Causeway: A Passage From Innocence

by Linden MacIntyre

Causeway is Linden MacIntyre's evocative memoir of his Cape Breton childhood. At once a vibrant coming-of-age story, a portrait of a vanishing way of life and a reflection on fathers and sons, the narrative revolves around the construction of the Canso Causeway that would link the small Cape Breton village of MacIntyre's childhood to the wide world of the mainland. Shot through with humour, humanity and vivid characters, Causeway is an extraordinary book, a memoir that has set a new standard for the genre.

Genres: Canada, Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography

400 pages, Paperback

First published September 7, 2006

About the author

Linden MacIntyre is the co-host of the fifth estate and the winner of nine Gemini Awards for broadcast journalism. His most recent book, a boyhood memoir called Causeway: A Passage from Innocence won both the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction and the Evelyn Richardson Prize for Non-Fiction.

Reviews

[Linda Munroe · Rating 5 out of 5]

When people told me that I should read this book I imagined all the rock that must have been dumped in the ocean to create the Canso causeway and I imagined the dust and the noise and decided to skip it. MacIntyre is familiar to me from his work with the CBC and I appreciate his skill as a journalist and as a storyteller so when the book was recommended to me again this year I grabbed it and I am glad I did.

The author has managed to achieve a perfect balance in taking us to a time and a place that was rushing towards change but also looking back at the lives of his grandparents. I lived in Nova Scotia for part of the time period he covered and I recognize the life he describes.

Linden's father was away from home for huge periods of time so as a boy he suffered the absence of his Dad. The longing he expresses
seems to be exactly how a kid would think - imagine- make deals with God etc. Adult rationalization does not intrude on these portions of the story.

It is interesting, lovely to read and a book that is perfect as it is. No, it is not just about the rock that was dumped but there is some of that.

[Kathleen Nightingale · Rating 3 out of 5]

How to choose/not choose the rating you give a book. I have read that one doesn't want to insult the writer by giving a low rating because it is the author's baby. While others feel you should look at Goodreads and see what others gave to the same book and settle within those parameters. I thought long and hard regarding this and have decided that my rating chooses will be done on how I personally feel reading the book and nothing more. I am not insulting the author nor am I basing my rating on what others thought. Thus this book gets a 3 star rating.

I thought it was wonderfully written. The book had a great story line but it did not live up to my expectations. I thought it was a book of a young man growing up on Cape Breton Island watching the Causeway develop into fruition. For me, this was sorely lacking. There was very little regarding the development of the Causeway and an overabundance of a young man longing to understand and spend more time with his father. Thus, the second part of the title is applicable: A Passage from Innocence.

When I started reading this book I wanted to read about the displacement and angst of having the Causeway developed. There was none of this and as I am presently living with a community in a major upheaval due to rapid transit being implemented in my city I know there are a whole litany of issues surrounding major changes within a growing community.

[Rebecca MacDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an excellent dive into the socioeconomic context of rural cape Breton, with the perspectives of both a young boy and a grown man illuminating issues of identity and the challenges of growing up in an uncertain time.

[Geoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction to life in Cape Breton as well as some of the culture in this Canadian microcosm. I enjoyed the book but the writing style is reminiscent of the journalists style ie. repeating little facts several chapters apart even though they provide no context. It makes it seem like the chapters are meant as columns to be read separately and stand on their own.

Like the author, I'm not sure about the genre either. This mid-fiction, mid-non-fiction seems difficult to relate to for me. Should I believe it? Did that actually happen? Was this plot point added just to make the book "juicier"?

Still recommended for those wanting some insight into some of the Cape Breton culture and attitudes.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely enjoyed reading this book. The author is clever, a born storyteller, he made me laugh, he made me cry .... Powerful insights, smart writing, a book with a message (i.e. the passing of time, the relativity of everything) .... After The Bishop's Man, this is the second MacIntyre novel I've read - and the second one I felt it was well worth my time.

NB: Of particular interest to me were the reflections on what home is (from the end chapter, the author's return "home" - after the death of his father) .... Somehow this books reminds me of Rites of Passage .... (the title)?

[Penny (Literary Hoarders)]

Just met the man himself (acted like I just met a rockstar) I just love Linden MacIntyre....had this one signed - don't have this one and it was a total surprise to be able to hear him talk from his book Punishment. Great night.

