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Two Strand River
Boyish Leslie, a retired competitive swimmer turned children’s librarian, and girlish Alan, a fashionable hairstylist, are living parallel lives of thwarted desire, but soon they will be utterly transformed as the middle-aged shaman, Mildred McKenzie, opens the crack between the worlds and hurls them into an alternate reality.
Originally published in 1976, Two Strand River is one of the earliest literary novels to star transgendered characters. Reprinted twice, it has long been considered a cult classic and led the assault on the “gender binary” thirty years before that term was in common use. Saturated with folklore, B.C. First Nations mythology, and fairytale allusions, the book takes the reader on a fantastical trip through the gender mirror.
“After machismo, the city-person. Keith Maillard, in his first novel, in his androgynous vision of the urban world, is as contemporary as a hair-do, as old as a nursery rhyme. His typical dreamer is Alan/Ellen, the self making erotic love to the self. His place is Vancouver, that ultimate and dreamed Canadian city.”
Robert Kroetsch
“Although genetics can’t save the day, magic realism does, and the concept of gender becomes at first fluid, then meaningless, then finally redemptive in some way that can’t be and probably doesn’t need to be explained too coherently…. One of the best gender-bending novels now in print.”
Kirkus Reviews
Originally published in 1976, Two Strand River is one of the earliest literary novels to star transgendered characters. Reprinted twice, it has long been considered a cult classic and led the assault on the “gender binary” thirty years before that term was in common use. Saturated with folklore, B.C. First Nations mythology, and fairytale allusions, the book takes the reader on a fantastical trip through the gender mirror.
“After machismo, the city-person. Keith Maillard, in his first novel, in his androgynous vision of the urban world, is as contemporary as a hair-do, as old as a nursery rhyme. His typical dreamer is Alan/Ellen, the self making erotic love to the self. His place is Vancouver, that ultimate and dreamed Canadian city.”
Robert Kroetsch
“Although genetics can’t save the day, magic realism does, and the concept of gender becomes at first fluid, then meaningless, then finally redemptive in some way that can’t be and probably doesn’t need to be explained too coherently…. One of the best gender-bending novels now in print.”
Kirkus Reviews
314 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1982
62 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 22, 2011
i am so glad i happened upon two of keith maillard's books in a used bookstore and bought them even though i had never heard of him before. i do that a lot actually.
because this is a great book. it's also kind of a weird book, by the author's own omission. it's largely about problems relating to sexual identity, as several of the main characters want to be the other sex than the one they are. normally this would not be the type of book that i would even read, never mind love and give five stars to. but the writing is so brilliant and the characters all seem so real, i couldn't put it down once i had started reading it. oh yeah, and there is one character who is basically a witch and some real weird shit happens when she's around.
the only complaint i have is that there is a lot of dialogue,which is fine, but the author has a lot of the characters ending their sentences with, eh.this is a seemingly widespread canadian stereotype, but i have lived in canada for all of my 57 years and have yet to hear a canadian who talks like that.maybe the author does, i don't know.
because this is a great book. it's also kind of a weird book, by the author's own omission. it's largely about problems relating to sexual identity, as several of the main characters want to be the other sex than the one they are. normally this would not be the type of book that i would even read, never mind love and give five stars to. but the writing is so brilliant and the characters all seem so real, i couldn't put it down once i had started reading it. oh yeah, and there is one character who is basically a witch and some real weird shit happens when she's around.
the only complaint i have is that there is a lot of dialogue,which is fine, but the author has a lot of the characters ending their sentences with, eh.this is a seemingly widespread canadian stereotype, but i have lived in canada for all of my 57 years and have yet to hear a canadian who talks like that.maybe the author does, i don't know.
February 9, 2015
A ground breaking book written in the 1970s. For those like me who knew little or nothing about two spirit people, this book is a must read in a society in which so many people would define sexual orientation, what it is to be an authentic human person, especially those who reject the diversity of sexual orientation to the point of labeling those who are 'straight' male or female as the only God given way, and those who make the egregious error of calling those who are different sinners. We are all precious in God's sight. To the rest of us, so sure, so smug and safe in our heterosexuality, where is the love? Not one of us is righteous, no, not one. Be aware. God does not make mistakes. We are all equal in God's sight. This book may help you along the path of acceptance of all people, and peace.
May 17, 2021
Absolutely brilliant. I can't believe this was written in the mid seventies, and is relatively unknown.
January 18, 2015
What a fascinating book! It does not read like either a 35 year old book or a first novel, and that's the highest compliment I can pay anything. The short version is that it's about crossgendered romance, but that doesn't do it justice. Leslie is a boyish children's librarian of the female gender, who used to be an Olympic class swimmer but as she matured lost that edge of speed and is now not sure what she wants to do with the skill lacking the talent. Alan is a male hairdresser who is...effeminate isn't quite the right description as that's always struck me as being derogatory. Somewhere between transgendered and transvestite, perhaps; he's really not sure himself. Throw an aging hippie mother figure, several grumpy Indian Curmudgeons, a lot of rain and several disintegrating relationships into the mix, and you get a lot of people trying to figure out what they want to do with themselves.
Both feeling their way through a society that is binary--man/woman, gay/straight--and does not allow for "none of the above" people such as Alan and Leslie. In the end, they do find one another; the book ends with the somewhat enigmatic "The girl was a boy. The boy was a girl. Alan and Leslie saw each other." In the end, it's not clear which character was which gender, but does that really matter? They found each other, and if that's not a happy ending I don't know what is.
Both feeling their way through a society that is binary--man/woman, gay/straight--and does not allow for "none of the above" people such as Alan and Leslie. In the end, they do find one another; the book ends with the somewhat enigmatic "The girl was a boy. The boy was a girl. Alan and Leslie saw each other." In the end, it's not clear which character was which gender, but does that really matter? They found each other, and if that's not a happy ending I don't know what is.
March 25, 2016
can't remember exactly when I read this book, shortly after it. came out ( no pun intended)
I was impressed just by the fact that I had a casually intense relationship with the author who was best friends with the love of my life, and Keith was the first of that loose group to get mainstream publication. And of course it covered our life in Vancouver and seemed so representative of our burning issues.
I will need to read it again to see if it stands the test of time. Then, I found it profound and satisfying and I'm glad to see its been reprinted.
I was impressed just by the fact that I had a casually intense relationship with the author who was best friends with the love of my life, and Keith was the first of that loose group to get mainstream publication. And of course it covered our life in Vancouver and seemed so representative of our burning issues.
I will need to read it again to see if it stands the test of time. Then, I found it profound and satisfying and I'm glad to see its been reprinted.
June 11, 2016
A strange Canadian novel from the 1970s. Perhaps it was groundbreaking at the time but the treatment of the gender identity issues now feels dated and even bizarre. If I put on a dress will I lose the memories formed while dressed as a boy? Does a skirt have the power to erase memory? The so called shamanistic experiences did not ring true, especially since two characters at different times each has the exact same experience, even employing the exact same recycled text.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews