fit better in retrospect, an already grown Edith looking back at the mistakes of her teenage years. Because of this displaced feeling, the book’s temporal setting is also off. Until its midpoint I was certain I was reading something in the 70s, the distance and and slightly antique cast to the words quite Wonder Years. The sudden appearance of an SUV surprised me. Cell phones are then mentioned a couple of times, and Viv receives an iMac for her birthday, placing the book’s span from the late 90s to the late 2000s. But there is no pop cultural or technological context. No computers or internet in the first half, no MySpace or MP3s or watching Friends or the Disney Channel. Sheltered though Edith is, it’s unbelievable that she would be so removed from the world she inhabits. When a twenty-year-old Edith tries to seduce Liam, he snaps “Stop it, Edith. This doesn’t become you.” I can’t imagine any twentysomething man in the 2008 reacting like this. The poetic stageiness paints a beautiful picture but creates a sense of unreality that I don’t think the author means.
A nuanced exploration of a family falling apart and a sister who wants to stay lost, this is not quite the novel it aspires to be. There’s more story to tell than is presented here, and more can be done with its weighty themes. Though it is at times unmoored and not always realistic, the emotion is nevertheless genuine. The Gallery of Lost Species, which addresses the slippery nature of beauty, is itself a frustrating but beautiful read.
June 24, 2016
Huge thank you to St. Martin's Press for sending me a copy of this book for review!
This book was just okay for me. It's an adult novel but the main character, Edith, is a teen and then in her early twenties for the entire book, so it's bordering on the YA side of things. I went into this expecting things from the synopsis and it really didn't deliver.
I did enjoy the writing and the story of the two sisters. Edith and her sister Viv are two very different girls. Edith loves to read and collect junk with her father while Viv lets her mother parade her around in child beauty pageants. The mother is a piece of work and I loved how complex her relationship was with Viv. Viv is also an artist, like her father, but she succumbs to drug and alcohol abuse and kinda ruins her artistic career.
Edith grows up into a normal young woman and she gets a job at an art gallery. She works in the collections room cataloging items. I was lead to believe that she was going to forge a deep friendship with one of the researchers who frequents the collections room and that that was going to be a core part of the story. But that was very brief and I didn't even feel like their friendship and connection went that deeply. I was also disappointed that there wasn't more done with the researchers quest for the mythical extinct bird.
And the whole love story with Liam was just weird and kinda gross and I didn't really like him or the relationships that he had with either sister. I felt like Edith was rather pathetic when it came to Liam and even when she did get into a normal relationship she was still kinda pathetic about it.
And Viv's ending was very unsatisfactory. I really was disappointed with the lack of resolution with her and her family.
Overall this book looks and sounds like it's going to be gorgeous but it's kinda just meh.
This book was just okay for me. It's an adult novel but the main character, Edith, is a teen and then in her early twenties for the entire book, so it's bordering on the YA side of things. I went into this expecting things from the synopsis and it really didn't deliver.
I did enjoy the writing and the story of the two sisters. Edith and her sister Viv are two very different girls. Edith loves to read and collect junk with her father while Viv lets her mother parade her around in child beauty pageants. The mother is a piece of work and I loved how complex her relationship was with Viv. Viv is also an artist, like her father, but she succumbs to drug and alcohol abuse and kinda ruins her artistic career.
Edith grows up into a normal young woman and she gets a job at an art gallery. She works in the collections room cataloging items. I was lead to believe that she was going to forge a deep friendship with one of the researchers who frequents the collections room and that that was going to be a core part of the story. But that was very brief and I didn't even feel like their friendship and connection went that deeply. I was also disappointed that there wasn't more done with the researchers quest for the mythical extinct bird.
And the whole love story with Liam was just weird and kinda gross and I didn't really like him or the relationships that he had with either sister. I felt like Edith was rather pathetic when it came to Liam and even when she did get into a normal relationship she was still kinda pathetic about it.
And Viv's ending was very unsatisfactory. I really was disappointed with the lack of resolution with her and her family.
Overall this book looks and sounds like it's going to be gorgeous but it's kinda just meh.
November 1, 2017
Lu en français: Le musée des espèces disparues (joliment traduit chez XYZ)
3.5/5 Celui-là, je l'ai avalé d'une traite. J'ai eu beau me dire qu'il n'était pas parfait, que les métaphores sont parfois soulignées au marqueur fluo, que wo ça va faire les licornes, ça n'y change rien.
J'ai suivi Édith, la cadette, dans sa quête désespérée. C'est à travers son regard qu'on la voit grandir aux côtés de sa soeur aînée Vivienne, une beauté solaire, qui attire tous les regards. C'est à travers ses yeux qu'on découvre ses parents, profondément mal assortis, et les rouages qui tournent carré de leur vie familiale. Édith se dévoile aussi: collectionneuse d'histoires, d'objets, de désirs impossibles. Édith est celle qui dans l'ombre ramasse les miettes qui tombent de la bouche des plus favorisés.
Difficile de désirer quand on se sent pas désirée, quand les autres ne font que cueillir dans l'arbre ce que d'autres s'acharnent à atteindre.
Alors que Vivienne s'enfonce et qu'Édith se débat pour s'élever, entre les rivalités, les amours toutes croches et les aveuglements volontaires, il y a cette histoire émouvante d'une femme qui tente de recoller les morceaux cassés de son enfance. À lire, pour une mélancolie légère et une méditation sur la place que l'on occupe dans sa famille...et dans sa propre vie.
3.5/5 Celui-là, je l'ai avalé d'une traite. J'ai eu beau me dire qu'il n'était pas parfait, que les métaphores sont parfois soulignées au marqueur fluo, que wo ça va faire les licornes, ça n'y change rien.
J'ai suivi Édith, la cadette, dans sa quête désespérée. C'est à travers son regard qu'on la voit grandir aux côtés de sa soeur aînée Vivienne, une beauté solaire, qui attire tous les regards. C'est à travers ses yeux qu'on découvre ses parents, profondément mal assortis, et les rouages qui tournent carré de leur vie familiale. Édith se dévoile aussi: collectionneuse d'histoires, d'objets, de désirs impossibles. Édith est celle qui dans l'ombre ramasse les miettes qui tombent de la bouche des plus favorisés.
Difficile de désirer quand on se sent pas désirée, quand les autres ne font que cueillir dans l'arbre ce que d'autres s'acharnent à atteindre.
Alors que Vivienne s'enfonce et qu'Édith se débat pour s'élever, entre les rivalités, les amours toutes croches et les aveuglements volontaires, il y a cette histoire émouvante d'une femme qui tente de recoller les morceaux cassés de son enfance. À lire, pour une mélancolie légère et une méditation sur la place que l'on occupe dans sa famille...et dans sa propre vie.
February 26, 2015
Originally reviewed on One More Page...
[I received a copy of this book from its Canadian publisher House of Anansi Press. This does not affect my opinion of the novel.]
I have to admit that I’ve been putting off writing this review for quite a while now. Part of the reason is because I’ve been surprisingly busy these past few weeks, but a bigger reason, I think, is because I wanted to let my thoughts and opinions settle before sharing my opinions. The Gallery of Lost Species was a book with a synopsis that immediately grabbed me – it’s about the relationship between two very different sisters – and so I was extremely excited and thankful to receive an advanced reading copy from House of Anansi (on my birthday, no less!). Unfortunately, the book started out strong but ultimately fell a bit flat for me.
The set up of the story was my favourite part: the book starts with the main character, Edith, telling readers about her unicorn sighting when she was 13 years old. She was hiking with her family at the time, and her father encouraged her belief that it was real. Edith then takes us back to her childhood, letting us in on her family dynamics, which includes an artistic father, a pageant mom who entered her eldest child (Viv, Edith’s sister) into competitions for her own wish-fulfillment, and Edith herself, who is quiet and observant. I really enjoyed reading about the sisters’ childhoods, and developed a soft spot for their dreamer of a father. I grew weary of their mother as the girls did, and found myself feeling quite invested in the story.
It’s a shame that the latter half of the book didn’t quite hold my attention in the same way. While I still wanted to keep reading and find out what happens to Edith and Viv, I couldn’t help but want more from Edith’s character development. She spends years living in her sister’s shadow, and it seems like she becomes defined by her sister and her complicated relationship with Liam. I can see an argument for that kind of character development, but a part of me found myself wanting to learn more about Viv than Edith.
That being said, even though the characters didn’t work 100% for me, I still think The Gallery of Lost Species is worth a read. The writing is beautiful, and it offers poignant insights to sisterhood:
“My sister didn’t share her emotions, secrets, or aspirations with me. i wished I could get her attention more often. It saddened me that we weren’t all that connected.” (p 23 of the Advanced Reading Copy.)
The bond between sisters is a unique one, and Berkhout does a wonderful job of portraying its complexities. How can we feel so burdened by someone we love so much? How far will we go to save one another? They are compelling questions, and ones that The Gallery of Lost Species attempts to answer.
Verdict: A book that I enjoyed overall, but I wish that Edith’s character would have felt more multi-dimensional. I did admire the writing and the fact that it focused on a sisterly bond, though.
Read if: You love reading books about sisters, are interested in cryptozoology, want to read a well-written book.
[I received a copy of this book from its Canadian publisher House of Anansi Press. This does not affect my opinion of the novel.]
I have to admit that I’ve been putting off writing this review for quite a while now. Part of the reason is because I’ve been surprisingly busy these past few weeks, but a bigger reason, I think, is because I wanted to let my thoughts and opinions settle before sharing my opinions. The Gallery of Lost Species was a book with a synopsis that immediately grabbed me – it’s about the relationship between two very different sisters – and so I was extremely excited and thankful to receive an advanced reading copy from House of Anansi (on my birthday, no less!). Unfortunately, the book started out strong but ultimately fell a bit flat for me.
The set up of the story was my favourite part: the book starts with the main character, Edith, telling readers about her unicorn sighting when she was 13 years old. She was hiking with her family at the time, and her father encouraged her belief that it was real. Edith then takes us back to her childhood, letting us in on her family dynamics, which includes an artistic father, a pageant mom who entered her eldest child (Viv, Edith’s sister) into competitions for her own wish-fulfillment, and Edith herself, who is quiet and observant. I really enjoyed reading about the sisters’ childhoods, and developed a soft spot for their dreamer of a father. I grew weary of their mother as the girls did, and found myself feeling quite invested in the story.
It’s a shame that the latter half of the book didn’t quite hold my attention in the same way. While I still wanted to keep reading and find out what happens to Edith and Viv, I couldn’t help but want more from Edith’s character development. She spends years living in her sister’s shadow, and it seems like she becomes defined by her sister and her complicated relationship with Liam. I can see an argument for that kind of character development, but a part of me found myself wanting to learn more about Viv than Edith.
That being said, even though the characters didn’t work 100% for me, I still think The Gallery of Lost Species is worth a read. The writing is beautiful, and it offers poignant insights to sisterhood:
“My sister didn’t share her emotions, secrets, or aspirations with me. i wished I could get her attention more often. It saddened me that we weren’t all that connected.” (p 23 of the Advanced Reading Copy.)
The bond between sisters is a unique one, and Berkhout does a wonderful job of portraying its complexities. How can we feel so burdened by someone we love so much? How far will we go to save one another? They are compelling questions, and ones that The Gallery of Lost Species attempts to answer.
Verdict: A book that I enjoyed overall, but I wish that Edith’s character would have felt more multi-dimensional. I did admire the writing and the fact that it focused on a sisterly bond, though.
Read if: You love reading books about sisters, are interested in cryptozoology, want to read a well-written book.
July 15, 2016
Let me start by saying that I unfortunately did not finish this book. In fact I think I got less than a hundred pages in before I had to quit. That isn’t to say that this was a bad book, because I enjoyed the small bit that I read but not enough to continue reading until the end, which sucks because I was looking forward to liking and reading it.
This book is about a girl who grows up in her older sister’s shadow, often times overlooked and unnoticed by all, including her mom. It says on Goodreads that the book is about “finding solace in unexpected places – in works of art, in people, and in animals that the world has forgotten,” and that was part of what drew me in. I think not liking this story had nothing to do with the writing itself, which was quite good, but with the slow pace. After a few false starts, I finally was able to focus enough on the story to read more than the first few pages, but again, the slow pace and building up to the main plot of the story did not keep my attention for very long. I’d like to think that I’m not a picky reader and I’m kind of easy to please; more often than not I give books four and five stars, sometimes three’s, rarely if ever, one’s and two’s. For the amount that I read, I give the story a solid 3.5 stars.
It was interesting to see the dynamic of this family and how they each got along with one another as well as a whole. The relationship that the main protagonist, Edith, has with her father made me think of the relationship that I have with mine and that was one of the things I liked the most. Constance, the mother of Edit and her older sister Vivienne, was so… not enjoyable, a very disagreeable mother and character. The chapters I read were mainly about their life growing up, what it was like for Edith to live in that shadow her sister cast, and the fallout and change in the family when Vivienne decided to go to war with their mother. I think that in time, I’ll give The Gallery of Lost Species another go, but for now it is what it is.
http://www.onceuponatwilight.com/2016...
This book is about a girl who grows up in her older sister’s shadow, often times overlooked and unnoticed by all, including her mom. It says on Goodreads that the book is about “finding solace in unexpected places – in works of art, in people, and in animals that the world has forgotten,” and that was part of what drew me in. I think not liking this story had nothing to do with the writing itself, which was quite good, but with the slow pace. After a few false starts, I finally was able to focus enough on the story to read more than the first few pages, but again, the slow pace and building up to the main plot of the story did not keep my attention for very long. I’d like to think that I’m not a picky reader and I’m kind of easy to please; more often than not I give books four and five stars, sometimes three’s, rarely if ever, one’s and two’s. For the amount that I read, I give the story a solid 3.5 stars.
It was interesting to see the dynamic of this family and how they each got along with one another as well as a whole. The relationship that the main protagonist, Edith, has with her father made me think of the relationship that I have with mine and that was one of the things I liked the most. Constance, the mother of Edit and her older sister Vivienne, was so… not enjoyable, a very disagreeable mother and character. The chapters I read were mainly about their life growing up, what it was like for Edith to live in that shadow her sister cast, and the fallout and change in the family when Vivienne decided to go to war with their mother. I think that in time, I’ll give The Gallery of Lost Species another go, but for now it is what it is.
http://www.onceuponatwilight.com/2016...
June 14, 2017
A profound story of a fractured family and one daughter's attempt to make sense of it all through her ever-vanishing older sister, a survivor of the Child Pageant Circuit. I loved the ebbing rhythm and lucid prose of Nina Berkhout that pulls you along gently to the story's conclusion. If you like the mildly bleak aesthetic of Canadian literature, you will love Berkhout's study of Edith, Vivienne, and their flawed parents.
This book and author reminded me a lot of Canadian authors Eden Robinson (Monkey Beach) and the classic David Adams Richards (Nights Below Station Street, Mercy Among the Children, The Bay of Love and Sorrows, etc.).
A hugely memorable read; highly recommended.
This book and author reminded me a lot of Canadian authors Eden Robinson (Monkey Beach) and the classic David Adams Richards (Nights Below Station Street, Mercy Among the Children, The Bay of Love and Sorrows, etc.).
A hugely memorable read; highly recommended.
August 6, 2020
Dark and lonely book. Many awkward similes/metaphors. Often felt cringe reading. Love as obsession not relatable to me. The continuous shocking events kept me needing to find out. Such serious subject matter in this work of fiction wigged me out. Is it representative? Very atmospheric read. I thought the major metaphor of lost species/vivienne as a person fell flat. Edith could really use some friends.
May 31, 2016
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed this one. I loved that I could so clearly visualize Ottawa (guess my degree is worth something after all!) and that we are really put into Edith's head. I also liked that while this is a story about Edith learning to be her own person after growing up through some hardships and having a bit of a dysfunctional family, it was also a book about hope. And I really connected with Edith and her story and think that any 20-something year old would be able to do the same. I think part of what helped me is having lived in Ottawa for four years and being able to see all the places that Edith traveled to in the story.
I thought some of the writing at the beginning was a little dense. It wasn't until Edith was going to university and then living on her own that I really got into the swing of the story. I think part of this is because Edith never really felt like a "little girl" even though we are in her head from childhood to adulthood. Because of this, it doesn't feel like she has any childhood innocence to lose throughout the novel and is stuck at always being 20-something which made it hard to connect with her at all aspects of her life, but really easy to slip into her life once she became an adult. The other part of this is that it is such a lyrical novel that it was difficult to place the characters in a specific time period. There was very little given for time context in this one which made it difficult for me to completely grasp what was happening in the outside world that would have an affect on Edith's world.
I was hoping for more interaction with Theo and learning about some more "lost species" but I did like the metaphor that it gave to us and what it meant for Edith. I think this is one that some people will think "what" and others will think "oh yes" and I am glad I am one of the latter. I liked the idea that if we don't find something that we love doing, we will go extinct. I also really liked that Edith did what she had to in order to really find herself, even though that meant letting go of pieces of her that she tried so hard to hold onto.
I thought the family dynamic was the best part of this. I liked seeing how Edith interacted with her parents and her sister, especially growing up. I liked that she put such heavy stock in her relationship with her father and that because of this she didn't want to let him down when it came to taking care of Viv even after his death. I also really liked that Edith felt such pressure from herself to do the "right thing" because no one else was going to do it for Viv. I felt like some of her storyline with Viv was left unresolved but I feel like that is pretty true for life as well. I would have liked a bit more interaction with Raven and Jonathan. And definitely less Liam. He was a red flag from the beginning and became worse as time went on.
I would say that this book will appeal to 20-somethings who are doing what they can to orient themselves in the world and carve a space out for themselves in relation to their family members. It is difficult to make your way in the world, especially when you feel as though you are in the shadow of an older sibling. I think what The Gallery of Lost Species does well is create emotions that everyone feels when they are not sure if they should move forward or stay stagnant in the past.
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I really enjoyed this one. I loved that I could so clearly visualize Ottawa (guess my degree is worth something after all!) and that we are really put into Edith's head. I also liked that while this is a story about Edith learning to be her own person after growing up through some hardships and having a bit of a dysfunctional family, it was also a book about hope. And I really connected with Edith and her story and think that any 20-something year old would be able to do the same. I think part of what helped me is having lived in Ottawa for four years and being able to see all the places that Edith traveled to in the story.
I thought some of the writing at the beginning was a little dense. It wasn't until Edith was going to university and then living on her own that I really got into the swing of the story. I think part of this is because Edith never really felt like a "little girl" even though we are in her head from childhood to adulthood. Because of this, it doesn't feel like she has any childhood innocence to lose throughout the novel and is stuck at always being 20-something which made it hard to connect with her at all aspects of her life, but really easy to slip into her life once she became an adult. The other part of this is that it is such a lyrical novel that it was difficult to place the characters in a specific time period. There was very little given for time context in this one which made it difficult for me to completely grasp what was happening in the outside world that would have an affect on Edith's world.
I was hoping for more interaction with Theo and learning about some more "lost species" but I did like the metaphor that it gave to us and what it meant for Edith. I think this is one that some people will think "what" and others will think "oh yes" and I am glad I am one of the latter. I liked the idea that if we don't find something that we love doing, we will go extinct. I also really liked that Edith did what she had to in order to really find herself, even though that meant letting go of pieces of her that she tried so hard to hold onto.
I thought the family dynamic was the best part of this. I liked seeing how Edith interacted with her parents and her sister, especially growing up. I liked that she put such heavy stock in her relationship with her father and that because of this she didn't want to let him down when it came to taking care of Viv even after his death. I also really liked that Edith felt such pressure from herself to do the "right thing" because no one else was going to do it for Viv. I felt like some of her storyline with Viv was left unresolved but I feel like that is pretty true for life as well. I would have liked a bit more interaction with Raven and Jonathan. And definitely less Liam. He was a red flag from the beginning and became worse as time went on.
I would say that this book will appeal to 20-somethings who are doing what they can to orient themselves in the world and carve a space out for themselves in relation to their family members. It is difficult to make your way in the world, especially when you feel as though you are in the shadow of an older sibling. I think what The Gallery of Lost Species does well is create emotions that everyone feels when they are not sure if they should move forward or stay stagnant in the past.
Books and Ladders | Queen of the Bookshelves | Books Are My Fandom | Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin'
February 18, 2017
I wanted to like this book, I really did. And at first, I was curious about this story, which at first seemed to be about growing up with an older sister who was making the rounds in the pageant circuit. Then the book twists and turns, almost like a soap opera for awhile, and seems to become a family drama. About halfway through, I stopped caring so much. The story felt like it meandered for awhile, and I had trouble staying awake from that point on which made my reading progress slowly. By the end I was just ready to finish this book and move on to the next.
Having said all that, the book does have a somewhat satisfying ending, and is filled with all sorts of Canadian references that I absolutely adored. Just to be able to say "We've been to Hull and back", I am looking forward to a visit to Ottawa one day because of this book.
I recommend this book for anyone with a love of art and sad stories. Otherwise, no.
Having said all that, the book does have a somewhat satisfying ending, and is filled with all sorts of Canadian references that I absolutely adored. Just to be able to say "We've been to Hull and back", I am looking forward to a visit to Ottawa one day because of this book.
I recommend this book for anyone with a love of art and sad stories. Otherwise, no.
April 6, 2015
The Gallery of Lost Species, by Nina Berkhout, is a beautiful novel about finding yourself and your peace in unexpected places. For many people this is in art, music, people, and for some, it is in animals the world has forgotten.
I adored this novel. The characters are so strong and diverse. Nina Berkhout has published many books of poetry and this is her first novel, something I was surprised to find out. It is well-written and, one of the reasons why I enjoyed this book so much, very Canadian. It’s a quiet, family drama whose characters will stay with you long after you turn the final page.
You can read my full review here
I adored this novel. The characters are so strong and diverse. Nina Berkhout has published many books of poetry and this is her first novel, something I was surprised to find out. It is well-written and, one of the reasons why I enjoyed this book so much, very Canadian. It’s a quiet, family drama whose characters will stay with you long after you turn the final page.
You can read my full review here
September 13, 2016
Depressing story about a dysfunctional family. I like the author's writing, but the main characters didn't grab me; in fact I found several of the secondary characters much more appealing and interesting. I grew impatient with the main character's inability to move on and her obsession with her sister's boyfriend, though I did like her job in the rare books library. The old man she meets -- the scholar of cryptids -- is charming, and I did like the (at least tentatively) hopeful ending.
May 3, 2017
Edith Walker, la narratrice, est la plus jeune de deux soeurs. Fille refermée sur elle-même, elle grandit dans les livres et toute sa vie intérieure est imprégnée des romances, mythes et légendes lues dans son enfance pour se protéger des dysfonctionnements familiaux.
Vivienne, l'aînée, est une fille-comète. D'une grande beauté naturelle - comme leur mère - elle est poussée à participer à tous les concours de beauté possible dès son plus jeune âge, jusqu'à ce que l'adolescence frappe et qu'elle ne devienne déterminée, dans sa rébellion face à cette mère-ogresse, à brûler sa vie aussi vite et fort que possible.
On suit donc Edith, des débuts de l'adolescence à la mi-vingtaine, dans ses multiples tentatives pour se forger une vie à elle-même, hors de la gravité de sa soeur autour de qui le monde tourne, alors même qu'elle ne peut s'empêcher de tout faire pour éviter que celle-ci ne se consume. Raconté par touches impressionnistes, chaque événement comme une tache de couleur qui ne se révèle qu'en rapport aux autres qui l'entourent, le roman fait preuve à la fois d'une grande beauté et de beaucoup de retenue, reflétant par-là la personnalité de la narratrice, tout en effacement et sacrifice de soi.
Ceci étant dit, comptant plus de 400 pages, le roman est trop long, surtout dans le dernier tiers. Les événements qui poussent les personnages vers une résolution, les phrases toutes en délicatesse qui font de la lecture un réel plaisir, tout cela vient englué par le malheur devenu cyclique, par les erreurs répétées de chacun des personnages, par la langueur qui s'empare d'Édith et transparaît jusque dans la narration. Ce n'est que dans les tous derniers chapitres que la trame se noue enfin, parfois de façon juste et touchante, parfois surfaite.
Au final, un bon roman, par une auteure que je continuerai de lire car il y a, malgré le 'premier roman', une grande maîtrise dans l'écriture et des indices de grandes choses à venir.
Vivienne, l'aînée, est une fille-comète. D'une grande beauté naturelle - comme leur mère - elle est poussée à participer à tous les concours de beauté possible dès son plus jeune âge, jusqu'à ce que l'adolescence frappe et qu'elle ne devienne déterminée, dans sa rébellion face à cette mère-ogresse, à brûler sa vie aussi vite et fort que possible.
On suit donc Edith, des débuts de l'adolescence à la mi-vingtaine, dans ses multiples tentatives pour se forger une vie à elle-même, hors de la gravité de sa soeur autour de qui le monde tourne, alors même qu'elle ne peut s'empêcher de tout faire pour éviter que celle-ci ne se consume. Raconté par touches impressionnistes, chaque événement comme une tache de couleur qui ne se révèle qu'en rapport aux autres qui l'entourent, le roman fait preuve à la fois d'une grande beauté et de beaucoup de retenue, reflétant par-là la personnalité de la narratrice, tout en effacement et sacrifice de soi.
