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King Leary
Percival Leary was once the King of the Ice, one of hockey's greatest heroes. Now, in the South Grouse Nursing Home, where he shares a room with Edmund "Blue" Hermann, the antagonistic and alcoholic reporter who once chronicled his career, Leary looks back on his tumultuous life and times: his days at the boys' reformatory when he burned down a house; the four mad monks who first taught him to play hockey; and the time he executed the perfect "St. Louis Whirlygig" to score the winning goal in the 1919 Stanley Cup final.
Now all but forgotten, Leary is only a legend in his own mind until a high-powered advertising agency decides to feature him in a series of ginger ale commercials. With his male nurse, his son, and the irrepressible Blue, Leary sets off for Toronto on one last adventure as he revisits the scenes of his glorious life as King of the Ice.
Now all but forgotten, Leary is only a legend in his own mind until a high-powered advertising agency decides to feature him in a series of ginger ale commercials. With his male nurse, his son, and the irrepressible Blue, Leary sets off for Toronto on one last adventure as he revisits the scenes of his glorious life as King of the Ice.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
7 people are currently reading
766 people want to read
About the author
Paul Quarrington
23 books36 followersPaul Quarrington was a novelist and musician, an award-winning screenwriter, filmmaker, and an acclaimed non-fiction writer. His last novel The Ravine was published in March 2008. His previous novel Galveston was nominated for the Giller; Whale Music won the Governor General’s Award for Fiction. Quarrington won the Stephen Leacock Medal for King Leary, a title that also won the 2008 Canada Reads competition. As a musician, he played in the band PorkBelly Futures; their self-titled second CD was released in April 2008; the first CD Way Past Midnight was extremely well received. His screenplays and story editing have won many awards, most recently the CFPTA Indie Award for Comedy for the series Moose TV, and he was in high demand as a story editor for feature films and television. Paul ’s filmmaking talents as writer / director were evident in his BookShorts short film, Pavane, which he adapted from The Ravine and was featured in the Moving Stories Film Festival September - November 2008. His non-fiction writing included books on some of his favourite pastimes such as fishing, hockey and music. He regularly contributed book reviews, travel columns and journalism to Canada’s national newspapers and magazines. Paul lived and worked in Toronto, where he taught writing at Humber College and University of Toronto, and sat on the Board of Directors for the Fringe Theatre Festival. Quarrington was also an (extremely) amateur magician and a would-be mariner.
Paul was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer in May of 2009. He died at home, with his family.
Paul was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer in May of 2009. He died at home, with his family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews
October 22, 2012
Whenever I can't sleep I often play a game. I go through the alphabet thinking of novelists I have read. Men first, then women and then, if it is a really bad night, children's authors. Most letters i have no problem with but 'Q', now that is always a struggle. So I hit upon a cunning plan. Going to the Cinema bookshop, an enormous, cavernous place with endless bookcases and shelves stretching over two floors I decided to find a couple of Q's. Paul Quarrington, of whom I had never heard, was one and this was the book i bought. A lovely first edition from 1987, although yet again the GR librarians declare its ISBN as being from a 1988 edition. WRONG !! But the mechanism for changing and challenging seems so unwieldy that i can't be arsed.
Now you know why I picked up the book you may be interested as to what it was like. Excellent. That is what it is. It is funny and poignant and enraging and bizarre and unsettling and, most especially, Quarrington respects his readers. By that i mean he does not spoon feed his story all the time, he demands that we listen and concentrate and think. He doesn't signal every joke with huge unsubtle arrowing but will sometimes leave one ticking away in the narrative and it is only two or three pages later that the pay-off will explode in the paragraph and the cleverness of development becomes clear.
The story is related by an old man living in residential care. He was a top ice hockey player and he tells, through flashback and encounters in his mind with long dead friends, his adventures and misadventures. We see everything through his eyes and as the story develops he becomes, quite clearly, an unreliable narrator. Not so much because he is untruthful but because he is blind to aspects of life which did not fit in with his plan or understanding.
Gradually, more and more of the hinterland of the story is explored or, if you will, the pencil sketches he has drawn of others' lives are gradually given shade and depth and perspective and this comes through encounters with his 'fallen comrades' arriving like Banquo's ghost to chaallenge the equilibrium of his old age.
Quarrington has a lovely ability to describe the natural world
Sometimes the canal would be whitecapped and rough, and I wouldn't think the wind was up and blowing over a storm, I'd think the water was angry. Or sometimes it would be gentle, with little pieces of sunlight bouncing on it and i knew that the canal was happy and that if i went swimming the water would play on my body
or warfare It was like God slapped the world with the flat of His hand> The ridge started screaming
The sun and wind are staging a major coup, trying to replace the stubborn winter with fragile spring
He is great with one-liners
the reason he isn't dead yet is that even the Grim reaper has some pride
Blue Hermann got some of his best diseases in Toronto
They were Church people and their basic idea was - you are a piece of dung but God is willing to help
The man can't carry a tune in a suitcase
I particularly liked Quarrington's take on one of my favourite slang expressions. In England, if something is excellent, someone might say 'That is the dog's bollocks', Quarrington has his hero saying
Its the puppy's butt
For some reason this, as they say, really tickled my fancy.
Anyway the book is a moving exploration of friendship and how this can blind us to truth, of ambition and how this can allow us to betray friendship and of how destructive our words can be. How their knock on effect can resound a long while after they have stopped being shouted or spoken or even whispered.