[Margie Hadley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book extremely endearing, the life and culture of the East Coast perfectly cast.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a somewhat melancholic sentimental recollection of the author's growing up in Cape Breton Island at about the time that the Causeway was built to connect it with mainland Nova Scotia. We get an inside view of the poor Scottish-Irish catholic small town community of Port Hastings where he lived & grew up. His father's life was characterized by "bad luck" , possibly attributable to the Gaelic equivalent of the evil eye, which meant that he was never able to stay home & have steady employment but was forced to try his hand at various jobs-mainly hard rock mining in a variety of places, so he wasn't home except for brief visits & didn't communicate with Linden much. His attempts at setting up a business-sawmill 2x, trucking-seemed to fail, though he managed to have a civil service job at home for a while near the end of his life. He was not eloquent except when speaking Gaelic to his old cronies & relatives. Mother was a hard nosed abstemious but capable woman. The grandparents on both sides were old school & lived in humble circumstances. Linden went to a 2 room schoolhouse to grade 10 where his mother did some teaching, then away for high school & college & ultimately to work as a business journalist in Ottawa for some years, back to Cape Breton for a few years, and then for many years in Toronto as a journalist & writer.

[Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was apparently written in the short period of a CBC strike, and it does show. While MacIntyre's prose immediately transports you to small-town Nova Scotia, the book is a muddled, repetitive memoir that lies a little flat on the page.

The folksy charm of the setting and writing serve it a ways, but the jumping timeline and lack of narrative progression don't do much to underline the book's thesis of the Causeway as a shift in Cape Breton life. It's there, it's just buried in little anecdotes or asides that pile on and repeat themselves as if an editor never looked at it.

MacIntyre's deprecation of himself as a green reporter doesn't add much, but his childhood memories and attitudes do capture that vanished small town life, just in a swirling way that you can get out of any 50 pages, not needing the whole book.

[Doug Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm putting down the reason I thought this book (memoir) was pretty average was due to the fact that I had not read any of his books and was unfamiliar with his CBC radio programs.

I thought that given "Causeway" in the title, there would have been more emphasis on the construction of the physical connection between mainland Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island.

I found many of his memories of his youth to be quite boring. The relationship with his much absent father was well done.

I've had The Bishop's Man on my "to read" list for a long time and now I'm not sure I will leave it there.

[Georgina · Rating 5 out of 5]

If there ever was a way to write a biography, this was the way. Coming from the perspective of a 10 to 15 year old, you get the reality of the times and the actual feel of what it was like growing up in Port Hastings at that time. I totally related to "the Hole" as my grandparents in Leamington, Ontario also had a hole; the only difference for me was German was being spoken, not Gaelic. This book was pure joy to read. I highly recommend.

[David Hart · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mostly bland story, but therefore to his credit, honest. He didn't dress his story up to be more than it was. On the other hand, it was very well written. A family member would greatly appreciate this book and therefore score it 5/5. But for Joe blow readers like myself, I didn't find the content greatly interesting, but he maximized the story with some pretty terrific writing. Thank you, Linden!

[Chris R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

My only beef, really, is that the book is about 100 pages too long. McIntyre has a good memory and, I suspect, formidable research skills. But I'm not sure I need to read so much about his newspaper route, for instance, or his dad's absences.

But as a snapshot of a different era - and the hardships that were part of a normal life - Causeway is quite remarkable.

[Daniel Macgregor · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone from the backwoods of Inverness County, I feel this is one of the best books (in the short list) dealing with Port Hastings and the difficult times of change often found on the island. I highly recommend this book.

[Kathleen McRae · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting read and has a storytelling quality of how a big event unfolded in a small community.

[Mike Wetmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great memoir

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting enough to keep reading, but not so girpping that I rushed thruogh it. It was actually as much a father-son story as about the causeway and its construction. What I liked best was the cadence - certain lines and ideas repeated in different sections of the book, so it felt like a story told by a story teller in the oral tradition than anything else. I also liked that the messages about change in the town mirrored the growing up/coming of age story. It was well and subtly crafted. But somehow, lacked oophm. When I realized that though its am ememoir of a time gone by, many of the people in it, including his mother are still alive, I readlied that might be why this story lacks some edge...

[Adam McPhee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A memory of a different time in Cape Breton, and another testament to the weird psychological role that the Causeway seems to play. Even though it's a memoir it seems like an Alistair Macleod short story. Also interesting to see where he seems to have got some of the ideas for his later novels.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked it, well done memoir. Learned a lot.

[Jim]

Elegent writing

[Carolyn Pendergast · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an absolutely enjoyable read. Now my new favourite of MacIntyre's books. Great storytelling ... Warm, funny, poignant, informative. Highly recommend it.