Ceci étant dit, comptant plus de 400 pages, le roman est trop long, surtout dans le dernier tiers. Les événements qui poussent les personnages vers une résolution, les phrases toutes en délicatesse qui font de la lecture un réel plaisir, tout cela vient englué par le malheur devenu cyclique, par les erreurs répétées de chacun des personnages, par la langueur qui s'empare d'Édith et transparaît jusque dans la narration. Ce n'est que dans les tous derniers chapitres que la trame se noue enfin, parfois de façon juste et touchante, parfois surfaite.
Au final, un bon roman, par une auteure que je continuerai de lire car il y a, malgré le 'premier roman', une grande maîtrise dans l'écriture et des indices de grandes choses à venir.
August 7, 2022
Story set in Ottawa. Believable story of siblings, addiction and infatuation. Couldn't put the book down.
September 17, 2025
It was fun to read a book set in Ottawa but other than that it wasn’t for me.
January 15, 2021
3.5/5 stars
September 1, 2020
I feel like I ended up liking this one more because of when I read it, and I’m kind of spooked by how well suited the timing felt. Though it’s mostly focused on family drama, we mostly follow one character and when the book hits its stride she’s in her mid-20s, has just received a certificate for museum collection, and begins a job at a gallery in Ontario.
Well wouldn’t you know it, but I happened to start this book in my (early) 20s, just before starting my own degree in a similar field, and having just moved to Ontario.
When I say family drama above, it goes much beyond simple arguments; some of the topics covered in the book include alcoholism, gambling, addiction, FAS, and poverty to name a few. There’s very little to raise your spirits here and there are some slow-moving parts to the story but it’s an honest, moving – and even a tiny bit hopeful – depiction of life and family.
Most interesting is Edith’s friendship with Theo and the ways that his search for endangered animals parallels her own work in the museum. A lot of her work involves describing the materials that the gallery has acquired, many of which are currently in storage. In her words, her process of documenting these items before they disintegrate is very similar to Theo attempting to document his animals before they go extinct. They’re an odd pair, a strange young woman and this secretive old man, but Theo allows Edith to create a more real connection with the people around her where her family has certainly let her down.
There is room for some humour in their relationship too. One of my favourite moments of dialogue between the two, around when Edith draws comparisons between their two lines of work, is when Theo takes her to a farm that creates new species of animals:
Theo: “I come here when I am trying to make sense of human nature.”
Edith “You visit an unnatural place with unnatural animals to do that?”
They’re both very strange people but they work well together, though Edith feels a little hypocritical here since she spends most of her time looking at a particular piece in the gallery: The Child’s Dream, a unicorn in a tank of formaldehyde (it’s a real thing – thank you to this reviewer who included the name of the art piece since I forgot. You can follow that link if you want but since it looks like no dream of mine, I didn’t want to subject any of you to that unwillingly).
The story feels a little autobiographical in that the main character’s schooling and work seems drawn from the author’s own experience in galleries, as well as the locations she uses being those she’s grown up in (though I’m pretty sure the wild family drama is all her own invention).
Well wouldn’t you know it, but I happened to start this book in my (early) 20s, just before starting my own degree in a similar field, and having just moved to Ontario.
When I say family drama above, it goes much beyond simple arguments; some of the topics covered in the book include alcoholism, gambling, addiction, FAS, and poverty to name a few. There’s very little to raise your spirits here and there are some slow-moving parts to the story but it’s an honest, moving – and even a tiny bit hopeful – depiction of life and family.
Most interesting is Edith’s friendship with Theo and the ways that his search for endangered animals parallels her own work in the museum. A lot of her work involves describing the materials that the gallery has acquired, many of which are currently in storage. In her words, her process of documenting these items before they disintegrate is very similar to Theo attempting to document his animals before they go extinct. They’re an odd pair, a strange young woman and this secretive old man, but Theo allows Edith to create a more real connection with the people around her where her family has certainly let her down.
There is room for some humour in their relationship too. One of my favourite moments of dialogue between the two, around when Edith draws comparisons between their two lines of work, is when Theo takes her to a farm that creates new species of animals:
Theo: “I come here when I am trying to make sense of human nature.”
Edith “You visit an unnatural place with unnatural animals to do that?”
They’re both very strange people but they work well together, though Edith feels a little hypocritical here since she spends most of her time looking at a particular piece in the gallery: The Child’s Dream, a unicorn in a tank of formaldehyde (it’s a real thing – thank you to this reviewer who included the name of the art piece since I forgot. You can follow that link if you want but since it looks like no dream of mine, I didn’t want to subject any of you to that unwillingly).
The story feels a little autobiographical in that the main character’s schooling and work seems drawn from the author’s own experience in galleries, as well as the locations she uses being those she’s grown up in (though I’m pretty sure the wild family drama is all her own invention).
August 7, 2016
In almost every respect, this is a remarkably uneven book. There are times when the characters seem very realistic and well-drawn, and then there are other times when they seem sketchy. There are times when the dialogue or the narration are powerful and subtle, and then there are times when they're cliched and when they feel scripted. There are scenes when the quality of the writing shows you what's going on, and then there are times when the text merely tells you about its own themes, metaphors, and so on, thereby flattening those elements by treating them with such a heavy hand. Even the plot, minimal though it is, has its strong and weak moments.