Quarrington does all this without letting up on the humour. Gallows humour I suppose it could be called but it creates an atmosphere in the narrative which unnerves. At the heart of the novel is the relationship of Leary, our narrator, and his two best friends, both now long dead. Gradually, piece by piece and detail by detail the true history of events unfolds.
From early on in the novel Quarrington unsettles his reader. You know there is something lurking in the back story and as it dawns on you, you realize you knew it deep down all the time. His talent is that he makes us, his readers, discover this inevitable truth at the same time as Leary faces up to it. Its as if we are walking the journey with him. His unreliability as a narrator thus becomes the great strength of the novel. Leary is not a liar but a coward. He has fought against facing life because in facing it there would be, and indeed are, too many questions crying out for answers. The ghosts which rock his security are not wraiths from beyond the grave but his long buried conscience.
This book is, to coin a phrase, 'the puppy's butt'.
Now you know why I picked up the book you may be interested as to what it was like. Excellent. That is what it is. It is funny and poignant and enraging and bizarre and unsettling and, most especially, Quarrington respects his readers. By that i mean he does not spoon feed his story all the time, he demands that we listen and concentrate and think. He doesn't signal every joke with huge unsubtle arrowing but will sometimes leave one ticking away in the narrative and it is only two or three pages later that the pay-off will explode in the paragraph and the cleverness of development becomes clear.
The story is related by an old man living in residential care. He was a top ice hockey player and he tells, through flashback and encounters in his mind with long dead friends, his adventures and misadventures. We see everything through his eyes and as the story develops he becomes, quite clearly, an unreliable narrator. Not so much because he is untruthful but because he is blind to aspects of life which did not fit in with his plan or understanding.
Gradually, more and more of the hinterland of the story is explored or, if you will, the pencil sketches he has drawn of others' lives are gradually given shade and depth and perspective and this comes through encounters with his 'fallen comrades' arriving like Banquo's ghost to chaallenge the equilibrium of his old age.
Quarrington has a lovely ability to describe the natural world
Sometimes the canal would be whitecapped and rough, and I wouldn't think the wind was up and blowing over a storm, I'd think the water was angry. Or sometimes it would be gentle, with little pieces of sunlight bouncing on it and i knew that the canal was happy and that if i went swimming the water would play on my body
or warfare It was like God slapped the world with the flat of His hand> The ridge started screaming
The sun and wind are staging a major coup, trying to replace the stubborn winter with fragile spring
He is great with one-liners
the reason he isn't dead yet is that even the Grim reaper has some pride
Blue Hermann got some of his best diseases in Toronto
They were Church people and their basic idea was - you are a piece of dung but God is willing to help
The man can't carry a tune in a suitcase
I particularly liked Quarrington's take on one of my favourite slang expressions. In England, if something is excellent, someone might say 'That is the dog's bollocks', Quarrington has his hero saying
Its the puppy's butt
For some reason this, as they say, really tickled my fancy.
Anyway the book is a moving exploration of friendship and how this can blind us to truth, of ambition and how this can allow us to betray friendship and of how destructive our words can be. How their knock on effect can resound a long while after they have stopped being shouted or spoken or even whispered.
Quarrington does all this without letting up on the humour. Gallows humour I suppose it could be called but it creates an atmosphere in the narrative which unnerves. At the heart of the novel is the relationship of Leary, our narrator, and his two best friends, both now long dead. Gradually, piece by piece and detail by detail the true history of events unfolds.
From early on in the novel Quarrington unsettles his reader. You know there is something lurking in the back story and as it dawns on you, you realize you knew it deep down all the time. His talent is that he makes us, his readers, discover this inevitable truth at the same time as Leary faces up to it. Its as if we are walking the journey with him. His unreliability as a narrator thus becomes the great strength of the novel. Leary is not a liar but a coward. He has fought against facing life because in facing it there would be, and indeed are, too many questions crying out for answers. The ghosts which rock his security are not wraiths from beyond the grave but his long buried conscience.
This book is, to coin a phrase, 'the puppy's butt'.
January 9, 2009
I am revising my review slightly, because when I last wrote, I was feeling "under the weather".
Although I grew up playing hockey, (on frozen ponds, mainly, with the neighbourhood boys), I have never really enjoyed watching, or reading, about the sport. This book is, of course, not necessarily for a Hockey fan.
To quote a friend: A perspective, too, on the changes of attitude in media/sport relationships and the "hero" athlete.
So, in the end, I'd say, give it a "shot"! :)
Although I grew up playing hockey, (on frozen ponds, mainly, with the neighbourhood boys), I have never really enjoyed watching, or reading, about the sport. This book is, of course, not necessarily for a Hockey fan.
To quote a friend: A perspective, too, on the changes of attitude in media/sport relationships and the "hero" athlete.
So, in the end, I'd say, give it a "shot"! :)
May 18, 2018
This book won Canada Reads in 2008, but surprisingly it does not seem to be widely read. It’s the heartfelt tale of a life told from a comical point of view. Leary is now a “grumpy old man,” but throughout the story he reflects on his friendships, family, and career in a meaningful way. Alcoholism is also a recurring theme.
March 10, 2013
Read in 2008 for Canada Reads, my review from January, 2008:
Oh gosh, I am so glad I read this book. Notwithstanding that I haven't yet read the other 2008 Canada Reads candidates, I'm quite prepared to say King Leary should be "la premier etoile"!