Perhaps appropriately given that it was written by a poet, the book's most consistent strength is its imagery, which very often is both well-phrased and meaningful. When you hit upon one of the scenes or images that encapsulates what the protagonist is experiencing or feeling (and when those experiences or feelings are of the believable sort rather than the trite or scripted sort), everything seems to fall into place.
Unfortunately, those moments were just too few and too far between - at least, for my tastes. It's clear that Berkhout has a lot of promise as a novelist, but she still seems to need a bit of polishing or refinement. Once the rest of her prose stands on a level with her already-strong poetic images, she'll be an extremely impressive writer of fiction. For the moment, she still has a way to go before she reaches her potential.
(Incidentally, I received this book via this site's giveaway program.)
Perhaps appropriately given that it was written by a poet, the book's most consistent strength is its imagery, which very often is both well-phrased and meaningful. When you hit upon one of the scenes or images that encapsulates what the protagonist is experiencing or feeling (and when those experiences or feelings are of the believable sort rather than the trite or scripted sort), everything seems to fall into place.
Unfortunately, those moments were just too few and too far between - at least, for my tastes. It's clear that Berkhout has a lot of promise as a novelist, but she still seems to need a bit of polishing or refinement. Once the rest of her prose stands on a level with her already-strong poetic images, she'll be an extremely impressive writer of fiction. For the moment, she still has a way to go before she reaches her potential.
(Incidentally, I received this book via this site's giveaway program.)
December 29, 2015
WARNING! THIS BOOK CONTAINS VERY LITTLE ABOUT UNICORNS!
Okay, so other then the disturbing lack of Unicorns and Lost species (all the way up until like... maybe the last 50 pages of this book) this story was pretty... well... depressing. I kind of want to slit my wrists now. I understand that this wasn't about picturing the perfect suburban family, instead taking a look at the rotten inside of what seemed to be a perfect suburban family on the outside. I liked that the characters were all either so hateable or lovable, there was honestly no in between. I liked how complex the relationships with everyone got as Edith got older and started to gain a better perspective on everything. I especially like that the older sister went to hell in a hand basket, personally I hope that selfish bitch did up and die.
What I didn't like was that Edith didn't get what she deserved. She deserved a love as amazing as Viv and Nick Angel's, if it wasn't going to be with Liam it could have been with anyone else, but she doesn't even get that. Her fucking sister up and leaves her after she gets all that money to save her life and she doesn't even get the love she deserves? This book was horrible. But hey, it kept me going, I had this morbid sense of curiosity I had to see if it would get better for her or if her sister would come back but oh well.
Okay, so other then the disturbing lack of Unicorns and Lost species (all the way up until like... maybe the last 50 pages of this book) this story was pretty... well... depressing. I kind of want to slit my wrists now. I understand that this wasn't about picturing the perfect suburban family, instead taking a look at the rotten inside of what seemed to be a perfect suburban family on the outside. I liked that the characters were all either so hateable or lovable, there was honestly no in between. I liked how complex the relationships with everyone got as Edith got older and started to gain a better perspective on everything. I especially like that the older sister went to hell in a hand basket, personally I hope that selfish bitch did up and die.
What I didn't like was that Edith didn't get what she deserved. She deserved a love as amazing as Viv and Nick Angel's, if it wasn't going to be with Liam it could have been with anyone else, but she doesn't even get that. Her fucking sister up and leaves her after she gets all that money to save her life and she doesn't even get the love she deserves? This book was horrible. But hey, it kept me going, I had this morbid sense of curiosity I had to see if it would get better for her or if her sister would come back but oh well.
August 16, 2016
Though Edith's older sister Vivienne has the full attention of their mother and head-turning beauty, all is not perfect in Vivienne's life. She's dragged to pageant after pageant by her mother, mostly against her will, and their relationship turns ugly quickly and stays unhappy and bitter as Vivienne grows up. As Vivienne's life spins out of her control, Edith finds her own way—first in a strange coin shop, and later in a career at the National Gallery of Canada, where she befriends a man obsessed with cryptozoology. Still, despite her successes, she can't escape Vivienne's orbit. The man Edith loves has eyes only for Vivienne, a reality Edith can’t accept; and Vivienne's downward spiral, now well beyond simple rebellion, leads her terrifyingly astray. Edith faces a heart-wrenching choice: let Vivienne go, or pursue her at the expense of her own hard-earned happiness.
Though the metaphors Berkhout extends throughout the novel often seem stretched a bit thin, the relationship between the sisters is rendered movingly. The Gallery of Lost Species is a beautiful exploration of how a mother and daughters seek redemption from one another--at great cost to all.
***Review originally written for the San Francisco Book Review. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.***
Though the metaphors Berkhout extends throughout the novel often seem stretched a bit thin, the relationship between the sisters is rendered movingly. The Gallery of Lost Species is a beautiful exploration of how a mother and daughters seek redemption from one another--at great cost to all.
***Review originally written for the San Francisco Book Review. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.***
March 16, 2018
An Ottawa author who works at the National Gallery of Canada writes a novel based in Ottawa whose main character works at the National Gallery of Canada. Nevertheless, the story is fascinating and poetic and tragic and cathartic.
Favourite quote....
Favourite quote....
October 15, 2016
I really enjoyed this well written and thought provoking book. The plot seemed a little forced in places, but, the characters more than make up for this. The entire Walker family is well drawn and I was fascinated in the ways family members impact each other. My heart went out to Edith, in particular and the author did an outstanding job charting her emotional/cognitive development throughout the book.
A major theme of this book is hope and what it means to lose hope. Is life still worth living when we accept it as is, horrifying and distressing as reality can be? Is losing hope a natural part of growing up? Are those who cling to hope emotionally immature/stunted? What difficulties present in relationships when one party insists on seeing the other through the clouded lens of magical thinking and refuses to give up hope? All very interesting questions with huge implications for the way one lives life.
Thank you Nina Berkhout for writing a book that makes me think!
A major theme of this book is hope and what it means to lose hope. Is life still worth living when we accept it as is, horrifying and distressing as reality can be? Is losing hope a natural part of growing up? Are those who cling to hope emotionally immature/stunted? What difficulties present in relationships when one party insists on seeing the other through the clouded lens of magical thinking and refuses to give up hope? All very interesting questions with huge implications for the way one lives life.
Thank you Nina Berkhout for writing a book that makes me think!
June 10, 2015
A rich Canadian story about two sisters growing up in Ottawa. Nina Berkhout writes with passion and does a fabulous job of creating deep complicated characters with flaws that sometimes make it difficult to like them. Her descriptions of Ottawa and Vancouver were exceptional. While the story was sad and the family depicted clearly dysfunctional they were highly relatable. Wonderful read!
February 7, 2016
A simple story told in a lovely voice. Edith is an awkward girl under her reluctant pageant sister's shine. Melancholy is laced throughout the narrative which both helps and hinders my sympathy for Edith as it seems sometimes that Berkhout pities Edith.
I particularly liked the allegory of the cryptozoologists with Edith's quest.
I particularly liked the allegory of the cryptozoologists with Edith's quest.
February 5, 2015
I enjoyed reading a book based in Canada by a Canadian. Plus I love Unicorns. This story read very real to life. I felt it could easily compare to the movie Boyhood.
November 9, 2015
5 stars! Like a cross between the surreality of Laura van den Berg and the pathos of Judy Blume. Plus a unicorn is involved somehow. Definitely adding this author to my list of writers to watch!
December 15, 2015
Hauntingly beautiful with flawed and engaging characters.
I'm generally not a fan of "tragic family/coming of age/addiction" stories but I picked this one up on a whim and I loved it.
I'm generally not a fan of "tragic family/coming of age/addiction" stories but I picked this one up on a whim and I loved it.
January 27, 2018
I liked the first half quite a bit, but struggled a bit through the rest of it. To be honest, this was probably more my fault than the book's, as I was reading it at night, in bed, after putting my other book aside for the night.
It's set in Ottawa, and I do love books set in familiar worlds. The protagonist works at the National Gallery (as does the author does in real life). She grew up as the less-favoured child in a dysfunctional 2-child family, which in the end might have been a blessing. She spends her adult years trying to save her older sister, who, despite (or perhaps because of) her advantages, struggles with addiction and all the problems that accompany it.
I read this on the Kindle because I heard that there were links throughout the book to specific pieces of art in the National Gallery. Unfortunately, most of those links went to the Gallery's home page. (The one of the unicorn did work properly. And the unicorn appears to be from the same artist that did the unicorn currently on display at the Quebec end of the Portage Bridge. https://www.pictaram.org/post/BdGYVpC... .)
It's set in Ottawa, and I do love books set in familiar worlds. The protagonist works at the National Gallery (as does the author does in real life). She grew up as the less-favoured child in a dysfunctional 2-child family, which in the end might have been a blessing. She spends her adult years trying to save her older sister, who, despite (or perhaps because of) her advantages, struggles with addiction and all the problems that accompany it.
I read this on the Kindle because I heard that there were links throughout the book to specific pieces of art in the National Gallery. Unfortunately, most of those links went to the Gallery's home page. (The one of the unicorn did work properly. And the unicorn appears to be from the same artist that did the unicorn currently on display at the Quebec end of the Portage Bridge. https://www.pictaram.org/post/BdGYVpC... .)
October 21, 2017
Ce roman avait tout pour me plaire: la muséologie, la science, une amitié unique, Ottawa comme toile de fond... Or, j'ai trouvé cette lecture... ennuyante. Je ne me suis pas attachée au personnage principal, l'amitié entre elle et un vieux cryptozoologiste arrive trop tard au milieu du récit et ne reste qu'en surface. Le livre aurait pu être réduit de plus de la moitié en enlevant les détails inutiles à l'histoire et aurait pu être tellement plus intéressant si les personnages avaient eu plus de personnalité!
February 8, 2020
Though at times a slow read, "The Gallery of Lost Species" ended up surprising me in the end. A coming if age story, Edith is always in the shadows of her older sister Vivienne until life choices get in the way. Edith's character is well developed, likable, hateable, and everything in between. The other characters who pass through her life shape her as she becomes an adult, figuring out who she is outside of her sister's shadow. The mystery behind the prized unicorn adds to the storyline only a touch but so importantly. A beautiful read.
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