Percival "King" Leary is an old man (read "one foot poised to kick it") and former hockey legend. As I was reading I did wonder for a while whether he really was a legend "in the books" or whether the highlight reels existed only in his own mind because I suspect that almost every Canadian male is (or coulda been) a hockey legend. But it appears he really was "King of the Ice". We find out that he has been trotted out and honoured at the Gardens more than once and he is in the Hall of Fame.
Now, however, he is confined to a nursing home reliving his glory days in his own mind and by spouting off to whomever will listen. One day though he is contacted by an ad agency who wants to feature King Leary in a ginger ale commercial and so we are off to Toronto with the King and his wacky entourage (his nurse, his ancient reporter roommate, his "loser" son and a couple of ghosts from the past) to relive those glory days.
King Leary's adventure is both incredibly funny and incredibly sad. Lewd and bawdy, thoughtful and heartwarming. The King had his moments of glory, scoring winning goals, perfecting his signature move, moments in the sun. But of course there were costs and insults.
As Canadians we know the history of our national sport, the drinking, carousing, corruption, the evolution of the game itself, the road trips, the trades, loyalties and loneliness, shame and glory. So all of Leary's memories ring very true.
It is a hockey story but it is much more than that. It is also a story of redemption.
Reserved for the Canada Day release challenge unless I can't help myself from foisting it on someone else as a "must read".
I think it makes for a great Canada Reads book. I found myself reading into it all sorts of things that I have no idea whether the author intended (Clay Bors Clinton as our neighbour to the south for example). Right or wrong, thought provoking.
Oh gosh, I am so glad I read this book. Notwithstanding that I haven't yet read the other 2008 Canada Reads candidates, I'm quite prepared to say King Leary should be "la premier etoile"!
Percival "King" Leary is an old man (read "one foot poised to kick it") and former hockey legend. As I was reading I did wonder for a while whether he really was a legend "in the books" or whether the highlight reels existed only in his own mind because I suspect that almost every Canadian male is (or coulda been) a hockey legend. But it appears he really was "King of the Ice". We find out that he has been trotted out and honoured at the Gardens more than once and he is in the Hall of Fame.
Now, however, he is confined to a nursing home reliving his glory days in his own mind and by spouting off to whomever will listen. One day though he is contacted by an ad agency who wants to feature King Leary in a ginger ale commercial and so we are off to Toronto with the King and his wacky entourage (his nurse, his ancient reporter roommate, his "loser" son and a couple of ghosts from the past) to relive those glory days.
King Leary's adventure is both incredibly funny and incredibly sad. Lewd and bawdy, thoughtful and heartwarming. The King had his moments of glory, scoring winning goals, perfecting his signature move, moments in the sun. But of course there were costs and insults.
As Canadians we know the history of our national sport, the drinking, carousing, corruption, the evolution of the game itself, the road trips, the trades, loyalties and loneliness, shame and glory. So all of Leary's memories ring very true.
It is a hockey story but it is much more than that. It is also a story of redemption.
Reserved for the Canada Day release challenge unless I can't help myself from foisting it on someone else as a "must read".
I think it makes for a great Canada Reads book. I found myself reading into it all sorts of things that I have no idea whether the author intended (Clay Bors Clinton as our neighbour to the south for example). Right or wrong, thought provoking.
October 6, 2019
I read this as it was a previous winner of Canada Reads, and I had read other books by Paul Quarrinton.
It is a humorous story about a former hockey star recalling his glory days, and the ups and downs of his career and his friends along the way. Similar to Whale Music The author does not shy away from painful subjects and the devastating impact of alcohol abuse.
It is a humorous story about a former hockey star recalling his glory days, and the ups and downs of his career and his friends along the way. Similar to Whale Music The author does not shy away from painful subjects and the devastating impact of alcohol abuse.
March 29, 2009
This book was chosen as the 2008 "Canada Reads" selection. Each year, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation invites four or five noteworthy figures from Canadian arts and letters to nominate a favorite book, the only rule being that the volume must reflect Canadian culture and values. The merits of each book are debated, often quite vigorously, in a series of radio programs, until one is selected that year's Canada Reads winner. The goal is to have every citizen of the nation read the book, in hopes that it will generate discussion and debate, increasing the sense of community in the nation. Can you imagine, millions of people earnestly talking about a book?
I know, we already have this. But I ain't interested in reading what Oprah tells me to read. And sure, sure, the selection process might sound like The Final Four for nerds, but it beats "American Idol".
And yes, what I am saying is that things are better in Canada, and that Americans are a bunch of lazy, intellectually atrophied cementheads. Want more evidence? I give you "The Family Guy".
Anyway, the book. It's a remarkable effort, in turns hilarious and heartbreaking. Percival "King" Leary is an octogenarian ex-hockey star, nearing death and haunted, albeit gently, by the ghosts of his past. There are plenty of "King Lear" references, but the story also owes much to Thomas Berger's "Little Big Man" and the best of Mark Harris's baseball novels. That's high praise, indeed, but completely deserved.
It's fun to pick at all the NHL references -- King Leary is based in part on Clarence "King" Clancy, Manny Oz is clearly references the tragic Busher Jackson, and Clay Clinton seems to be an amalgam of Conn Smythe and Harold Ballard -- but the power of the book is its messages: those who set their hearts on worldly things end up broken- hearted; no guilt is more searing that the guilt of having betrayed a loved one; forgiveness transcends time; and love is a powerful thing, indeed.
Plus, the word "gormless" is used about 57 times. How can you dislike a book that makes such liberal use of such a great word?
I know, we already have this. But I ain't interested in reading what Oprah tells me to read. And sure, sure, the selection process might sound like The Final Four for nerds, but it beats "American Idol".
And yes, what I am saying is that things are better in Canada, and that Americans are a bunch of lazy, intellectually atrophied cementheads. Want more evidence? I give you "The Family Guy".
Anyway, the book. It's a remarkable effort, in turns hilarious and heartbreaking. Percival "King" Leary is an octogenarian ex-hockey star, nearing death and haunted, albeit gently, by the ghosts of his past. There are plenty of "King Lear" references, but the story also owes much to Thomas Berger's "Little Big Man" and the best of Mark Harris's baseball novels. That's high praise, indeed, but completely deserved.
It's fun to pick at all the NHL references -- King Leary is based in part on Clarence "King" Clancy, Manny Oz is clearly references the tragic Busher Jackson, and Clay Clinton seems to be an amalgam of Conn Smythe and Harold Ballard -- but the power of the book is its messages: those who set their hearts on worldly things end up broken- hearted; no guilt is more searing that the guilt of having betrayed a loved one; forgiveness transcends time; and love is a powerful thing, indeed.
Plus, the word "gormless" is used about 57 times. How can you dislike a book that makes such liberal use of such a great word?
Read
March 2, 2012Full of blarney, spit and spunk, and often drunk on ginger ale, Percival Leary was the king of the ice in his heyday, captain of the Ottawa Patriots, trained by monks and fearless in the rink. King Leary now lives in a nursing home with his crony Blue Hermann, a former newspaper reporter, but when Leary is asked to travel to Toronto to film a ginger ale commercial, they pack up their canes and go. This book has an incredible voice and truly memorable characters and is easily the best novel about ice hockey I've ever read (maybe the only one I've ever read--but that doesn't take anything away from it).
June 24, 2011
Hmmm. I was let down. Winning the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour I was expecting something very different. I couldn't find humour in what seemed to be the downward spiral of an old man going insane, surrounded by drunkards throughout his entire life. Kinda sad to me really. On the upside, their were some very humorous one liners from the narrator.
September 22, 2009
Why are the characters in Paul Quarrington novels always drunk?
June 6, 2020
3.5 stars
Read
January 3, 2024DNF after 7 chapters. I just can't do it. I already had enough after the main character and their horrible best friend peeped at the latter's sister taking a bath to see her "bubbies." What the fuck.
June 19, 2021
What a beautiful, perfect book.
January 31, 2021
Goodness. I always have trouble hating a book once I’ve finished it, and to be fair, the last 50-60 pages were better than what came before, but I really don’t know why this won Canada Reads in 2008. All these characters are 2 dimensional at best, with every woman portrayed as a walking set of breasts. Combine this with a shocking dose of homophobia and I’m wondering if I read the same book as anyone else.
January 9, 2015
King Leary by Paul Quarrington is a fantastic novel that any hockey fan will love. King Leary is a fiction novel placed in Toronto, and a fictional town named South Grouse. The Canadian author Paul Quarrington got the idea of the main character and dedicated the novel on a page before it starts to a former NHL player in the early 1900’s named Francis Michael Clancy (Quarrington). There are many similarities between the main Character Percival “King” Leary and Francis “King” Clancy. Percival is Irish as is Clancy and the author borrowed the nickname “King” from Clancy. They also share the same birth place of Ottawa.
The novel is first person set in the early 1900’s. The reader is informed through the eyes of Percival Leary. This creates bias as other characters and the plot are seen and interpreted through his eyes. His best friend Manfred Ozikean is portrayed as a sorry no good drunk for the first part of the book. This is due to the first person narration and the bias that is caused by the narration style.
The genre of this book is humour and this humour perfectly targets the authors audience of a hockey fan. The author creates humour through Percival Leary, in both the way he talks about hockey and in the way he talks with his Irish tongue. For someone like me who is both Irish and a huge hockey fan, he perfectly hit the right humour spots. I found myself constantly laughing at all of the good hockey humour throughout the book. The author created names for the teams such as the Toronto Maple “Leaves” instead of “Leafs”. Also, the words he used for dekeing, such as the St Louis Whirligig were a perfect way to include comedy into this novel. The Irish comedy for some will be a bonus as “King” Leary would describe people as “Mooks” and other names. The comedy could not have been done any better by Quarrington.
Flashbacks were a large part of the novel and they were used extremely well by the author. Quarrington uses flashback stories to help develop characters, plot, and themes. The development of characters through these flashbacks is very important to the story and to a major theme in the book of appearance vs reality. It is perceived by the reader that “King” Leary is the king of the ice. Repetition, which is another rhetorical device is used to help drive the point home that Percival Leary is the “King”. However, as the novel progresses and there are more and more flashbacks, the reader learns that “King” Leary is not the true king of the ice. The flashbacks develop the characters of Percival Leary and Manfred Ozikean in such a way that you see Manfred is the true king of the ice and not Percival. That is where the illusion vs reality lies. It is believed that Leary is the king of the ice when in fact he is not.
Another major theme in this novel that is well portrayed by Quarrington is selfishness. Percival Leary was a very selfish man. He recounts on that through the flashbacks. He did not help his friend Manfred to stop drinking, and he even traded him away just so he could be “King” of the ice. Percival near the end of the novel sees what he has done in the past. He does what he can to get Manfred into the Canadian Hall of Fame and he tells his son to stop drinking. He does this because he regrets not telling Manfred that. He has a change of heart and shows selflessness. Many other professional hockey players like Percival go through similar emotional struggles. Percival is in a constant struggle with his own thoughts and emotions. Jordin Tootoo a former pro hockey player went through similar struggles. The stories are different however one of the things that Jordin battled is substance abuse, which is also a large part of the novel King Leary. Jordin has been able to overcome it with help and says that it was one of the best decisions of his life. Percival had the ability to help his friend but did not. He tries to make up for what he did and to act selfless instead of selfish.
The novel King Leary by Quarrington is a fantastic book and every Canadian should read it. Quarrington uses the genre of comedy perfectly and he brilliantly uses rhetorical devices to help enhance and develop characters, plot and theme. There are not enough good things that I could say about this novel. King Leary is a must read and is a true work of art.
Work Cited:
Quarrington, Paul. King Leary. Canada: Anchor Canada, 2007. Print.
The novel is first person set in the early 1900’s. The reader is informed through the eyes of Percival Leary. This creates bias as other characters and the plot are seen and interpreted through his eyes. His best friend Manfred Ozikean is portrayed as a sorry no good drunk for the first part of the book. This is due to the first person narration and the bias that is caused by the narration style.
The genre of this book is humour and this humour perfectly targets the authors audience of a hockey fan. The author creates humour through Percival Leary, in both the way he talks about hockey and in the way he talks with his Irish tongue. For someone like me who is both Irish and a huge hockey fan, he perfectly hit the right humour spots. I found myself constantly laughing at all of the good hockey humour throughout the book. The author created names for the teams such as the Toronto Maple “Leaves” instead of “Leafs”. Also, the words he used for dekeing, such as the St Louis Whirligig were a perfect way to include comedy into this novel. The Irish comedy for some will be a bonus as “King” Leary would describe people as “Mooks” and other names. The comedy could not have been done any better by Quarrington.
Flashbacks were a large part of the novel and they were used extremely well by the author. Quarrington uses flashback stories to help develop characters, plot, and themes. The development of characters through these flashbacks is very important to the story and to a major theme in the book of appearance vs reality. It is perceived by the reader that “King” Leary is the king of the ice. Repetition, which is another rhetorical device is used to help drive the point home that Percival Leary is the “King”. However, as the novel progresses and there are more and more flashbacks, the reader learns that “King” Leary is not the true king of the ice. The flashbacks develop the characters of Percival Leary and Manfred Ozikean in such a way that you see Manfred is the true king of the ice and not Percival. That is where the illusion vs reality lies. It is believed that Leary is the king of the ice when in fact he is not.
Another major theme in this novel that is well portrayed by Quarrington is selfishness. Percival Leary was a very selfish man. He recounts on that through the flashbacks. He did not help his friend Manfred to stop drinking, and he even traded him away just so he could be “King” of the ice. Percival near the end of the novel sees what he has done in the past. He does what he can to get Manfred into the Canadian Hall of Fame and he tells his son to stop drinking. He does this because he regrets not telling Manfred that. He has a change of heart and shows selflessness. Many other professional hockey players like Percival go through similar emotional struggles. Percival is in a constant struggle with his own thoughts and emotions. Jordin Tootoo a former pro hockey player went through similar struggles. The stories are different however one of the things that Jordin battled is substance abuse, which is also a large part of the novel King Leary. Jordin has been able to overcome it with help and says that it was one of the best decisions of his life. Percival had the ability to help his friend but did not. He tries to make up for what he did and to act selfless instead of selfish.
The novel King Leary by Quarrington is a fantastic book and every Canadian should read it. Quarrington uses the genre of comedy perfectly and he brilliantly uses rhetorical devices to help enhance and develop characters, plot and theme. There are not enough good things that I could say about this novel. King Leary is a must read and is a true work of art.
Work Cited:
Quarrington, Paul. King Leary. Canada: Anchor Canada, 2007. Print.
September 27, 2011
Another winner from Mr. Paul Quarrington, whose awesomeness I came to much too late. This lively tale is the first-person narration of Percival "King" Leary, former hockey legend and now "agèd and infirm" resident of a seniors' home, soon to be the star of a ginger ale commercial. Along the way he tells his life story, with his memories of the past intruding upon the present. Hilarity ensues.
I knew I would get along splendidly with this book for two reasons: one of Leary's teams is called the Toronto Maple Leaves, and when I opened the book to slip in the library due date receipt, the page I landed upon began with a loud burp, rendered most elegantly by Quarrington's onomatopoeia. I am secretly five years old in the humour department, so onomatopoeic burps and statements like this caused me to make very undignified faces on the bus as I tried not to laugh out loud:
"...ginger ale is the boy for me. It's sweet and bubbly and makes your toenails curl. If you down a whole can, you can belch in a truly horrifying way, like a dragon about to eat a maiden." (p. 3)
Leary's narrative keeps the reader moving along and chuckling throughout, perhaps laughing out loud if an observation or just plain bizarre scene catches you off-guard. It also kind of reminded me of the narrator of Barney's Version, by Mordecai Richler, except the chronology is easier to follow and there are no footnotes. But if you liked that book you might enjoy this one, especially if you're a hockey fan as well, as I'm sure there are other references I missed in the text. But even if you're not a hockey fan, the cast of characters is quite lively, and the narrator charming in a older-fella-who-can-say-what-he-wants kind of way. Recommended for those who like their Canlit on the funny side.
I knew I would get along splendidly with this book for two reasons: one of Leary's teams is called the Toronto Maple Leaves, and when I opened the book to slip in the library due date receipt, the page I landed upon began with a loud burp, rendered most elegantly by Quarrington's onomatopoeia. I am secretly five years old in the humour department, so onomatopoeic burps and statements like this caused me to make very undignified faces on the bus as I tried not to laugh out loud:
"...ginger ale is the boy for me. It's sweet and bubbly and makes your toenails curl. If you down a whole can, you can belch in a truly horrifying way, like a dragon about to eat a maiden." (p. 3)
Leary's narrative keeps the reader moving along and chuckling throughout, perhaps laughing out loud if an observation or just plain bizarre scene catches you off-guard. It also kind of reminded me of the narrator of Barney's Version, by Mordecai Richler, except the chronology is easier to follow and there are no footnotes. But if you liked that book you might enjoy this one, especially if you're a hockey fan as well, as I'm sure there are other references I missed in the text. But even if you're not a hockey fan, the cast of characters is quite lively, and the narrator charming in a older-fella-who-can-say-what-he-wants kind of way. Recommended for those who like their Canlit on the funny side.
January 22, 2018
King Leary is a poignant book. Yes it has wit and humour, but it is mostly the meditation of an elderly man on his life; the good, the bad, his adventures and friends, all set against the quintessential Canadian backdrop of hockey.
Percival "King" Leary is a great character and is drawn vividly by Quarrington. His unique voice never wavers throughout the book. King reminisces about his life and his hockey career, and begins to see things more clearly, leading to some peace and reconciliation as he knows his life is coming to an end. A strong theme in the book is alcoholism, which affects many of King's family and friends. How King comes to term with the effect alcohol has had on his life is a central part of the story. The book reminds me of the 1951 film Scrooge (based on Dickens of course), wherein Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. So is King visited by the ghosts of his friends Clay and Manny, and his son Clarence, who help him understand that things were not always as they appreared, and allow him to make some healing choices.
Some of the best scenes in the book involve the four monks, who taught King and Manny about life and hockey when they attended the Bowmanville Reformatory. The monks are unique characters that come and go from the narrative at key points. They add a touch of humour and spirituality to the story.
This is a well rounded book. Although it has some elements of magical realism, overall it feels like a true and essentially Canadian story-hockey and friendship-with a little ginger ale thrown in for good measure.
Canada Reads winner 2008
Percival "King" Leary is a great character and is drawn vividly by Quarrington. His unique voice never wavers throughout the book. King reminisces about his life and his hockey career, and begins to see things more clearly, leading to some peace and reconciliation as he knows his life is coming to an end. A strong theme in the book is alcoholism, which affects many of King's family and friends. How King comes to term with the effect alcohol has had on his life is a central part of the story. The book reminds me of the 1951 film Scrooge (based on Dickens of course), wherein Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. So is King visited by the ghosts of his friends Clay and Manny, and his son Clarence, who help him understand that things were not always as they appreared, and allow him to make some healing choices.
Some of the best scenes in the book involve the four monks, who taught King and Manny about life and hockey when they attended the Bowmanville Reformatory. The monks are unique characters that come and go from the narrative at key points. They add a touch of humour and spirituality to the story.
This is a well rounded book. Although it has some elements of magical realism, overall it feels like a true and essentially Canadian story-hockey and friendship-with a little ginger ale thrown in for good measure.
Canada Reads winner 2008
August 19, 2020
King Leary has been sitting on my shelf for over a decade, when it was named winner of the 2008 Canada Reads competition. I had picked it up a couple of times but never got into it. Not this time. What an absolute gem!
Former hockey legend Percival 'King' Leary is living out his final days in an extended care facility, looking back over his storied life and highlights such as the prank gone awry that sent him to reform school to his overtime goal to win the Stanley Cup in "one-nine, one-nine." King's elevated stature in hockey is firmly cemented in his own mind and when he is contacted by a PR type wanting him to be in a commercial pitching ginger ale (the only drink that makes him tipsy) with the young gun hockey wizard rewriting current record books, King's acceptance sets off both an adventure and an examination of his life.
King's memories are colourful, delusional, often laugh-out-loud funny and ultimately, poignant and illuminating. The voice in this book is vibrant, cantankerous and unforgettable. If we are the hero of our own life, we can also be its villain. I loved this book.
King Leary was the well-deserved recipient of the Stephen Leacock Award for humour. 4.5 stars
Former hockey legend Percival 'King' Leary is living out his final days in an extended care facility, looking back over his storied life and highlights such as the prank gone awry that sent him to reform school to his overtime goal to win the Stanley Cup in "one-nine, one-nine." King's elevated stature in hockey is firmly cemented in his own mind and when he is contacted by a PR type wanting him to be in a commercial pitching ginger ale (the only drink that makes him tipsy) with the young gun hockey wizard rewriting current record books, King's acceptance sets off both an adventure and an examination of his life.
King's memories are colourful, delusional, often laugh-out-loud funny and ultimately, poignant and illuminating. The voice in this book is vibrant, cantankerous and unforgettable. If we are the hero of our own life, we can also be its villain. I loved this book.
King Leary was the well-deserved recipient of the Stephen Leacock Award for humour. 4.5 stars
July 26, 2016
This is a wild and wacky hockey novel, in which hockey enters the realm of the mythical, the supernatural, and the just plain weird. Let's say it's impressionistic rather than realistic.
Told in the first person by "King" Leary, a former hockey player and current nursing home resident, it is both the story of his early life--encompassing childhood, a stay at a Catholic reform school for boys, and hockey fame; and his current life--in which he comes to terms with (and indeed seems to consider for the first time ever) his relationships, notably with boyhood friend and fellow hockey player, the late Manfred Armstrong Ozikean.
I'm not sure how many of them are caused by hockey head injuries (a subject I really shouldn't be joking about in this day and age), but King Leary is full of hallucinatory (or not?) scenes of hockey-induced bloodletting, hockey-playing monks (including a blind monk hockey goalie), and, well, all kinds of other crazy scenes and observations. It's a fun if potentially confusing read.
Ultimately, though, it is a story of one man's attempt, at the end of his life, to make amends for past wrongs. By the time he gets his chance, you will be rooting for him.
Told in the first person by "King" Leary, a former hockey player and current nursing home resident, it is both the story of his early life--encompassing childhood, a stay at a Catholic reform school for boys, and hockey fame; and his current life--in which he comes to terms with (and indeed seems to consider for the first time ever) his relationships, notably with boyhood friend and fellow hockey player, the late Manfred Armstrong Ozikean.
I'm not sure how many of them are caused by hockey head injuries (a subject I really shouldn't be joking about in this day and age), but King Leary is full of hallucinatory (or not?) scenes of hockey-induced bloodletting, hockey-playing monks (including a blind monk hockey goalie), and, well, all kinds of other crazy scenes and observations. It's a fun if potentially confusing read.
Ultimately, though, it is a story of one man's attempt, at the end of his life, to make amends for past wrongs. By the time he gets his chance, you will be rooting for him.
July 21, 2010
My first Paul Quarrington book turns out to be a pretty good one. The story of the once-great hockey player Percival "King" Leary who, after scoring the Stanley Cup winning goal back in "one-nine-one-nine" and coaching the "Toronto Maple Leaves" to glory in the 40s, is now old and decrepit in a small-town nursing home. The book uses flashbacks to sketch out his life (and the various colourful characters that inhabited it), while a story in the present-day revolves around his trip to Toronto to film a ginger ale commercial.
What really struck me about the book is that it manages to be humourous and a little fanciful, and, at the same time, be rather sad and tragic. It's hard to explain without giving away the plot of the book, but suffice to say, the characters are pretty rich and interesting, while Quarrington's narrative is compelling and provides a few laugh-out-loud moments.
Definitely recommended.
What really struck me about the book is that it manages to be humourous and a little fanciful, and, at the same time, be rather sad and tragic. It's hard to explain without giving away the plot of the book, but suffice to say, the characters are pretty rich and interesting, while Quarrington's narrative is compelling and provides a few laugh-out-loud moments.
Definitely recommended.
February 17, 2008
Okay, the final book I read for Canada Reads 2008. Here's the deal: I don't really enjoy books about old people. Yikes. Tough to admit, but true. The Telling of Lies by Timothy Findley was tedious, and Stephen King's Insomnia was a struggle in junior high. I just don't easily relate to senior citizens in popular fiction. It's easy to extrapolate that Quarrington is a skilled writer from King Leary's prose, but not easy to relate to his aged characters and their "gormless" peers.
April 9, 2016
2.5 stars
Percival “King” Leary was a hockey superstar in the NHL in the early 20th century. He is now in a nursing home and has been asked to star in a ginger ale commercial with a young, current NHL star. In this book, King looks back on his life in hockey and with his family and friends.
I think it was supposed to be funny (having won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour). Hmmmm, not for me. In fact, I found it kind of boring. Not necessarily because of the hockey. I don't watch hockey, anymore, but when I was younger I was a big fan. That being said, the parts I (eventually) found more interesting were more the memories of his family. But, not interesting enough for me to say I liked it, or even that I found it “o.k.”. Also, the end was a little odd, I thought.
Percival “King” Leary was a hockey superstar in the NHL in the early 20th century. He is now in a nursing home and has been asked to star in a ginger ale commercial with a young, current NHL star. In this book, King looks back on his life in hockey and with his family and friends.
I think it was supposed to be funny (having won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour). Hmmmm, not for me. In fact, I found it kind of boring. Not necessarily because of the hockey. I don't watch hockey, anymore, but when I was younger I was a big fan. That being said, the parts I (eventually) found more interesting were more the memories of his family. But, not interesting enough for me to say I liked it, or even that I found it “o.k.”. Also, the end was a little odd, I thought.
August 12, 2015
Who knew Canada Dry ginger ale could make you drunk? This I learned from reading this book. Percival 'King' Leary, the hockey phenomenon from the early days, is going to do a commercial, visit the new Hockey Hall of Fame and pass on his King crown to the latest superstar, all on the Canada Dry dime. Happy day, except now he is in a care home, old, decrepit and needing a nurse. Flashbacks to his childhood and his days as an NHLer mix with the present on the trip to Toronto. The game of hockey and the hockey franchise world are raw and vicious where men play hard, drink hard and live like the kings of the world the fans have made them. King survived but now he finds his old life and friends are getting mixed up with the present. Remembering the past is becoming too much for him and he needs to rest.
January 31, 2010
This book has been on my radar since I read and loved Bill Gaston's The Good Body. Someone suggested to me that I would probably like King Leary. And then when it won Canada Reads I mentally made a note that I still hadn't got around to it. It's too bad, because it's f***ing brilliant. This is purely selfish, but I met Paul Quarrington briefly at last year's Eden Mills festival. I think I said, Nice to meet you. I wish I could have said how much I loved his writing. It's probably for the best, though. Like Jim Cuddy, I probably would have over-gushed, and there would be no invitation to the parties after that. :-) Anyway, read this book. I guess it's best if you know hockey, but it's so, so much more than a book about hockey.
December 13, 2017
I re-read this book in December 2017 and have a bit more appreciation for it than the first time through. I can see why it won for humour and won Canada Reads, but it is still not the type of book I like to read nor one I recommend to friends. The writing is decent and the book may appeal to those who enjoy hockey.
The main character, an older man living in a senior's facility, makes a commercial with a current hockey star and along the way relives his own glory days as a hockey player (in the early to mid 1900's) and as "King" of the ice. Early on, it becomes apparent that he is not the most reliable narrator, has misconceptions about himself and how he was viewed by teammates and family members, and that he talks to people from his past who have died previously.
The main character, an older man living in a senior's facility, makes a commercial with a current hockey star and along the way relives his own glory days as a hockey player (in the early to mid 1900's) and as "King" of the ice. Early on, it becomes apparent that he is not the most reliable narrator, has misconceptions about himself and how he was viewed by teammates and family members, and that he talks to people from his past who have died previously.
July 9, 2008
This is a choice from a member of my bookclub, otherwise I doubt that I would ever had read it. And, had I been in a different mood, I probably would not have liked at all. But, there is something as “the right book at the right time”, and I did laugh lots in a moment when I needed to find a book that would make me laugh.
The characters are quite stereotypical, but humour is by nature stereotypical characterization. And Quarrington’s humour is fresh, non-cliché. It lacks a certain depth in plot and characters, but there is great originality in its humour, so 3 stars it is.
The characters are quite stereotypical, but humour is by nature stereotypical characterization. And Quarrington’s humour is fresh, non-cliché. It lacks a certain depth in plot and characters, but there is great originality in its humour, so 3 stars it is.
February 8, 2013
It took me so long to read this book. Usually I can read a book in a few days, but this it took me over two weeks. Mind you, I was reading other books along the way, but I wouldn't be looking for others if this one kept my interest.
I did not dislike the book, I found it good, but there were areas that I struggled with. I found Percy Leary to be egotistical, lonely and mean spirited towards his children, but I enjoyed his memories, mainly the ones at the Bowmanville Boys' reformatory. Also I really liked how the book ends. I found that it was a fitting end for a hockey player.
I did not dislike the book, I found it good, but there were areas that I struggled with. I found Percy Leary to be egotistical, lonely and mean spirited towards his children, but I enjoyed his memories, mainly the ones at the Bowmanville Boys' reformatory. Also I really liked how the book ends. I found that it was a fitting end for a hockey player.
Read
May 31, 2013Beautifully done. A wonderfully fuuny book that manages to celebrate the great Canadian passion but which is much, much more than a 'hockey novel'. The characters are beautifully rendered and Leary's awakening into understanding is both fantastic and believeable. I am no longer not much of a fan of the game but I truly enjoyed this novel.
Question: Why does the character always refer to the Toronto Maple 'Leaves'? Every Canadian knows that it should be the Toronto Maple 'Leafs'. The same reason that the Hot Stove Lounge becomes the Pot Belly Lounge?
Question: Why does the character always refer to the Toronto Maple 'Leaves'? Every Canadian knows that it should be the Toronto Maple 'Leafs'. The same reason that the Hot Stove Lounge becomes the Pot Belly Lounge?
June 12, 2008
This is a light, mostly amusing read, but the humour is a little too over-the-top for my liking, and the story doesn't evoke much from this reader.
But, as a light summer read, especially if you're a hockey fan, and maybe sitting on your cottage dock, sipping a Molson Canadian and humming our second national anthem, 'the hockey song', (dum, da dum, da dum...) this book can be a charming read.
But, as a light summer read, especially if you're a hockey fan, and maybe sitting on your cottage dock, sipping a Molson Canadian and humming our second national anthem, 'the hockey song', (dum, da dum, da dum...) this book can be a charming read.
January 15, 2008
I really enjoyed Quarrington's invented turn-of-the-century slang throughout King Leary. Little Leary's vocabulary is a mixture of 1920s excess, hockey goon, and egomaniac. Which is interesting for a character who seems to have no care what others think of him in his old age but for his title of King. While Quarrington's writing is unique, and the dialogue hilarious, the story is told in a bit of a heavy handed manner, where the last few chapters of the book seemed unnecessary.
July 8, 2008
I read this because it won Canada Reads on CBC which, I should know by now, is a dubious honour. Canada Reads is a radio debate over several Canadian works of fiction, all of which are ok, but none of which ever appear to stand out in my mind.
King Leary, obviously a play on Shakespeare, is a bland history of an aged former NHL star. I wouldn't say to avoid it, but there are certainly plenty of other, better Canadian novels to read in lieu of this.
King Leary, obviously a play on Shakespeare, is a bland history of an aged former NHL star. I wouldn't say to avoid it, but there are certainly plenty of other, better Canadian novels to read in lieu of this.
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